Written by: Kelly Bergstrom, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Abstract: Night in the Woods (NITW) was released in 2017 and has met with commercial and critical success. The low technical requirements and compelling narrative that speaks to issues directly impacting young adults makes it a compelling text to use in a university classroom. Theoretically informed by feminist game studies, in this article I report on the successes, failures, and lessons learned from using NITW as a required text across three Communication Studies courses. I argue that while the cultural baggage that surrounds games does not disappear just because we step into a classroom, the unique perspectives offered by novice players who are not yet fully enmeshed in gaming’s norms and expectations offer the potential for unique insights and teachable moments. Ultimately, in this article I put forward the following provocation: how would we reimagine a university-level game studies seminar if we designed our curriculum as if all our students were first time players?

Keywords: Night in the Woods; non-players; inclusion; curriculum; games in the classroom; novices