Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Rhetoric, Theory and Culture (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Humanities

Advisor 1

Stefka Hristova

Committee Member 1

Sarah Bell

Committee Member 2

Karla Kitalong

Abstract

Electronic technologies have allowed for the mass (re)production of new media artifacts on a previously unachievable scale. While media across the board have been effected by the scope of such technology, videogames specifically provide an interesting and generative point of contact in the digital world. Videogames bridge gaps between the academic, political, and popular often unintentionally and unconsciously in ways that other new media artifacts and technologies cannot. But, while this is so, there seems to be a gap in discourse that brings together virtual and embodied experiences in order to create a more cohesive and holistic understanding of the role that videogames, play, and aesthetic experience have in an increasingly technologically mediated world. This project aims to build a foundation upon which to critically approach videogames, and new media more generally, through an understanding of the relationship between avant-garde aesthetics, electronic technologies, and massively reproducible play environments.

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