A lecture/seminar course addressing the history of games as an art form and industry, emphasizing key figures, movements, and technologies in the field of games from antiquity through the present day. The course explores the origins of games and play as a universal form of human expression shared across cultures and continents, placing a special emphasis on inclusion and exposure of games as an experimental, artistic form practiced beyond an industrial context. The class will be include playing and viewing games and discussions of their importance to the development of the discipline. We will consider the works’ forms and techniques, their ludic and creative content and the historical and cultural context in which they appeared and were played. The course will cover games and play from a global perspective: we will look at the growth and development of games historically, geographically, culturally, as well as technologically. We will examine historical trends of games past, to help us understand the game arts field today and to speculate on the games of the future.

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