Ah, the end of the semester. The bittersweet promise of the end and the work that comes with it. I rather do hope everyone has enjoyed these course even a fraction as much as I’ve enjoyed teaching it! I like using the final blog as a chance to reflect on all the weeks which came beforehand. So, what I’d like to ask you to do is precisely that: reflect! I won’t necessarily drop a bunch of numbered questions, but I’d love to know how your experience and/or relationship with games has evolved this semester. Are you hyper-aware now and can’t play a game without being annoyed by considerations of procedurality? Do you have a better sense of the capabilities and nuances of videogames thanks to our course presentations and readings? Are you bored to death of thinking about games critically and looking forward to a near future which includes nothing but mindlessly mashing buttons without a care in the world? Have your opinions of games changed in light of the good they can do (as represented by Bogost) and their relative darkness (as seen in Blog 6)? Did you think all of this was a complete waste of time?
As I always stress, I don’t want some sort of fake “now I see the light!!!” statement about how you were a lowly gamer, unaware of the awesome power of games, and by coming to this class you were born again. If that’s the case, awesome! Let me know what it was like! If not? Tell me the truth! I get tons of reflections that tell me “I still don’t care,” and I’d rather hear that than a big fake sweet talking session. Why bore yourself writing that? Tell me what you did or didn’t get out of this semester, and feel free to pitch ways of making it happen next semester (two sections of this course will be thrown to the wolves, so you’ll be doing them a favor!)
I’ve loved every minute of this course and it’s going to be sad to see it end. Let’s make the end count for something, though! Let me know your thoughts on games, theory, and everything else we’ve discussed and considered this semester!
ENC 1145 Spring 2013 