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Bachelor of Arts in Video Game Studies

This program examines the many ways that video games intersect with our lives: as games, stories, challenges, escapes, vehicles of self-creation, platforms for interaction with others, cultural representations, and so much more. We approach video games from multiple disciplinary points of view, preparing you for the shifting demands of a field with continually expanding potential.  

You will learn diverse methods for addressing such questions as: How can our relationships to games become constructive means of finding employment and participating socially in the world?  How will video games transform life in the decades ahead, especially with the advent of generative AI? What kinds of research methods and critical thinking will most effectively address the personal, social, cultural, and political effects of gaming?

Program Requirements (24 total units)

CORE (12 units) 

  • VGS 100: Introduction to Video Game Studies 
  • VGS 300: Comparative Analysis of Video Games 
  • HUM 300GW: Reading and Writing Across Creative Forms 
  • VGS 600: Senior Seminar

ELECTIVES (12 units) 12 units of Electives selected from 3 categories: 

  • Field I: Design and Development 
  • Field II: Interpretation and Theory 
  • Field III: Games & Society

Electives (12 units) Each course listed below is 3 units, unless otherwise specified. Courses that appear in more than one field can only be used for credit within a single field.

FIELD I: Design and Development

  • BECA 340: Media Aesthetics I 
  • BECA 352: Esports Studio Tournament and Event Production 
  • BECA 374: Writing for Video Games 
  • BECA 454: Live Streaming and Content Creation for Esports 
  • BECA 536: Creativity and Design Thinking in Electronic Media 
  • CINE 414: Exploring Sound Design for Cinema 
  • CINE 440: Animation and Video Game Pre-Production 
  • CINE 658: Creating Story Worlds 
  • CINE 660: 3D Computer Animation 
  • CSC 631: Multiplayer Game Development 
  • DES 252: Rethinking Digital Visual Media 
  • DES 367: Introduction to Video Games

Field II: Interpretation and Theory

  • BECA 321: Critical Study of Popular Culture 
  • BECA 340: Media Aesthetics I 
  • BECA 374: Writing for Video Games 
  • CINE 336: Video Game Culture 
  • CINE 560: Digital Domains: History and Aesthetics of Computer Animation 
  • CWL 270: Fantasy and Fiction: Exploring Parallel Worlds 
  • CWL 275/ENG 275: Reading Video Games 
  • CWL 380: Thinking with Video Games 
  • WGS 582: Gaming from the Margins 
  • CLAS 450/VGS 450/HUM 461: The Ancient World and Video Games 
  • CLAS 440/VGS 440/HUM 460: Video Games and the Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean

Field III: Games & Society

  • BECA 321: Critical Study of Popular Culture 
  • BECA 422: Media and Society 
  • CINE 336: Video Game Culture 
  • CINE 560: Digital Domains: History and Aesthetics of Computer Animation 
  • COMM 595: Games, Communication, and Culture 
  • COMM 665: Research Foundations in Communication and Games (4 units) 
  • CWL 380: Thinking with Video Games 
  • HUM 320: Music, Ideas, and Visual Culture 
  • HUM 423: Going Medieval: Contemporary Adaptations 
  • HUM 426: Orientalism in Literature and Society Survey 
  • WGS 304: Gender and Popular Culture 
  • WGS 582: Gaming from the Margins