Useful links
Unit of study_
ARIN3640: Games and Play
2025 unit information
Games are distinctive cultural forms, with histories, aesthetics, design cultures, player communities and academic theory. This unit explores how games work, how they are situated in culture, and some of the practices behind designing and critically assessing games as media items. Drawing on game studies, game design, and media studies, students analyse games and develop a game concept from scratch.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Arts and Social Sciences
| Study level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Media and Communications |
| Credit points | 6 |
|
Prerequisites:
?
|
(6 credit points at 2000 level in ARIN and (12 credit points at 1000 level in ARIN or 1000 level in MECO)) or (12 credit points at 2000 level in DECO) or (6 credit points at 1000 level and 6 credit points at 2000 level in SIEN) |
|---|---|
|
Corequisites:
?
|
None |
| Prohibitions:
?
|
ARIN2640 |
| Assumed knowledge:
?
|
No prior programming experience necessary |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. understand the cultural relevance of computer games
- LO2. critically examine the ethics, politics and everyday uses of mobile media and computer games
- LO3. understand the persuasive and educative potential of computer games
- LO4. generate feasible concepts for games
- LO5. understand the way market dynamics, political economies and ideologies shape computer games
- LO6. understand the ways in which computer games generate and facilitate specific cultural practices and identities.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Semester 1 2025
|
Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
|
Find your current year census dates
Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.
