Tuesday evenings from 5-7.30 (gasp!) (n(ot) m(y) f(ault))

Many of the world's cultures use a wod similar to "games" to describe the process of teaching their offspring, usually implying an informal, but nonetheless codified educational practice. More formal educational practices have historically been reserved for a tiny elite and largely in the world's more sophisticated civilizations. If we assume that most education in most societies and at most times has occurrred in this way, then the study of games represents the study of education at its most broadly and cross-cuturally conceived. .

Introduction:
Approaches to the History of Games: .1. Anthropological (that is comparative and cross-cultural). What tasks are games teaching? How are they teaching? What skills, knowledge, and attiudes are the games imparting? 2. Re-enactment (RPG) games --Steve Jackson (Rice alum) 3,.Counterfactual or alternative history --current popularity in fiction--differeing attitudes towards counterfactuals in the sciences/engineering versus humanities professions. 4. As a critique of historian's narratives and story-telling practices. Game types, etc.

Week 2
History of Games in the United States (Elam lectures). When, where, and what games were popular in U.S. History? The competing histories of the origin of computer games in the United States.

Week 3
Understanding CounterFactual Approaches to History: Chrononauts.Contingency in History and the problems of historians' truth claims.

Week 4
Week 4: Evaluate early history of Stone, Bronze, Iron Ages in the Age of Empire. ( Thanks to MICROSOFT for donating games for the class to play.)

Week 5

Evaluating Age of Empires. Ask anything!

For board gamers who like Puerto Rico there is a bibliography you can consult for historical dimentions of the game.

Week 6: CIVILIZATION III Thanks to INFOGRAMMES for donating games for the class to play.)

Week 7
Cross-Cultural History Week. How historical figures have changed the course of games--e.g. contemporary chess and the rise of Queen Isabel of Spain. We will also examine how games from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe function didactically.

Week 8
History of science and technology narratives

Week 9
Age of Empires. Probably the single most popular historical game in the world. It tells a certain kind of science and technology story, imposes a intellectual structure upon the categories of the past, and tries--kist as do the best writers and speakers--to get you to believe. Most remarkable about this game is that it contains one of the few popular trans-national historical narratives.

Week 10
The conquest of the New World

Week 11
Conquerors! Microsoft's effort to discuss this period.

Week 12
The German and French games: how do they approach the history of civilization--Tighris and Euphrates, UR, etc

Week 13

Asian and African games--how do they narrate and what do they narrate?

Week 14

Summation

Requirements:

This is a 200 level course! That means NO long papers.
Guidelines: For all of the papers you are to assume that you are writing to the game designers at Microsoft, Sierra, Rio Grande games etc., telling them what they need to to improve their game AND/OR make the game more useful in teaching history. All papers will be posted on the class webpage, some will be forwarded at the end of the semester to the companies.
Particularly important are any suggestions for introducing students to history, means of tying history to the games, getting feedback on historical learning from the games.

Some of you will be much more familiar with the games than others. If you wish to rate yourself in a category of player use the following at the top of the paper: Novice (never played before) Beginner (played a couple of times)Intermediate Played several times, but don't often win. Expert familiar with game and often win.