As a non-credit course, it was pretty enjoyable. However, the discussion forums and related game guilds are mostly inactive, so don’t expect timely replies or engaging conversations there. If you’re planning to check out Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) as recommended in the course, I suggest heading over to the LotRO subreddit—you’ll have a much easier time finding a guild there. If I happen to see your post about looking for a guild/kinship, I might even share some links to my server’s community Discord or my own guild. Overall, it’s an excellent course—maybe a bit dry—but still fun and easy. I wouldn’t recommend taking it too seriously; it’s more something to enjoy for its own sake.

This was just a life-changing perspective-changing course for me. I have always loved Tolkien and have a background in literature and theatre. However I had always thought of LOTR as genre fiction and not "serious" literature. Studying it in the context of English Romantic quest narratives and poems changed my perspective. Beyond that, the world of online gaming was opened to me. I had viewed games from a distance with fascination but they missed my generation and so I had never dived in. As a newbie gamer over 60, it WAS a steep learning curve but I loved the challenge and the community I met in the game. Such a lively and nice bunch of people. I don't know what I did with my time before.

This course was fun and challenging in the best possible way. The only thing that would have made it better is if I would've been able to play the video game used as the central example (Lord of the Rings Online), but it's not compatible for Mac users.

Really enjoyed this course. The course material was interesting and I liked the vibe of the lectures/video discussions. I would have done the Honors Track, however I encountered difficulties thanks to my pc.

I enjoyed it a lot. This course helped me to reguard storytelling in different ways, includind its path from the Middle Ages to my console! Thank you!

The course brings a lot of interesting experiences. I gained more knowledge about culture, game theory and literature.

Course was a lot of fun

Very interesting course! I loved seeing LOTR from a completely new POV as I had only seen the movies before completing this course. I only put 4 stars because the french version of this course has very unclear formulations so the questions get very tricky. I had to switch back to english after the first module.

The content of the class is very interesting, however as non-native English speaker it was hard to follow at times. Particularly, the readings have complex vocabulary. Also, I wanted to complete the honors tasks, but was unable to since downloading LOTRO requires a lot of memory space.

I was not convinced by the setting (mainly a teacher and a few students with group discussions) to begin with but came to find it lively and engaging. Very interesting topics and notions. I enjoyed this course.

The Course itself is fun. The videos are enjoyable. The subject matter is great. However the quizzes are way to hard. They ask to many questions with multiple answers and the online student is expected to know so much more materials that is probably taught in the actual class, and does not have access to. For that it becomes frustrating. Especially that the material is not easy to digest.

There is nothing inherently flawed in the course, it just wasn't what I expected and keeping on it only frustrated me. I wanted to explore about the narrative in online games, not focus on Tolkien's life and works. I also dislike the live discussion parts of the lessons. The idea's great, but some of them weren't very thorough and felt more like comments. I liked the breakdowns a lot better.

The class is great! Serves a basic theory on video games, literature, and remediation. To my surprise, it also travels through different English literature pieces of chivalry, mythology, or adventure that serves as content to compare the narrative in videogames and films. This part was really enjoyable and so I also recommend this class if you want to know the basics of romance literature. This part also serves to show how many videogames have taken elements of this narrative into their own. Didn't have the opportunity to play LOTRO, but I must say it make me want to play it in the future and to also read the trilogy of Lord of the Rings.

A fascinating course for those who love games, digital narrative, and literature.

The course materials are done with love and it shows: the videos are fantastic, clear, entertaining and well paced.

The course revolves around Lord of the Rings (in its iterations of books, films and videogame), but discussion about art, literature, gaming and narrative in general is encouraged.

The community is supportive, helpful and very friendly, in the forums and in the game, so those who are new to gaming but are interested in the course have no reason to shy off!

Esse curso foi muito agregador para mim. Ele não falou somente sobre jogo, mas também abordou as narrativas, o modo como os diferentes tipos de mídias pela qual um romance pode passar muda a perspectiva que se tem do romance, seja remediado em um filme, jogo... Entregou bem mais do que aquilo que imaginei, e trouxe não somente conteúdo como reflexões que impactam no modo de se enxergar os diferentes tipos de mídias. Curso extremamente necessário para quem busca uma literatura que seja muito maior do que ler "clássicos." Excelente.

Ce cours est très intéressant car il ne porte pas que sur l'oeuvre de Tolkien, on y découvre des textes, des poèmes etc qui permettent de comprendre la tram narrative, les choix d'écritures et ce qui a inspiré Le Seigneur des Anneaux, sans oublier le fait que ce cours explore aussi le travail effectué pour l'adaptation en jeu vidéo de l'histoire du Seigneur des Anneaux. Je ne suis vraiment pas déçue et j'espère retrouver un cours d'aussi bonne qualité sur le catalogue de Coursera!

Exceptional course that explores the remediation of books, narrative, and other artwort like paintings into MMOs. The discussed example is Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and the games "Lord of the Rings Online".

The support is outstanding on Coursera as well as in the game. Several servers are home to course accompanying groups who offer support and guidance with course related in-game assignments and the game itself.

Great fun, great people, great content.

Although I’m not really a gamer, I took the first session of this course since I was studying art and computer science in school, and I thought this course would give me some insights as to what decisions people make when they design a computer game based on a well-known existing story, and as to how art and technology are integrated into the overall game design. It certainly did! And I found it so engrossing that I’ve continued to play LOTRO ever since.

A very enjoyable course that shows art can be appreciated in many forms, people of all walks of life and ages enjoy online games and that you can be anything you want with a little imagination.

The course videos are a series of discussions between the course tutor and his team of young enthusiasts. Its an unusual method and one I thought was lively and entertaining.

Even for someone who is not much into games (but who is very much into literature and LOTR) this course was a pleasant surprise. I loved to see the interaction between the students during the course, everyone is very knowledgable, and everything is discussed in depth and detail in the course. I absolutely loved the course!

Fun and engaging course with a lot of material I would have otherwise not looked into. I made so many friends and have a deeper appreciation for Tolkien and LOTRO than I did before this course! I highly recommend this to anyone looking to take a course that can truly be informative and fun at the same time.

Loved it. A pleasure from start to finish. Jay Clayton is so clearly in love with what he teaches that you cannot resist being pulled along for this ride. I gained a great deal of knowledge on the construction of stories and how they've evolved across the years, from books, to painting, to video games.

This was a very interesting course that brings together different and unexpected sources and ties them with Tolkien's classic narrative in ways that help you gain new perspectives on LOTR, but also on modern and classic works of art, books, games.

Filled with emotions and amazing content, this course delivers a complete notion of how narrative works in video games, films, and literature. And in some others that we wouldn't have considered before, such as architecture or painting.

This course was incredible! Jay is such a passionate instructor and the course materials between literature, gaming, and narrative are so engaging. The only thing I wish is that I could have been present for the discussions!