From Alice Robison and Kenny Peng:
It's our pleasure to announce the start of the MIT Videogame Theorists Colloquium, a series of short, informal (noncredit) classes and discussions about videogames and their relationship to academic study . This is an interdisciplinary group intended for people of all ages and experience whose interests span the sciences, social sciences and humanities.
The first meeting is this coming Monday, 2/12, 7pm-8:30pm in room 32-124 on the MIT campus. Please contact Kenny Peng (pengk (AT) mit.edu) if you cannot attend and would like to be added to the mailing list to be notified of our upcoming sessions.
Our interest is in providing a forum for intellectual discussion about videogames, their hardware and software, their impact on society, their artistic value, and their potential for learning and scholarship. In short, We are a group dedicated to the advancement of studies in video games through discussion. We play games, read articles, video gaming-related news, etc. and interact with researchers in the field in hopes of getting people of all ages interested in video gaming and thinking about how it can contribute to society. The ultimate goal is to learn about video games and their impact, and have fun while doing so.
The first session that the MITVGT will hold will be a soft introduction to videogames and the academic study of videogames. We will look at the definition of a videogame and the different facets of the emerging field of videogame studies, asking the group to view some clips and discuss the different approaches we might take as ways of seeing videogames from a variety of perspectives. The intent is to get people thinking about what they want to discuss in such a group as well as pique their interests in videogames for study.
Upcoming classes and topics
- Hardware, hacking, and modding: a hands-on workshop
- Videogame genres, styles, and player communities
- Videogame culture: a discussion of race, gender, and difference within/about games
- Games' potential for learning and education
All classes will be held on the MIT Campus from 7-8:30pm. Please contact us for specific room locations and topics of each session. The dates are as follows:
- February 12 / Room 32-124
- February 19 / Room 32-124
- March 14 / Room 32-144
- April 23 / Room 32-124
- May 9 / TBA
The MIT Videogame Theorists Colloquium is open to anyone in the Boston/Cambridge area interested in attending one or all of the five sessions offered this semester. We are piloting the Colloquium this spring and hope to generate enough interest to continue into the summer and fall.
This group is sponsored by the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT, in partnership with the Harvard Interactive Media Group.
Contact information: Kenny Peng, pengk (AT) mit.edu
Mailing list: mit-vgtheorists (AT) mit.edu (E-mail Kenny to be added onto the mailing list.)
