Sociology of Video Games

Catalog description

This course uses interdisciplinary literature on video games to explore introductory concepts in sociology. In this course, we will examine the frictions between pleasure and harassment, freedom and constraint, and anonymity and identity, all present in video games. We will research inequity within digital leisure while also using video games as a mechanism to better understand similar inequities that manifest in offline spaces. Video games present the opportunity to study the anonymity of online interaction, the competitiveness of sports, the cooperation of the workplace, the joy of leisure, and the chance to explore and ‘play with’ new versions of the self. This course will review extant literature on how race, gender, sexuality, class, and more shapes player experiences and behaviors in online video games. Students will be encouraged to play and watch video games while applying sociological theory to both game content and social interaction within games. Satisfies Sociology major and minor requirement. Satisfies Digital and Screen Media requirement. Satisfies Digital Studies minor requirement. Satisfies Social-Scientific Thought requirement.