In Spring 2009 I will offer Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies 3208 "Homer" in an online format that will use games and game-worlds as integral course material. Labs and discussions will occur in-game in games like Halo, Fable, and The Lord of the Rings Online.
I will have a few spots open for students outside of UConn. The waiting list starts here, and I'll have information available soon as to how to sign-up, and what fees and arrangements will be (it's my hope that I'll have money for scholarships, but that's not clear yet). E-mail me (amphiaraus@msn.com) if you’re interested in getting onto the waiting list. General information on registration and fees may be found here. Note that it's too early to register as of this writing--but I'll be sure to notify readers here when registration becomes available!
Following the example of my friend Michael Abbott, the Brainy Gamer, I want to enlist my readers here in helping to plan the course. Are there games you think are particularly epic? Are there things you'd like to do in-game like labs and discussions? Are there conversations we should have with developers and/or their community managers? Let me know!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
The narrative isn't so much text as it is a breadth of exploration punctuated by "epic" confrontations, but Shadow of the Colossus was quite an epic experience for me.
Thanks, JV--I've been meaning to explore Shadow of the Colossus for quite a while. Now I've got a good reason!
I'm not sure if you know about this, although you probably do, but they're currently making a game that is slated for the holiday season, or possibly 2009. Its essentially a condensed form of the Adventures of Jason and the Argonauts. That's basically in the same vein as Odyssey in terms of epic adventures, and the gameplay puts the Gods in a more active role than any other ancient world adventure games have before, at least to my knowledge. I mean, in the God of War series, the Gods seemed only to be your adversaries. But in this new game, the God's actually act as Gods, some aid you, some ihibit your progress, all depending on what you do to please them. To reference an article about the game I read in Game Informer, if the character were to dedicate a heroic act to Ares, then all the torches along his path would burn more brightly, because, at least in the game, Ares has a control over fire. Conversely if one was to anger Ares, the torches dimmed to near darkness, thus making it impossible to enter some areas and a chore to traverse others. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're talking about in terms of epic gaming, but it would seem to me that the developers of this game are more conscious of the active roll of the Gods in the epics of the ancient world, as opposed to their roll as adversaries or occasional helpers in other such games.
I think that this is a neat initiative, yet I wonder how many other Universities would allow it for credit. I am a Classics student in Canada (Concordia University) and while I would jump at the opportunity to join a course which deals with these questions I would want it to count towards my own degree, other wise it is just playing a game with friends.
Furthermore the format you are proposing is limiting, it is possible that I do not have an appropriate understanding how what you want to do it. But from what I gather you want student to analyze the events of a game in literary terms. Personally I find most games to be weak in literary structure that is why we need so many other elements, like visual and tactile interaction.
If a game was made that could be shared together then this idea would be powerful, yet for lack of a game which a) follows a piece of literature or b) allows for multiple people; then we cannot achieve a meaningful goal. If Age of Mythology or God of War allowed for us to coop play - goal achieved. Yet without a game which takes the real story (imagine an Iliad or Odyssey game? Or wait for Inferno which is likely 3 years from release)
Simply exploring the presence of literary merits in Halo, or other, if a hollow pursuit. Now in a game like Final Fantasy you could get a more involving experience, yet the grinding of XI sucks and XII does not allow for multiplayer. What you want is a game experience to teach a learning experience and I don't think we are there yet with the games that we have today. That does not mean we cannot have fun and discuss Homer along the way, but unless you can give the a game to the student along with the play and say, go find the essence of the lit in the game you would have a vast divide. But again I would sign up if I could get a credit for it.
Post a Comment