Courses in the FIG:
UGST 109 FIG Seminar
XXXXXX | XXXXX | 16464 | 1 Credit
Games aren't just entertainment! They're shaping how we tell stories, learn, connect, and even work. From indie board games to blockbuster titles and competitive esports, games now sit at the center of global culture. They inspire movies, new technologies, and even help companies like The New York Times reach new audiences. In short: games are everywhere, and this FIG invites you to explore how and why.
In this hands-on class, you won't just study games, you'll play them and create one of your own. Together we'll dive into board, card and video games to discover what makes them meaningful: how rules shape stories and messages, design prompts emotions, and players build communities together.
We will take field trips to local arcades and playful spaces around Eugene, seeing firsthand how gaming culture thrives both on and off campus. Along the way you'll work collaboratively and creatively toward your own project: building a playable game based on course concepts. Don't worry, no coding will be required—just creativity, curiosity, and a willingness to play!
By the end of the term, you won't just think differently about games, you will think through games, gaining insight into one of the most dynamic and influential media today.
JCOM 280 Introduction to Studying Games
Monday/Wednesday | 12:00-13:50 | 12888 | 4 Credits
Games are one of the most influential divisions of the entertainment media industry, generating billions of dollars in profits for companies around the world while shaping much of contemporary digital culture and society. You encounter them everywhere—on campus and at home, in class and for leisure, in airplanes and on foot. Insurance companies are churning out games to manage our health. Colleges and universities are granting sports scholarships to video game players. Mobile applications and virtual simulations are changing the way we think about media, augmented reality, and human relationships. Whether you’re a journalist, an artist, a designer, in advertising or in any major business, digital games will be integral to your life in the years to come.
This course offers an introduction to the fundamentals of game studies, from what a game is to why it matters. No prior knowledge of gaming required! The course will cover the game industry, its history and video game culture, and will also explore critical topics from industrial labor and globalization to gender and race representations.
Introduction to Studying Games will guide you through how to understand games in our society. Through a combination of academic research, documentaries, activities and hands-on game play, Studying Games will provide the basic building blocks for analyzing digital games, making games, and understanding their relationship to Communication and Media Studies.
