Critical Hacking (UHON 401-004) Fall 2018
Chris Holden, Associate Professor, Honors College, 2D
cholden@unm.edu
We meet Tuesday and Thursday 2-3:15 in SHC 12
Office Hours Fall 2018
In Honors (2D)
Tuesday and Thursday 12:30-2
Wednesday 1-2
In Hokona 200 (Scholars Wing)
Tuesday and Thursday, 3:30-5
Wednesday 7-9
In the OILS Learning Lab (Makerspace, 2nd floor of Zimmermann Library)
Wednesday 2-3
This course is designed to be an opportunity to work at something hard and interesting: to make a game that is a part of ongoing conversations about food.
Food of course is a giant meta-topic. And we might think about our games as ways to teach others about some aspect of food, like maybe the difficulties in making sure there’s enough for everyone to eat in 2050. We are making what some might call “Serious games”; there is more at stake than the mere entertainment of our players.
It is likely that no one taking this course has done such a thing before, food is complex, and games are themselves deep, both in how they work and what we hope they do for their players.
Again, we are trying something hard. Not just for you, but for everyone.
Our main goal will to work in small teams to produce a few different playable prototypes, see others play these games, and learn a lot about games, good, and ourselves along the way. It will be an inherently interdisciplinary affair, and we will need each other to succeed.
All the details, the other readings, assignments, and so on, are designed to support this work, make it feasible, and make sure that we get something out of it besides (and more relevant to your other hopes and dreams than) the actual game itself.
Our other great hope will be that we use these experiences to move forward these conversations outside our classroom. This might mean anything from the course’s future students, academics in any of the adjoining areas, or the general public. Something we do should be capable of doing work in the wider world.
Motivation
So why try something hard with so many parts that is likely very new?
Besides the mental hygiene of trying new things with others, these specifics topics and media are at the cusp of what is possible in our world, and might yield important insight into how the 7 billion people on this planet step into the future.
Games are Important
Games and play are hugely important to mammalian development, important aspects of culture, yet largely disregarded in academic schooling likely due to a compilation of 17th century protestant values (work = good, play = bad) with those of the enlightenment (brains = good, body = bad). Academia, journalism, etc. are just starting to discover the value of these media, and game creators are also looking in greater numbers to have their games and play mean something beyond the enjoyment of time spent.
Playing and making games have been huge influences in my own life, and I want to share them with you. I believe, unlike in a math class I would teach (another of my passions), you can do work in this class that will mean something outside of it. You, even as a novice, have the potential to move forward big conversations about what games can do. Many students in classes like this one have done so. This course is set up to give you a chance to do something that can carry meaning, not a set of facts or procedures I claim to be important.
It may feel awkward and obvious that you come in lacking certain technical background, but don’t worry. One of the fantastic things is that anyone can make games; you don’t need to be a pro or a programmer. Those skills can help, but they are not prerequisites. And you, like everyone else, can and do learn new things. We tend to learn the most when it’s in service of something we care about and want to see through.
Find something in this area to actively care about, at least one thing you want to sink your teeth into. If there’s nothing here you care about, drop this course immediately; there’s no point.
Food is important
No duh, huh.
Unlike math, food is all around us. All we have to do is begin to wake up to complexity of it. It’s an issue with many facets, at least one of which I’m sure we can agree to dig into together. It’s also a good area to do more rigorous research in because no matter what you think you know about food, chances are the reality is far more subtle and complex. It’s a good chance to go from someone who thinks they know something to someone who is wise enough to not always open their big, dumb mouth.
We have lots of local resources too. This course was created originally to be part of a sequence of courses, a block. It began with in Dr. Cargas’ UHON 204 Individual and the Collective: Globalization Human Rights or Dr. Moore’s UHON 402 – Big Data, Big Opportunities. In each, the subject of the investigations had to do with big picture food system issues, and our hope was that getting to stay with a subject and work on it from many perspectives would be truly transformative. Other professors in Honors and at the University have work that deals with food, and again, unlike math, there’s a good chance that your current education and ultimate career intersect these issues. I also have a former student who is now the Head Farmer at Chispas farms. She has invited us to come check her farm out and talk food with her.
There’s no one in this class who has taken the block, so those official connections are moot. But we can ask for their resources, and your work may take on extra meaning because there is a potential for local audiences.
There are food games. Whether they are “serious games” or entertainment games, food comes up plenty often. Having games (and other media) whose intents, representations, and interpretations we can observe, analyze, and borrow will make our work simpler and more concrete. We can aim to translate an idea into the idioms of games, or fix a broken design instead of staring for weeks at a blank page.
Finally, there is a pedagogical reason for making the food-games combo. If we are all focusing on the same issue, conversations between teams can be more meaningful and helpful.
Also, maybe this is an excuse to eat in class.
