A course of study for critical game theory

 Given your background as an English instructor and your interest in meaning, myth, and systems, I'd suggest studying video game theory from three overlapping angles:

1. Games as texts (interpretation and meaning)
   
2. Games as systems (rules and mechanics)
   
3. Games as experiences (players, culture, and society)
   

A structured course of study might look like this.

Stage 1: Foundations — What Is a Game?

Read

Johan Huizinga — Homo Ludens

• Classic text arguing that play is a foundational element of culture.
  
• Useful for understanding games beyond entertainment.
  

Roger Caillois — Man, Play, and Games

• Expands Huizinga.
  
• Creates categories such as:
• Agôn (competition)
  
• Alea (chance)
  
• Mimicry (role-play)
  
• Ilinx (vertigo/disorientation)
  

Key Questions

• Why do humans play?
  
• What separates play from ordinary life?
  
• How do games create meaning?
  

Stage 2: The Ludology vs. Narratology Debate

This is one of the most important early discussions in game studies.

Read

Jesper Juul — Half-Real

• Games are both:
• real rule systems
  
• fictional worlds
  

Gonzalo Frasca

• Important advocate of ludology.
  

Janet Murray — Hamlet on the Holodeck

• Argues for understanding digital environments as narrative spaces.
  

Key Question

When we analyze a game, should we focus primarily on:

• the story?
  
• or the rules?
  

A good exercise is comparing:

• The Last of Us (story-heavy)
  
• Tetris (almost pure mechanics)
  

and asking how each produces meaning.

Stage 3: Procedural Rhetoric

This is where game studies becomes especially interesting for humanities scholars.

Read

Ian Bogost — Persuasive Games

Bogost argues that games make arguments through rules.

For example:

• A novel persuades through narrative.
  
• An essay persuades through language.
  
• A game persuades through systems.
  

A tax simulation game can make an argument about economics simply by the way its rules function.

Exercise

Play or analyze:

• Papers, Please
  
• Democracy
  
• Civilization
  

Ask:

What worldview is embedded in the rules?

Stage 4: Systems Thinking and Game Design

You mentioned Daniel Cook previously. This is where his work connects.

Read

Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman — Rules of Play

Many consider this the foundational textbook of modern game studies.

Focus on concepts such as:

• meaningful play
  
• emergence
  
• systems
  
• feedback loops
  

Read

Daniel Cook's essays Especially:

• Skill chains
  
• Loops
  
• Value chains
  

Cook is excellent at explaining why certain game structures create engagement.

Questions

• What behaviors does the game reward?
  
• What behaviors does it punish?
  
• What is the player's long-term value chain?
  

Stage 5: Meaning, Ideology, and Criticism

This may be the most natural area for someone trained in literary analysis.

Read

Miguel Sicart — The Ethics of Computer Games

Read

Ian Bogost — How to Do Things with Videogames

Read

Aubrey Anable — Playing with Feelings

Questions

• What ethical assumptions underlie the game?
  
• What emotions are being cultivated?
  
• How does the game construct identity?
  

You can approach games much as you would novels:

• close reading
  
• rhetorical analysis
  
• ideological critique
  

but always paying attention to mechanics.

Stage 6: Culture, Community, and Players

Read

T. L. Taylor — Play Between Worlds

• Online communities
  
• MMORPG cultures
  

Read

Mia Consalvo — Cheating

• Examines player behavior and gaming culture.
  

Questions

• How do players transform games?
  
• Where does meaning reside:
• in the designer?
  
• in the system?
  
• in the community?
  

Stage 7: Advanced Theoretical Work

Once you've covered the foundations, move into:

Espen Aarseth

Cybertext

Introduces the concept of ergodic literature.

Alexander Galloway

Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture

Connects games to broader questions about software and society.

McKenzie Wark

Gamer Theory

Provocative and philosophical.

Suggested Reading Order

1. Huizinga — Homo Ludens
   
2. Caillois — Man, Play, and Games
   
3. Juul — Half-Real
   
4. Salen & Zimmerman — Rules of Play
   
5. Bogost — Persuasive Games
   
6. Sicart — The Ethics of Computer Games
   
7. Daniel Cook essays
   
8. Aarseth and Galloway
   

A Literary-Theory Path

Because you teach English, another fascinating approach would be to connect game studies to theorists you may already know:

Literary Theory	Game Studies Equivalent
Reader-response	Player agency
Structuralism	Rule systems
New Criticism	Close play analysis
Rhetoric	Procedural rhetoric
Marxism	Labor, economies, progression systems
Feminist theory	Representation and player identity
Myth criticism	Archetypes, quests, hero systems

For example, you could analyze Hades, God of War, or Disco Elysium using myth criticism in much the same way you might analyze Homer or Sophocles—but with the added dimension that the player participates in constructing meaning through action.

If I were designing a semester-long independent study for an English professor, I'd center it around Huizinga → Juul → Salen & Zimmerman → Bogost → Sicart, while making close readings of Hades, Papers, Please, Civilization, Disco Elysium, and Dark Souls. Together they provide an excellent laboratory for examining narrative, systems, ideology, and player experience.