Subject details

At the completion of this subject students will be able to:

  1. analyse the interrelationship and application of play and game theory practices and technology
  2. critique the changing role of games and play in contemporary networked culture
  3. evaluate and assess concrete examples of gaming and gamification in diverse online and cultural settings
  4. communicate the various contexts in which games are produced and consumed and how these intersect with contemporary media and communication
  5. generate and communicate the complexities of the commercial gaming landscape for a generalist audience.

  • Topics

    • Play
    • Games
    • Immersion and Interactivity
    • Games and Violence
    • Games and Bodies
    • Games and Spaces
    • Games and Identity
    • Gaming Soundscapes
    • Gamification
    • Mobile Games
    • Games in Popular Culture
    • Digital Leisure Studies

  • Study resources

    • Instructional Methods

      • Disscusion forum/Discussion Board
      • Online assignment submission
      • Podcasting/Leacture capture
      • Web links

    • Print Materials

      • Welcome letter

    • Online Materials

      • Printable format materials
      • Resources and Links

Entry Requirements

Equivalent Subjects

You cannot enrol in this unit if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:

Special requirements

No special requirements

This subject explores the broader spaces and nature of play online, and how it relates to the development of digital forms of gaming. The nature of immersion is questioned and the role of interactivity investigated, along with critical perspectives on the popular but controversial notion of 'gamification.' It examines a series of gaming tropes and themes, games as texts, and the ways that games enter social frameworks to convey, refract, engage with, and resist power structures. An ongoing focus is on the function of rules in framing play, particularly in relation to how players cheat, hack and mod their games to break those rules.

Please Note: If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.

Find out more about the Academic Integrity module.

  • Essay (25%)
  • Case Study (40%)
  • Creative Artefact Exercise (35%)

Textbooks are subject to change within the academic year. Students are advised to purchase their books no earlier than one to two months before the start of a subject.

View textbooks

Related Degrees

postgraduate OUA-PSU-GCE-2018

Postgraduate Single Subjects