What does Tetris teach us about the human condition? 

Often cited as the best-selling video game of all time, Tetris may tell us quite a bit about ourselves. Like Sisyphus forever pushing his rock up a hill, the tile matching puzzle game features a task with no end. Perhaps the popularity of the game reflects humanity’s ability to accept, adapt, and find patterns in a chaotic world of impermanence. 

It’s this deeper way of connecting games and philosophy that anchors a unique course at UNLV.

The Course: Video Games, Streaming, and Society

Taught in the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism, the course focuses on the humanistic and critical study of video games and streaming culture.

“When students come into the classroom, I ask them, 'How many of you play video games?’” assistant professor Arthur Soto-Vásquez says. “Of course, hands go up all the time.”

The faculty recognized that meeting students in an arena they’re comfortable in is an appealing way to introduce critical concepts. “It’s a fun class, but it allows them to think deeply about things that they really care about,” Soto-Vásquez says.

He adds that his class also uses content from Disney, podcasts, and social media influencers.

Who’s taking it?

Students usually take the 400-level course as they near graduation. “It’s a sort of class they can take at the end of their time here in our program," Soto-Vásquez says. "It’s a fun class, but it also pushes and prepares them” with skills for their future professions.

How does it work?

In the era of AI, Soto-Vásquez makes an effort to ensure students enter the workforce by developing their critical thinking and presentation skills — human skills that can’t be AI-generated.

Every student gives an oral presentation examining a video game through a philosophical or cultural lens. Afterward, they lead a discussion and sometimes even play the games in class. 

“In this way, students are allowed to present and gain skills in a very safe environment as they’re about to go out into the working world. These kinds of skills will become increasingly valuable in an AI-driven world,” Soto-Vásquez says.

At the end of the semester, students are assigned a video essay, rather than a typical written essay, where they play a video game and do commentary over it. The project replicates popular streaming and essay-style videos often found on YouTube.

Who’s teaching it?

Soto-Vásquez believes that there’s a deeper meaning to many of the things that we watch and appreciate. He began his career in politics before transitioning into higher education to study the relationship between media, politics, health, and Latina/o/x identity.

Since then, he’s published a wide range of research on Instagram, consumer culture, migration, right-wing movements online, misinformation, and podcasts.  

And, he knows a thing or two about video games. Fun fact: He ranks in the top 3% of players worldwide in Risk: Global Domination.

What’s something students might be surprised to learn?

“Students will walk away from this class — and this is my goal — surprised to learn how much of their own lives they can treat like a video game,” Soto-Vásquez says.

“It’s very much an open-world gameplay out there. They can take on quests, build up their stamina, and treat it like an RPG [role playing game]. They don't just have to follow the scripts that are laid out in front of them.”

What can even lay people learn from this course? 

That people who don’t consider themselves gamers likely still play video games, Soto-Vásquez points out. Mobile games, for example, are still part of the video game industry.

“I think the perception that gamers are just teenage boys does not exist anymore," he says. "Everybody from the elderly to women to all types of different people play games, and it is very much a media industry here to stay."

The industry has a huge reach and this course helps students be mindful of the media they and those around them consume.

How does this course connect to students’ future careers?

In addition to critical thinking skills, the course refines students’ public speaking and video production skills. Soto-Vásquez notes that content production is a huge pathway for students starting their careers today.

The game list:

Soto-Vásquez recommends the game, Papers, Please, a puzzle simulation game where players act as a border crossing guard and choose whether to let people in or out. 

“I use it in class to talk about the concept of the banality of evil,” a concept introduced by German and American philosopher Hannah Arendt, he says. In studying the trial of Holocaust perpetrator Adolf Eichmann, Arendt argued that many Nazis were not monstrous villains, but bureaucrats carrying out routine tasks.

Despite the heavy concepts, Soto-Vásquez assures that Papers, Please is a fun and easy to play game that can lead to interesting introspection.