MDST 3559

Second class with Professor Williams (MDST 2000, Fall 2016 was the first), and I enjoyed it almost as much as that one. The class was on "Politics of Video Games," and for the time and investment required as a J-term class, it was well worth it. One paper, a few short (1-page) reading responses, and class participation are required. Williams is clearly a fan of video games, but be aware that you're approaching them from an academic, not as much of a creative, perspective, though the final group assignment is to pitch a video game. If you're even a casual gamer and can take this course, I'd definitely say go for it, especially if you're a Media Studies major.

Not your typical J-Term class but in a VERY good way. Professor Williams brought a lot to the table in terms of discussing video games to both hardcore/casual/newbie gamers but allowed us to go at our own pace in terms of how we wanted to contribute to the discussion. Heck, our first HW assignment was to play 4 hours of any game of our choosing and report on it the next day. The readings were sometimes lengthy but the discussion aspect of the course allows you to still learn a lot from other perspectives since not everyone there was a gamer by any means. A few awesome quirks was that there are no quizzes/midterm/final exams but there are a few debates/writeups/final essay which is way better in my opinion. He really connected with the class everytime we were all there and even bought us lunch a few times which was really kind of him. All in all, I came into the course for an easy A but I definitely learned a lot more than I thought I would!

Politics of Video Games for J-Term. Class was amazing, had gamers and non-gamers. Everyday was a new topic related to games and society at large (gender, violence, economics, etc). Lots of reading, but that's expected for J-Term. Cool group project, Easy and fun final paper about a game you like to play. Professor Williams always makes the class fun and interesting, as he is a gamer too. He also buys lunch and lets you out early most days. The only "difficult" part of the class is the brutal nature of J-Term, compounding class time and readings for a full semester into 9 days.

I took "Politics of Video Games" With Professor Williams this last J Term. As far as a J Term course went, it was a blast. It was all seminar/discussion style, with a few points being brought up on the assigned readings and then basically a roundtable on what we as a class thought about the particular issue. Every day was spent on a particular issue that may be associated with the growing media of video games, such as discrimination, sexism, violence, and economics. There is a lot of reading to be done, but it is also at a time where you're not doing much else (very little goes on during J Term). It also helps that Professor Williams would let out 1 to 2 hours early almost every day. He would also supply lunch for us, which was great because who doesn't want free Mellow? The class consisted of both gamers and non-gamers (only wish non gamers, however), and had a blend of people between the college and the e school. In all, I'm glad I took this course that I found both fun and the right amount of intensity between fall and spring semester. If you are interested in video games and their impact on society, I would highly recommend!