###Course Description
HNRS 353 fulfills George Mason's general education synthesis course requirement. Broadly speaking, synthesis courses are meant to expand your ability to master new material, think critically, and develop life-long learning skills. Synthesis courses also emphasize effective oral and written communication, and incorporate perspectives from multiple disciplines.
More concretely, in this section of HNRS 353 we will study the cultural impact of videogames from a number of critical perspectives. As products of a complicated network of social, economic, and technological forces, videogames are dense objects, deeply layered with multiple meanings and hidden histories. Whether we consider early arcade games like Pac-Man or the latest Game of the Year blockbusters for home consoles, we find that videogames reveal much about our cultural values, hopes and anxieties, and assumptions about the world. We will examine a range of genres (interaction fiction, first person shooters, simulations, role playing games, and so on) as we strive to understand both the narrative and formal aspects of videogames. At the same time, we will map connections between videogames and their broader social contexts--how games are designed and manufactured, who plays them and where, and in what ways videogames can be more than entertainment.