Stefan Hall

Dr. Stefan Hall, Chair of the Game Design Department and Professor, has been a member of the faculty since fall 2012 when he joined the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication. Previously he came to High Point University from Defiance College in Ohio where he was an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies and taught over a dozen different courses across a broad swath of the field of Communication.

Teaching in Game Design, Dr. Hall draws upon his long history of gaming experience, from being taught to play Dungeons & Dragons in elementary school to his first, but not last, console (an Atari VCS) to the early days of computer programming in junior high and the nascent computer video game field (thanks to computers at home, too). Continuing to playtest different role-playing systems as an undergraduate and starting to collect video games, systems, and memorabilia in graduate school only deepened his interest in the field. This ultimately led to his dissertation examining the historical and economic relationship between the video game and film industries.

Over the course of his teaching career, Dr. Hall has had many opportunities to interact with students from a multitude of diverse backgrounds, from economically disadvantaged minority students in high school to Japanese elementary and middle school students to the wide variety of individuals that constitute the student bodies of public state universities as well as private colleges. He has found that each student brings a rich set of experiences that can be used to enhance the learning experience for everyone involved. He believes that the acquisition of an education should foster both professional and personal growth. Ultimately, Dr. Hall is concerned with variety of thought and the many perspectives that people bring from their own unique combinations of self. As an educator, he is committed to the expansion of learning communities and the increased representation of all people in all levels of the educational system.

In addition to his role as Department Chair, Dr. Hall is also the Director of the Communication Fellows in the School of Communication.

Dr. Hall has published numerous book chapters and articles including “LucasArts and the Hollywoodization of Video Games” (2025), “Star Trek Board Games and Video Games” (2022), “Franchising Fright: Translating the Evil Dead from Film to Game” (2019), “The Digital Hand of Doom: Gaming with Hellboy” (2019), “Franchising Empire: Parker Brothers, Atari, and the Rise of LucasArts” (2017), “Fantastic Licensing: The Ongoing Mission of Trek Comic Books” (2015), and “Shaken, Stirred, Pixellated: Video Gaming as Bond” (2009). He has also authored encyclopedia entries in various collections on topics such as Space Invaders, Conan the Barbarian, Androids, and the television show Futurama. His conference presentations include “Freakers on the Fringe: Reconfiguring Zombies in Days Gone”, “Embracing the Machine: Cyberpunk Inspirations and Aesthetics in Video Games”, “It’s Full of Pixels: The Many Outer Spaces of Video Games”, “Elusive/Illusive Immersion: The Quest for Virtual Reality in Video Games”, “Issues of Adaptation in The Walking Dead Video Games”, “In the Panel No One Can Hear You Frag: Comic Book Adaptations of Video Games”, “Time Enough to Play: The Intersection of Video Game Mechanics and Narrative”, “‘Make way for the bad guy’: Media Mobsters Invade Grand Theft Auto: Vice City”, “The Digital Empire Strikes Back: The Rise, Fall, and Resurgence of Atari and the Classic Era of Video Games”, and “Playing Where the Shadows Lie: The Digital Dimension in The Lord of the Rings”.

Along with his other academic interests, Dr. Hall is also passionate about Japanese studies and routinely teaches a general Communication course on Japanese Media & Popular Culture where he leads students through immersive, experiential learning in Osaka and Tokyo.

Dr. Hall earned his PhD in American Culture Studies with a concentration in Critical Studies in Film, Media, and Culture from Bowling Green State University (OH). He received his MA in English from Virginia Tech as well as his BA in English with minors in Psychology and Communication Studies.