Game Literacy, Gaming Cultures and Media Education

This article presents an overview of how the popular "3-Cs" model (creative, critical and cultural) for literacy and media literacy can be applied to the study of computer games in the English and Media classroom. Focusing on the development of an existing computer games course that encompasses many opportunities for critical activity and creativity, it considers how the cultural function of literacy has been neglected for those functions that are easier to measure. It considers how opportunities to explore the cultural functions of texts, especially games, might be developed and how computer games might provide a unique opportunity for students to bring their own "cultural capital" into the classroom. It examines some student work from such "cultural" activities and concludes by recommending how and why we might develop "structured play" when using "living texts" such as computer games in the classroom. (Contains 2 figures.)