New course focuses on social history of games and gaming

David Dubin
David Dubin, Teaching Associate Professor

The iSchool has introduced a new course for undergraduate students who are interested in gaming. Social History of Games & Gaming (IS 199 SHG) is a survey of the history of gaming from the ancient world through the twentieth century and its impact on science, society, and culture. Taught by Teaching Associate Professor David Dubin, the course fulfills a general education requirement for students majoring in information sciences. It is taught in a lecture and discussion format, engaging students with the material and promoting participation.

Dubin encourages students to enroll in the course because of the large impact gaming has made across a variety of disciplines. Mathematics, psychology, military planning, education, and computer science have all been influenced by gaming. Dubin wants students to be aware of the relevance of gaming to their daily lives and hopes they will come to appreciate how different academic disciplines question and understand our world.

According to Dubin, another reason that students should enroll in this course is because gaming provides models for framing important questions.

"The whole field of probability theory developed in large part out of questions related to gambling, such as how to fairly divide the stakes if a game has to end before a winner is determined. The question of whether a machine could play chess opened debates about what constitutes intelligent behavior and what it means to be a human being. The popular board game Monopoly began as a satire on the abuses of capitalism," he said.

Furthermore, the course is relevant for students because it connects the history of gaming to current events and issues. An example of this is when Dubin discusses the ancient Olympic games. He assigns students readings related to the topic and then poses questions that encourage debate about the status of student athletes. In doing so, he relates the status ancient Olympians once held to the status of student athletes in today's society.

Dubin also discusses how games like Rock Paper Scissors evolved in segregated red-light districts during the Edo period in Japan. When students learn about the history of the game, they learn about its relevance to evaluating today's policing of the sex industry and the sex workers' rights movement. Ultimately, the game's history contributes to changing our current understanding of entertainment, personal freedom, and labor.

In teaching the course, Dubin assures students that the skills learned in gaming can be beneficial in other parts of life. For example, learning to evaluate a situation from an opponent's perspective is a life skill that offers heightened insight, improves decision making, and positively impacts the outcome of certain situations.

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

Students put designs into practice in escape room course

In the past few years, escape rooms have been on the rise, evolving from simple locked boxes in an open room to complex adventures spanning multiple rooms involving electronics, sound design, and even live actors. This past semester, students enrolled in the Makerspace: Escape Rooms (INFO 418) course brought that same spirit of creativity and design to the Fairy Tale Ball at The Urbana Free Library. 

Children lined up at a station at the Fairy Tale Ball at The Urbana Free Library.

Jung to join the faculty

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Yonghan Jung will join the faculty as an assistant professor in August 2025, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. 

Yonghan Jung

Weech passes away

Professor Emeritus Terry Laverne Weech passed away on June 5, 2025, in Staunton, Virginia. He was the widower of Eunice Hovis Weech, who passed away on October 16, 2022. He is survived by his sister-in-law, Brenda Bruce, and her husband, Timothy, and cousins, Wilber Rehmann and Susan Henry Anderson.

Terry L Weech

Library Trends examines generative AI in libraries

The iSchool at Illinois is pleased to announce the publication of Library Trends 73 (3). With the rapid adoption of AI, coupled with increasing ethical concerns relating to AI usage, bias, and authorship, "Generative AI and Libraries: Applications and Ethics, Part I" is the first of two special issues that examine how librarians are grappling with the effects of AI on the field.

Cover of Library Trends 73 (4), Generative AI and Libraries. The cover design is shades of blue with abstract connection points.

Aubin Le Quéré to join the faculty

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Marianne Aubin Le Quéré will join the faculty as an assistant professor in August 2026, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Aubin Le Quéré is a PhD candidate in the Department of Information Science at Cornell University. For the 2025-2026 academic year, she will be a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy.

Marianne Aubin Le Quere
OSZAR »