FEATURE // VIDEO GAMES
// Rachelle Bugeaud
Damn, it feels good to be a gamer U of A's Understanding Video Games course opens up the world of gaming to all
U
nderstanding Video Games has been a popular course among University of Alberta students, but now launched alongside Dino 101 as a Massive Open Online Course, anybody with an Internet connection can sign up and learn about how to interpret these ever-more important cultural contributions. And people in 149 countries already have. "The idea behind the course is, certainly as we've seen recently in the media, computer games are an important cultural medium—they have become something that a lot of Canadians view as an important way of understanding the world and relating to the world," says Sean Gouglas, who teaches the course. "So what we wanted to do in this course is to give [students] a set of
tools that they can use to try to understand what computer games are. That they can see how they work, that they can see how they can tell stories and how you can interpret them and use them to understand the culture that produces them." There's an online version of the course that's free for anyone, and also a version where students at other universities can sign up and get accreditation for a fee. This is good for alumni who want to stay in contact, Gouglas says, and it is a potential way for anybody else to get to know the university. Existing U of A students are, of course, still able to enroll as usual. As a Science, Technology and Society course and a collaboration between the Faculties of Arts and Science, it
fits into the relatively new Computer Game Certificate program, which came from an initiative from the current Dean of Science, Jonathan Schaeffer. "It was an idea that started with the realization that computer games are, if they ever were, no longer built by a couple of people in their basement. They're involving computing scientists, creative writers, level designers, artists, musicians, so what Dr Schaeffer wanted to do was recreate that experience for the students who are going through the program," Gouglas says. "So with an introductory course called Computers and Games, we created a team-based, problem-based learning course around video games. Students just basically go and build a game. That
course has expanded into a certificate." The various courses on offer delve into creative writing, artificial intelligence, gameplay fundamentals and more. Once students have done a few of those, they can go into the capstone course where they build a complete game in teams. The idea for the certificate program is to not only give disciplinary and interdisciplinary experience, but also a portfolio of complete games. Local game developer Bioware has been a part of the university's video games courses for a long time, and they've been back to help with this one. "They gave us art assets that we were able to use in the course,"
VUEWEEKLY NOV 6 – NOV 12, 2014
Gouglas says. "They've given us access to their people—we did some filming at Bioware, we've interviewed six or seven of their employees. They've been very generous in making themselves available to help us provide concrete examples of some of the concepts that we're trying to relate in the course." The course starts with some basic concepts. The idea is to give students fundamental tools that they'll need to understand video games. This will include things like game mechanics, story and gameplay. After the basics, the course moves onto interpretation and tackles some cultural questions, such as what gaming culture is. "And it's a bit misleading because CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 >>
EDUCATION 7
EDUCATION FEATURE // HOSPITALITY
// Curtis Hauser
W
ELLA
SPRING SESSION
APRIL 27 – MAY 15, 2015
• Participants: Anyone over 50 Yrs. Requirements: Membership of $20.00 yr. • Fee: One course fee covers up to 4 courses • Description: Intensive three weeks of courses on campus, at the Education Centre, U of A. • Courses: Choice of humanities and sciences courses, and arts and physical activities courses.
BENEFITS! Excellent instruction; plenty of discussion; current ideas and information; academic and hands-on learning; no preparation or exams, and no homework; additional noon hour speakers; social exchange and new friendships. You can participate as much or as little as you want! Registration: Opens in February
Contact ELLA: www.extension.ualberta.ca/ella Phone: 780-492-5055 E-Mail: exella@ualberta.ca
8 EDUCATION
ith Alberta in need of trained hospitality workers, a partnership between the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation and NorQuest College might help fill the gap. The Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation Hospitality Institute is coming soon, and the groups hope it will solve the problem of too few trained workers. "The institute is going to provide hands-on training for students and also for current employers who want their staff, and potential staff, to develop hands-on leading-edge disciplines," says Natalie Minckler, executive director of the EOCF. The sorts of training on offer will include guest services, event delivery, service-industry operations, safety and supervision. Students can also take courses separately if they don't need all of them or don't have time to do them all at once. "They're short programs," Minckler adds. "They're anywhere from 10 to 40 hours for one program, and if you want to take the whole suite of programs, you'll end with a certificate." The partnership came about after the groups started some conver-
sations regarding the new arena, but that's not where the idea itself came from. "We have what's called a workforce advisory council," Patrick Machacek, Vice President (Transformation) at NorQuest, says. "It consists of members of business and industry right across Edmonton and throughout our stewardship region. "The workforce advisory group was basically saying that they were having a difficult time finding adequate training for their employees," he continues. "Because many of their employees are frontline service employees they have a lot of turnover, so they need to provide training in an efficient manner." The group felt that if training could be better provided, they would have an easier time keeping employees around longer. Additionally, says Machacek, Patrick LaForge, President and COO of the Edmonton Oilers, wants people to think of hospitality jobs at the forthcoming Rogers Place arena more as careers, with a higher level of professionalism and opportunities for advancement. A program like this could help that happen.
