Agent Dormer
Dirty Drinking Smoker
Yeah, you read that right. This semester at FSU there was a course being offered by the English department called "Writing About Video Games." Naturally, my curiosity was piqued. I figured taking it was vital. I didn't need the credit or requirements offered by the course, but I figured it would provide a academic view of writing about video games. The thing is, the teacher is a grad student who gets to pick any subject to teach a 'Writing About' course on. So her qualifications are not what most here would probably be expecting.
So, I've been taking the class for four weeks now, and there have been some funny happenings:
Teacher: "Lots of people write on fansites and end up going to E4, that big expo with all the new games."
Student A: "I've been playing games since the Xbox, and nothing is better than it."
Student B: "So you've never played any other system?"
Student A: "Nah, but why do I need to? Xbox is perfection."
Student A: "The Nintendo DS is the best thing to happen to gaming in years. Nintendo is so progressive with the technolgoy."
Me: "The DS is nice, but the PSP is going to be great when it launches. Beautiful screen, and a great launch line up."
Class: RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE
Student A: "The PSP is defective! It's going to bomb!"
Me: "5,000 units were returned for defects. I think you might be exaggerating."
Student A: "God, you're so biased, dude! You know absolutely nothing about games. Go play Super Mario 64 DS, and you'll see!"
Teacher: "Okay, so what is everyone's favorite games currently?"
Student A: "Madden."
Student B: "Need for Speed Underground 2."
Student C: "NCCA Football."
Student D: "Rainbow Six for Xbox."
Student E: "Solitare."
Student F: "Um, that James Bond game."
Me: "World of WarCraft and Metal Gear Solid 3."
Continues on with more EA titles up to 18.
Student A: "So, I hooked up my computer to my Xbox and I download games. I don't pay for any of them."
Me: "I don't pay for my games, either."
Student A: "Hell yeah, man. Go piracy."
Me: "Fuck off, you flithy cur."
Needless to say, the class is basically like GAF, just in real life with 18 people. Anyway, no one knew that I wrote about games until just recently. Last week there was a panel discussion at the Film & Lit. conference in town about the blurring lines between cinema and games. I asked a question about videogame journalism, and they asked if I wrote about games. I replied yes, but I didn't know my teacher was in the room.
Today, she asked about my videogame related writings. I happened to have "Power-Up" and a copy of Animerica with me(was meeting with a former professor to show off the goods), so I showed her the goods. But, it gets better. Then she said:
"It's pretty intimidating that my student knows more about writing about videogames than me."
She then proceeded to ask me to come speak at her 8AM class about this (apparently she has two of these things!), and help her with the structure of things. Anyway, thought GAF would like to know.
So, I've been taking the class for four weeks now, and there have been some funny happenings:
Teacher: "Lots of people write on fansites and end up going to E4, that big expo with all the new games."
Student A: "I've been playing games since the Xbox, and nothing is better than it."
Student B: "So you've never played any other system?"
Student A: "Nah, but why do I need to? Xbox is perfection."
Student A: "The Nintendo DS is the best thing to happen to gaming in years. Nintendo is so progressive with the technolgoy."
Me: "The DS is nice, but the PSP is going to be great when it launches. Beautiful screen, and a great launch line up."
Class: RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE
Student A: "The PSP is defective! It's going to bomb!"
Me: "5,000 units were returned for defects. I think you might be exaggerating."
Student A: "God, you're so biased, dude! You know absolutely nothing about games. Go play Super Mario 64 DS, and you'll see!"
Teacher: "Okay, so what is everyone's favorite games currently?"
Student A: "Madden."
Student B: "Need for Speed Underground 2."
Student C: "NCCA Football."
Student D: "Rainbow Six for Xbox."
Student E: "Solitare."
Student F: "Um, that James Bond game."
Me: "World of WarCraft and Metal Gear Solid 3."
Continues on with more EA titles up to 18.
Student A: "So, I hooked up my computer to my Xbox and I download games. I don't pay for any of them."
Me: "I don't pay for my games, either."
Student A: "Hell yeah, man. Go piracy."
Me: "Fuck off, you flithy cur."
Needless to say, the class is basically like GAF, just in real life with 18 people. Anyway, no one knew that I wrote about games until just recently. Last week there was a panel discussion at the Film & Lit. conference in town about the blurring lines between cinema and games. I asked a question about videogame journalism, and they asked if I wrote about games. I replied yes, but I didn't know my teacher was in the room.
Today, she asked about my videogame related writings. I happened to have "Power-Up" and a copy of Animerica with me(was meeting with a former professor to show off the goods), so I showed her the goods. But, it gets better. Then she said:
"It's pretty intimidating that my student knows more about writing about videogames than me."
She then proceeded to ask me to come speak at her 8AM class about this (apparently she has two of these things!), and help her with the structure of things. Anyway, thought GAF would like to know.
Do you think he even noticed?
