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Online Games

Intended for both newcomers who are curious about video games and experienced gamers who want to reflect on their passion, this course will explore what happens to stories, paintings, and films when they become the basis of massively multiplayer online games. The Lord of the Rings trilogy—the novels, films, and video game—are our central example of how “remediation” transforms familiar stories as they move across media. The course is designed as a university-level English literature class—a multi-genre, multimedia tour of how literature, film, and games engage in the basic human activity of storytelling. Our journey will enable us to learn something about narrative theory, introduce us to some key topics in media studies and cover some of the history and theory of video games. It will also take us to some landmarks of romance literature, the neverending story that lies behind most fantasy games: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, a bit of Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, and poems by Keats, Tennyson, Browning, and others. Drawing on centuries of romance narrative conventions, the twenty-first century gaming industry has become a creative and economic powerhouse. It engages the talents of some of our brightest writers, artists, composers, computer engineers, game theorists, video producers, and marketing professionals, and in 2012, it generated an estimated $64 billion in revenue. Anyone interested in today’s culture needs to be conversant with the ways this new medium is altering our understanding of stories. Join me as we set out on an intellectual adventure, the quest to discover the cultural heritage of online games.

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Rating 4.6 based on 36 ratings
Length 7 weeks
Starts Jul 24 (39 weeks ago)
Cost $49
From Vanderbilt University via Coursera
Instructor Jay Clayton
Download Videos On all desktop and mobile devices
Language English
Subjects Art & Design Humanities Languages
Tags Arts And Humanities Music And Art Language Learning Learning English

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What people are saying

video games

I gained a great deal of knowledge on the construction of stories and how they've evolved across the years, from books, to painting, to video games.

Definitely a must learn if you have an interest in video games and literature!

rings online

The discussed example is Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and the games "Lord of the Rings Online".The support is outstanding on Coursera as well as in the game.

An interesting course for anyone who likes lord of the rings online, fantasy (modern and presents), literature, video games, and/or movies!

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very interesting

I loved the fusion of literature, movies, and games It was very interesting and fun.

I liked the literature and examples of the workshop, it was very interesting and It did awaken a much slept passion for poetry and romance.

The content of the class is very interesting, however as non-native English speaker it was hard to follow at times.

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for anyone

I'm giving a huge recommendation for anyone who wants to see an interdisciplinary approach to online gaming (gaming is optional, but it's really a fun experience), and to brush up (or learn as a beginner) your comparative literature skills.

online gaming

Beyond that, the world of online gaming was opened to me.

literary work

There is a class group consisting of graduate students, who are each giving opinions about certain literary work, narrative genres or video games, so you feel as if you're a part of that discussion.

But I've learned new things, even though I had background in literary theory, and, most importantly, I've read new literary work, which were a nice example of the theoretical discussions of the course.

Careers

An overview of related careers and their average salaries in the US. Bars indicate income percentile.

Guest Games Host $39k

Senior Inventory Analyst - Kmart Video Games $63k

Head of Technical Video Operations - CBSi Games $70k

Games Project Manager $86k

Marketing Manager - Video Games and Computer Software $86k

Head of Technical Video Operations - CBSi Games Manager $102k

Games Metrics Analyst $104k

Buyer, Video Games $113k

Product Manager, Home Entertainment & Video Games $133k

Senior Head of Technical Video Operations - CBSi Games $140k

Senior Buyer, Video Games $169k

Games Evangelist $172k

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Rating 4.6 based on 36 ratings
Length 7 weeks
Starts Jul 24 (39 weeks ago)
Cost $49
From Vanderbilt University via Coursera
Instructor Jay Clayton
Download Videos On all desktop and mobile devices
Language English
Subjects Art & Design Humanities Languages
Tags Arts And Humanities Music And Art Language Learning Learning English

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