BIOGRAPHY

Jonathan Frome is a PhD candidate in film studies at University of Wisconsin--Madison. His research addresses how videogames and films generate emotions in players and viewers, and why they tend to generate different kinds of emotions. He also teaches film history and theory.

ABSTRACT

A Conversation across Generations of Media Scholars
Symposium, Friday (1:30 - 3:00) in Hall of Ideas G

Videogame scholarship has been criticized for repeatedly regressing to a debate between ludology (the study of videogames as games) and narratology (the study of videogames as narrative). The debate often is controlled by an assumption that we must make a choice about whether games or narratives are the best controlling analogy for discussion of videogames. This panel aims to move beyond a pro/con approach to this issue by discussing how media scholarship might methodologically inform videogame scholarship in ways beyond simple analogy from narrative characters and causality to videogame characters and causality. What can we learn from media scholarship without unfairly de-emphasizing the gameplay aspects of videogames? The panel will be an open conversation between several generations of media scholars, initiated by five-minute participant presentations designed to promote discussion.