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78304-01 - Practical course: Critical Game Modification: Practice and Theory (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal (ranjodhsingh.dhaliwal@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Video game modification, or “modding,” is an increasingly pervasive vernacular practice where players pick apart their favorite games and restitch them together into novel creative productions. Taking advantage of games’ nature as assemblages of varied digital media elements—graphic art, animation, music, sound, code, data, dialogue—“modders” will add, edit, and swap these elements in order to extend, alter, and remap the qualities and behaviors of their chosen games. In doing so, they develop novel insights about these games and their affordances beyond what may be gleaned through routine play. This course (workshop?) explores the critical potentials of modding as a scholarly practice for researchers engaged in the study of games, software, and digital media. Modding helps to reveal the implicit and explicit assumptions and design decisions made by developers about their game worlds, to explore how these manifest for players at the interstices of computational processes and aesthetic experience, and, crucially, to experiment with alternative possibilities. Moreover, interrogating the modding process itself—identifying what kinds of changes are more or less difficult to implement—can offer insights into the technical and social conditions within which digital games are produced, distributed, and played. In addition to a set of hands-on lessons in which students practice and reflect upon the process of modding a selection of historically significant and popular video games, we will contextualize modding within historical traditions of non-commercial and amateur game production, artistic hacks, and other design interventions, as well as academic methods and approaches including critical code studies, media archaeology, and critical making. For a final assessment, students will develop research dossiers on a game of their choosing, addressing existing community modding practices, its openness to and barriers against modification, and critical insights produced through their own efforts to modify it. |
| Admission requirements | The number of participants is limited. In case of over-subscription, students of Digital Humanities will be given priority. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Tuesday | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 24.02.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Fasnachtsferien |
| Tuesday 03.03.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 10.03.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 17.03.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 24.03.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 31.03.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 07.04.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 14.04.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 21.04.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 28.04.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 05.05.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 12.05.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 19.05.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Tuesday 26.05.2026 | 12.15-14.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 119 |
| Modules |
Doktorat Digital Humanities: Empfehlungen (PhD subject: Digital Humanities) Modul: Digital Humanities, Culture and Society (Master's degree subject: Digital Humanities) Modul: Humanities and Social Science Coding (Master's degree subject: Digital Humanities) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Digital Humanities Lab |