Teaching Digital Game Curricula in the Communication Discipline in Higher Education Institutions in the Greater China Region: A Curriculum Analysis Approach

This study examines how communication programs in higher education institutions across the Greater China Region have incorporated digital game curricula, using a curriculum analysis approach grounded in curriculum mapping. Its central argument is that digital game education, as taught within communication disciplines, has often lagged behind the rapid expansion of the Asian digital game market, which was projected to generate roughly $20 billion in revenue in 2015, or about 38 percent of the global total. The authors position universities as key actors in meeting industry demand for skilled game professionals and examine whether the curricula being offered are equipped to do so.

The analysis draws on data from 61 to 62 communication-related departments across China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, and Taiwan. Findings indicate that most traditional communication programs offer few or sporadic digital game courses, and those that do tend to emphasize technical and programming instruction at the expense of broader areas such as player research, the social implications of games, and game rhetoric. Several institutions stand out as exceptions, including the School of Creative Media at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the interactive media design track at the National University of Singapore, and the dedicated game department at the Communication University of China. Newer institutions in the region were generally found to be more responsive to industry needs.

The authors conclude that effective digital game education should cultivate creativity and innovation and treat games as a component of the creative industries, with attendant economic and urban development implications. They argue for a multidisciplinary training model combining arts, technology, and design, supplemented by cross-disciplinary and cross-national preparation suited to a global industry, and they frame digital games as a potential alternative economic path for manufacturing-heavy economies in the region. The study acknowledges limitations, notably its sample of top-20 Chinese communication programs selected by keyword criteria, and it recommends future research extending to computer science, information technology, and human-computer interaction programs.