taught on Game Studies 🧩

In terms of teaching, I’ve only ever done lectures and tutorials for art students, and I’ve been winging it this entire time (winging it might be harsh, but lecturing on my work as the white pube feels innately like a fluke). So, it was nice to be excited down to Leeds Beckett to teach on Game Studies, and for it to not be a lecture but an actual 2.5 hour lesson. I invited students to reflect on the culture they enjoy in their day to day life, to zoom out and think about what their enjoyment of it means, or fulfills. We looked at the inverse too. The group then worked backwards, thinking about how they felt about life right now, in general or personally. What kind of game mechanics would they design to compliment or alleviate the way they’re feeling? How can they give themselves the culture they need, or how can they bear this in mind later to project the same considerations onto game design to invite players into a certain emotional or social state?

I didn’t know how much people would get into this task given it can be so revealing, but in conversations students were thoughtful and it felt quite special. I love evaluating culture in terms of whether it gave me what I needed; what it didn’t give me, what I wanted; and how it would have to change to serve me better, or when I should look elsewhere. That’s the foundation of The White Pube, really. So maybe I can continue to wing it.