Game Studies & Design Minor
This innovative program makes it possible for faculty and students to explore concepts involved in Games Studies and Design from interdisciplinary liberal arts perspectives. The program also provides opportunities for faculty from many fields to come together in cutting edge collaborations. In the core classes in the GSD minor, taught by a professor of Games Studies, students explore the historical and cultural impact of different genres of games including video games, board games, card games, role-playing games and other varieties of games. Other courses offered (or soon to be offered) include Mathematics of Games, The Aesthetics of Games and the Ethics of Gaming, and Sociology of Games, all of which can be taken in the disciplines or as part of the GSD minor.
Faculty who want to explore disciplinary perspectives on gaming or to incorporate features of game theory, play-based learning, play therapies, pedagogies of role-playing (such as the "Reacting" games used in some history classes), emerging TAD (Teaching as Designing) pedagogies, to name only a few, are encouraged to consider developing a course for the GSD program. Faculty are also invited to initiate and take part in collaborative projects involving game creation across campus.
Interested in getting involved in GSD? Contact games@montevallo.edu or Dr. Cathlena Martin.
Want to know more about the burgeoning field of games? Here are some starting points:
DiGRA is the association for academics and professionals who research digital games and associated phenomena.
BGSA is an international, interdisciplinary, and informal group of academics and field researchers devoted to the history and development of board games throughout the world.
IGDA is one of many organizations that focuses on the game developer side.
