Professor studies games

December 5, 2005 —

Dr. Nathan Garrelts, an associate professor of English at SVSU, is a devoted video game player. Unlike many button-pushing fans, however, he has made a career out of studying a field with yearly revenue rivaling that of the movie business.

In his first book, "Digital Gameplay: Essays on the Nexus of Game and Gamer," Garrelts examines how the interactive nature of digital games sets them apart from other forms of media and literature.

"When people first started playing [digital games], they were simple games," Garrelts says. "There wasn't a whole lot to figure out. We were all playing the same game. It's not so easy with recent digital games. You may play Halo in the Halo tournament [at SVSU], but I may get my same Halo game at home and make movies.

"There's no telling how people are going to use their video games. We're all playing video games different ways, and we have different things to tell one another about [them]."

Garrelts, who received his Doctorate in American Studies from Michigan State University, sees his collection as a "manifesto" of sorts for those who wish to study digital games.

"There's not a lot of ... journals out there that are dedicated just for people to submit their scholarly work on video games," Garrelts says. "My [question] was that if it's so complex to talk about video games, how do you study something so elusive? So I started looking at the other video game scholarship."

He says that unless studies examine games as whole units, rather than the sum of their parts, it would be impossible to determine their role in society accurately. If scholars examine a game for its musical, artistic, or filmic qualities, he says, "the thing is, they're studying music, art, or film. They're not capturing the essence of the video game because they're focusing in on one very specific aspect of the video game. They're disconnecting it from fact that ... the text that emerges is shaped by the way [we] play the video game."

Garrelts' next book, which is currently untitled, will focus on the cultural significance of the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series.

The series, which critics blast for its sexual and violent content and its possible negative influences on children, is notable for its non-linear format that allows players to roam free within the digital world and decide their own schedule for key game events.

"You can choose to never finish a game," he says. "You can choose to always drive the taxi cab or the ambulance, and always rescue people and be a do-gooder if you want to."

Garrelts says he hopes to break new grounds with his next book.

"There are no collections of essays that focus on a single game or a single game series," he says.

He adds that other books such as his own "Digital Gameplay" each talk about a variety of games, and tend to stray from a unified theme.

"I thought it would be useful to have a book that focused all on one game series," he explains. "I have essays that talk about the space and landmarks within the GTA games, how politicians use GTA for political aims, the economic structures within the GTA games, and so on. The collection is still taking shape now."

Garrelts has been invited by the SVSU Honors Program to teach English 111 classes for the next fall semester that focus on his research into digital culture and gaming.

He notes that students who consider this class should be prepared for a challenge.

"This is an honors section, and it's not open to everyone," he explains. "I would love to teach classes that help students develop a critical media literacy, and that examine digital games as forms of literature."