Gameplay Activities

In-Class Play Sessions

Throughout the term we will be engaging in critical play sessions during class time to explore, experiment with, analyze, and critique a range of digital and analog games. The embodied and affective dimensions of play can elicit powerful feelings — of joy, animosity, or even vulnerability — which students may not usually encounter in the classroom.

Our gameplay activities are designed to furnish a critical perspective on games as culture, and we will strive to create an environment for exploring alternate play practices that embrace difference. As such, our gameplay activities should be undertaken in a critically engaged spirit that welcomes participation from players of all backgrounds and from all levels of gaming experience or ability — these activities are never about winning.

Extended Play Sessions

In addition to our normal class meetings, we will be holding several extended play sessions throughout the term. These will operate like screenings for a film course and will provide us with the space and time necessary to engage with long-form gameplay of select titles. These are mandatory events and will serve as out of class time towards your credit hours, the same way reading a novel outside of class for homework would.

We will hold three extended play sessions throughout the term during weeks 7, 9, and 11:

Wanderhome – Tuesday 10.01.24 | 5:00-7:30PM ET in GL 316

Blood on the Clocktower – Tuesday 10.15.24 | 6:00-8:30PM ET in GL 316

Unfathomable – Tuesday 10.29.24 | 5:00-7:30PM ET in GL 316

Find out more about each of these games below:

Wanderhome: Wanderhome is a pastoral fantasy role-playing game about traveling animal-folk, the world they inhabit, and the way the seasons change. It is a game filled with grassy fields, mossy shrines, herds of chubby bumblebees, opossums in sundresses, salamanders with suspenders, starry night skies, and the most beautiful sunsets you can imagine. You might be a tamarin who dances with small and forgotten gods, a leporine mail carrier who relies on moths to get packages where they belong, a little lizard with a big heart and a mysterious past, or a near-endless number of other thrilling possibilities.

Blood on the Clocktower: Blood on the Clocktower is a game of murder and mystery, lies and logic, deduction and deception for five-to-twenty courageous players and one devious storyteller. A social game played in person, seated in a circle, each player receives either a ‘good’ or ‘evil’ token with their unique character on it. Good players share information to solve the mystery whilst evil players lie about who they are and what they know. The good team wins if they can piece together their knowledge, trust each other, and execute the demon. The evil team wins if the demon can sow distrust, evade detection, and wipe out the village.

Unfathomable: The year is 1913. The steamship SS Atlantica is two days out from port on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Strange nightmares plague the minds of the people aboard the ship every night; rumors circulate of dark shapes following closely behind the ship just beneath the waves; and tensions rise when a body is discovered in the ship’s chapel, signs of a strange ritual littered around the corpse. Immerse yourself among the passengers and crew of the SS Atlantica in this game of hidden loyalties, intrigue, and paranoia for three to six players. Some players are humans who are fighting for the survival of the ship, while others are traitors sent aboard the ship by mysterious beings to ensure that it never reaches port!