VUEWEEKLY NOV 6 – NOV 12, 2014
In any case, NorQuest started talking with the EOCF, resulting in this partnership, which will see the EOCF contributing $1.5 million in bursaries, with a portion going towards helping NorQuest build a new kitchen and training facilities for their Centre for Learning in 2017. "It was an easy decision for our board because both organizations share a strong commitment to youth education in our province," Minckler says. "So with the new institute, the Oilers Foundation is providing bursaries for students who may want to enrol in the program." There will be 100 bursaries of $1000 each on offer to students who need financial assistance. The EOCF also points to the potential to help at-risk youth. "We have partnered with Inner City High School probably for 10 years," Minckler says. "Inner City High School provides education for at-risk youth. We're hoping that those graduates will go on with their education path and perhaps enrol in NorQuest College and get some meaningful employment." But of course, Minckler stresses that the Hospitality Institute will be open to anybody interested. Registration is open and classes start in January. RYAN BROMSGROVE
RYAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM
VUEWEEKLY NOV 6 – NOV 12, 2014
EDUCATION 9
Damn, it feels good to be a gamer
<< CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10
there are multiple cultures—there are multiple elements of any sort of culture," Gouglas adds. One thing Gouglas identifies is the term "gamer" itself, and the different groups that might lay claim to it, or that might problematize it. "If you go about looking at any of the recent statistics about games, you realize that half of all gamers are women, that the average age of the gamer is about 33, 34, somewhere in there, and what's interesting is all of those people, the broader spectrum of people who are playing games now, have a stake in the term 'gamer,' and a stake in the production of culture that instantiates itself as a computer game," Gouglas explains. "The problem is that there are groups who see themselves as more 'true gamers' or 'real gamers,' and they
feel disenfranchised by this broadening out of people who play computer games, and that competing for power of trying to get attention of media, of people who produce culture, of developers, of people who view themselves as true gamers and those who see themselves as a different type of gamer, has produced a number of societal competitions or fights that are ultimately breaking forth into the popular media." The obvious ongoing example is what's called GamerGate, which is difficult to describe but has brought up questions of the treatment of women in video games, with prominent commentator Anita Sarkeesian
EDUCATION and relatively obscure indie developer Zoe Quinn alike facing significant gender-based online harassment, along with questions of the gamer identity, the culture and the role of the media.
