Videogaming & Scholarship
The UNCG Network for the Cultural Study of Videogaming connects scholars at UNCG and beyond who are invested in studying videogaming and their cultures. The Network supports faculty and students by facilitating existing research and curriculum. Our programs and initiatives highlight videogaming and its scholarship as a rising force and place UNCG at the forefront of this cultural landscape.
Videogaming and Esports Studies Minor
This interdisciplinary minor prepares students to engage in the gaming and esports industries by providing a broad understanding of videogames and esports. This robust suite of courses highlights the diverse expertise UNCG provides students looking to level-up their education and training. With skills gained from both critical reflection and hands on experience, the minor places students at the forefront of the rapidly changing world of gaming.
Electives are offered in a diverse range of departments, including Art, Classical Studies, Communication Studies, Community and Therapeutic Recreation, English, Information and Analytics, Media Studies, Music, and Religious Studies.
For more information on the minor sign up HERE!
About NCSV
Videogaming and Esports have taken over the global media landscape, with videogame sales doubling the movie box office beginning in 2016 and Esports leagues bringing in annual viewership of almost 500 million. UNCG’s recent launch of its esports initiative, including a state-of-the-art gaming facility, reflects the growing interest and investment in this international industry.
The UNCG Network for the Cultural Study of Videogaming was founded in the Fall of 2021 with the goal of bringing together scholars and students at the University to create a hub of research and learning around videogames and their cultures. The Network is made up of faculty from across the campus, representing a wide variety of disciplines in the College of Arts and Sciences and beyond. It now platforms events, programming, and curriculum that will sustain the cultural study of videogaming at UNCG.
Why do Video Games matter?
“I LEFT VALHEIM FOR THIS?”
The Gaming Cultures of Valheim
On Friday April 29, 2022 UNCG’s Network for the Cultural Study of Videogaming hosted its first international conference on gaming and culture. Focused around the new popular game Valheim, the conference covered topics from Vikings and Norse culture in popular media to how dying in the game might affect the value of death, among many others! We were happy to host such fine scholarship, and look for more from the proceedings!
Leadership
DIRECTOR
Gregory Price Grieve
Gregory Price Grieve is Professor and Head of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro . Grieve researches, teaches as well as provides service, at the intersection of Asian religions and popular culture. He specializes in digital religion, particularly the emerging field of religion and video games, and his current research uses video games to explore the category of evil in contemporary life.
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
John W. Borchert
John W. Borchert is a Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Borchert is interested in how religious practices and media technologies intersect across American religious histories, particularly their impact on embodiment and death. He is co-chair of the Religion and Media Workshop of the American Academy of Religion, and serves on the board of the gamevironments, the only journal on religion and video gaming.
