Greenlaw Gameroom
About
Launched in 2020, the Greenlaw Gameroom is the first gaming-centered classroom at UNC, designed to provide instructors with the resources and support they need to integrate games into their classes. By providing access to the sometimes costly technology as well as instruction in games and gameplay, the Gameroom breaks down accessibility barriers and provides a playful space for teaching and learning with games. The Gameroom is the cornerstone of the Department of English & Comparative Literature’s Gaming Initiative that brings a humanistic lens to the study and teaching of games. Additionally, the Gameroom acts as a hub for innovative research into games and collaboration between the diverse perspectives and expertise.
The space is equipped with five large screens, 5 MSI Aegis RS PCs, 5 PlayStation 4’s, a Valve Index VR Kit, Nintendo Switches, and associated controllers, together with an ever increasing library of games, including more than 40 tabletop games. With a seating capacity of 25, the classroom features a flexible design with moveable desks and chairs to enable all types of gaming, including tabletop games.
To apply to teach in the Greenlaw Gameroom, fill out this form. For research related inquiries, please contact the Director the Gaming Initiative, Dr. Courtney Rivard.
Awards
NEH Award for Critical Game Studies
The Digital Literacy and Communications lab is pleased to announce that a National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded it with Humanities Initiative Grant for a yearlong initiative on “Integrating Storytelling & Critical Game Studies into the Curriculum.”
The initiative aims to provide faculty and graduate instructors with training and resources to teach and research with games, and will culminate in a proposal to establish a minor in Critical Game Studies. Critical Game Studies brings rhetorical and literary theories together with feminist studies, queer studies, postcolonial studies and ethnic studies to investigate how narrative structures in games are shaped by societal power structures and cultural representations.
The initiative will be head by DLC Director Dr. Courtney Rivard and guided by a faculty administrative committee including: Professor Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Dr. Dan Cobb, Dr. Jordynn Jack, Dr. Michelle Robinson, and Professor Joyce Rudinsky.
Please stay tuned for more information on this exciting new initiative.
In the News
Our work in the Gameroom aims to engage and serve our community. Click below to see what others are saying about the Gameroom:
Playing video games in class: A look inside UNC’s game-based classroom | CBS 17
First game-based classroom at UNC-Chapel Hill made possible by Lenovo Grant | Lenovo Story Hub
Leveled-Up Learning | endeavors
Cutting-edge classrooms emerge from pandemic | UNC College of Arts and Sciences
NEH grant will help develop critical games studies minor | UNC College of Arts and Sciences