As we know from Ian Bogost’s theorization of procedural rhetoric, games can be used to launch valuable, stakes-driven rhetorical. Play can be a medium to teach students how to make meaningful arguments to specific audiences through multiple modes. In my “Reading and Writing Board Games for Social Justice” course, students analyze and create games to… Read More Teaching Writing through Board Game Analysis and Design
By Emma Kostopolus, University of Kansas@kostopolus What do we expect when we play a video game for the first time? If it’s a type of game we’re not familiar with, we probably expect that we’re going to fail, which is generally represented by our on-screen character dying. We expect to fail a lot when we… Read More The Fail-State is Not Permanent: What Roguelikes Can Teach Us About Revision
By Dylan Altman, California State University, Northridge “Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house a world; and beyond its world, a heaven. Know then, that the world exists for you. For you is the phenomenon perfect. What we are, that only can we see… Build, therefore, your own world.” Ralph Waldo Emerson,… Read More The Grass is Always Greener: The Pastoral Life in Stardew Valley
Video Essay By Emma Kostopolus, University of Kansas@kostopolus About the AuthorEmma Kostopolus is a PhD Candidate in Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Kansas. When not working on her dissertation or CPGS stuff, she writes about games for Unwinnable Monthly, Sidequest.zone and Critical Distance and brews very weird beer. This piece is part of… Read More The Doom Marauder and Knowledge Transfer
By Kristopher Purzycki, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee CCCC has dwelled on the theme of place recently which, for someone who focused their doctoral research on placemaking, has been motivating if not affirming. At such a time when several crises seem to be converging, we find ourselves struggling with questions of place. In the protests of #BlackLivesMatter,… Read More Back to the Grind: Searching for the Open Plaza in Elder Scrolls Online
The purpose of the Council for Play and Game Studies (CPGS) is to help composition teachers and researchers network their research and pedagogical interests in using games to teach rhetoric and writing. CPGS also hosts Cs the Day, an interactive scavenger hunt at CCCC. CPGS currently has two officer positions open for the 2020-21 year,… Read More Officer Positions Open!
Dear CPGS Community, We hope that this letter finds you and yours healthy and safe. Although this hope has long become platitudinous, we continue to say it with sincerity simply because we seem to face anger, frustration, pain, loss, and uncertainty every day. On August 23, 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a city not far from… Read More Questions from Within Solidarity
As most of you know, the Council for Play and Game Studies (CPGS) has decided to cancel our Friday business meeting at CCCC this year in deference to the NAACP travel ban for the state of Missouri. In lieu of the business meeting, we have prepared a series of videos which will be circulated next… Read More CCCC 2018 news and updates
If you would like to take graduate courses in game design and/or play and games studies but don’t know where to start, here are some programs that specialize in studying games and game development: Clemson University: Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design is interested in an overall balance of ecologies in… Read More MA/PHD Play and Game Studies Programs