tion in this production of culture— but this course would speak exactly to issues like that." The course considers questions of race, sex and violence in video games, and does so in two ways. First is from a game studies point of view, where questions such as how people actually use these things as mechanics in games and how they become a part of the discussion of how the game and its story unfold are considered. "If you take real-time strategy games, or most of them anyway, they're frequently set up as a race war," Gouglas says. "It's between the humans and the orcs or something
The problem is that there are groups who see themselves as more ‘true gamers’ or ‘real gamers’ and they feel disenfranchised by this broadening out of people who play computer games. "[GamerGate] is a classic example of what happens when two powers are competing for power. The fact that it manifests as rape threats, as sexism, as misogyny is an interesting statement as to how culture perceives women and how these groups perceive women and their participa-
Arts Education: an astonishing gift for a creative New Year » Art and Design » Dance » Digital Media and Graphics » Music » Photography » Professional Development Certificates
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like that, and usually it's a war of extermination. That may seem simple on the face of it, but those simple assumptions about race penetrate all aspects of computer games. We try to draw out different ways that race and sex and violence are used in the construction and playing of a game." It then steps back and considers how these things reflect broader cultural issues. With women, for example, it examines how their portrayal might influence people as players and developers, and how it speaks to broader patterns in Canadian and international culture. "In most games—not all—and most characters—not all—most male characters are doers: they accomplish things in their games through their actions, and that's how they're known and become famous" Gouglas explains. "Women characters are either adornment or they're rescued, or their agency is established through their sexuality if they have any agency at all. Now, of course there's exceptions but generally, I think that's probably true. "But to say that's true of video games is not to say it's not true of movies or television," he continues. "These conversations that we're having about video games are no different from many of the conversations going on in other media. Yes, video games have problems in them, but they're issues that we are trying to address, and this course is just one of those ways." You don't have to play games, be a gamer or have particular experience in the area to take the course. The ideal student for Gouglas is just someone who is interested in how the medium is shaping the world. With questions like those of race, sexuality, gender, violence and culture in video games finding their way into mainstream press and conversation, now might be a better time than ever for a course like this to help people examine the medium. But that doesn't mean it's about turning everyone into a 24/7 cultural critic, unable to enjoy themselves with the games they've been playing. We don't have to be passive absorbers of what the games we play are telling us either, and Gouglas hopes the course can help people ask better questions of the medium, but mentions that we also don't have to analyze everything. "Sometimes, it's great to sit back and enter into a game where you're just shooting a gun and saving the world from aliens and you don't want to think too much about it."
RYAN BROMSGROVE
RYAN@VUEWEEKLY.COM
VUEGAMES
UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, B, A, START 10 EDUCATION
VUEWEEKLY NOV 6 – NOV 12, 2014
TRAIN TO TEACH
E DUCATIO N AT
CONCORDIA VUEWEEKLY NOV 6 – NOV 12, 2014
Concordia offers 2 year After Degree Programs in Elementary Education.
EDUCATION 11
EDUCATION EDUCATION // ROUNDUP DEMOCRACY FOR HONG KONG
Students in Hong Kong don't want to be ruled by non-democratic China anymore and are planning a big protest in Communist Beijing. The students are quiet on the details so far but are set to reveal them on November 6. Hong Kong does retain a certain amount of autonomy from China—which took over its rule in 1997—but the student protesters say that is not enough and want to be a fully democratic society. // Kevin Ho via Compfight
THE STRAIGHT DOPE
Grassroots to Elite Sports Development Join the SCSC Family Today!
Educating Canadian doctors about medical marijuana in a balanced way is the goal of the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association, which is partnering with the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids as well as Tweed Inc and travelling to Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver in February and March to talk to health professionals about the stigma attached to smoking weed. // Caveman Chuck via Compfight
SAVING PENNIES
Two million pennies have been collected and rolled over the past five years by students at St Marcellinus Secondary School in Ontario to donate to Holocaust and genocide education and prevention programs. "We chose the penny, metaphorically, because it is held in low regard, is virtually unwanted, and is marginalized to the point where we don't even mint them anymore," teacher Susan Carey told the Brampton Guardian on October 29.
// Mosieur J via Compfight
BUILDING BLOCKS FOR BILLIONAIRES
Most billionaires have a university education; BBC reports that two-thirds of them do, according to the Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census, which took a look at 2300 billionaires. The top 10 universities worldwide for billionaires are: 1) University of Pennsylvania 2) Harvard University 3) Yale University 4) University of Southern California 5) Princeton University 6) Cornell University 7) Stanford University 8) University of California, Berkeley 9) University of Mumbai, and 10) London School of Economics.
Membership discounts for University of Alberta students/alumni, seniors and SCSC affiliate members
www.SavilleCentre.ca | 780.492.1000 Saville Community Sports Centre
12 EDUCATION
@SavilleCentre
// Martie1 Swart via Compfight
HIGH-INCOME SCHOOLS TRUMP LOW
Schools in more affluent areas of Toronto are fundraising up to $700 per child to spend on extras like guest speakers, field trips and playground equipment, while lower-income schools tend to only raise an extra $3 per child on the low end and $45 on the high end, according to the Globe and Mail. Fundraisers are the responsibility of each school, but forcing families to come up with extra cash for things that used to be included in the school curriculum—like arts and sciences— means the poor are more often than not missing out on activities that wealthier families can throw extra cash at.
REBECCA MEDEL
REBECCA@VUEWEEKLY.COM
VUEWEEKLY NOV 6 – NOV 12, 2014
// Steve Leenow via Compfight