Introduction to Videogame Studies
MIT's Comparative Media Studies program offers this interdisciplinary look at videogames as cultural texts. Students play and analyze a range of games alongside readings drawn from science, social science, humanities, and industry sources, examining how games function educationally, socially, and culturally in contemporary life. Class sessions combine reading discussion, writing exercises, and student presentations, with assignments centered on applying theoretical frameworks to specific game analyses. No programming background is required. A graduate-level track adds extra assignments for those students. Materials are provided through MIT OpenCourseWare under a Creative Commons license, including syllabus, assignments, and reading lists, making this a self-contained introduction to how scholars and critics study games rather than how to build them.