Further practomimetic adventures: a daring rescue

This is just a pointer to my latest update on LOTROreporter, in which I chronicle my students' rescue of their bardic leader from a (fictional) camp of 1337 (that is, leet; that is, "elite") gamers.

• The learning objective: analyze an anti-heroic bardic narrative.
• The activity: take part in a bardic occasion that tells the story of the rescue of the leaders of the bardic order.
• The result: madcap epic engagement (that is [shhh!], fun).

Updates on my practomimetic pedagogy

I apologize for this blog's darkness as I teach my way through an amazing semester of practomime. In case you're desperate for news, I've posted a few updates about the ARG version of (Gaming) Homer at a great LOTRO blog called LOTRO Reporter.

• Overview
• A bardic pub-crawl
• Ecphrastic muffins

The Advanced Latin practomime in Rome is finally hitting its stride. After a night in a brothel, learning about the machinations of their uncle, Ovid, and the future Tiberius to recover a priceless treasure that includes the reputed necklace of Venus, my students' Romans have been directed to go to the Forum of Augustus and get to see the princeps (Augustus, that is) by making a commotion. One of them decided to murder a litter-bearer and disguise himself in the unfortunate slave's uniform so that he could gain access to Augustus; another has been knocked unconscious at the threshold of the forum. And in the reading-Latin portion of the course, we're now reading Horace's gloriously obscene Satire 1.2, in which much is revealed about the erotic character of Rome in the years leading up to the Lex Julia which outlawed adultery and inspired Ovid's outrageous Art of the Lover, and so also his exile.

(Gaming) Homer Course-design (2): Activities

This is a post in a series taken from the preliminary version of the course-design document for CAMS 3208. Dig in and see what you think! Please do let me know if you’ve got suggestions for other activities, or if you think anything needs clarification. I really want this course to be something gamers with the slightest interest in the ancient world, and classicists with the slightest interest in gaming, are drooling to take. :D

Here's the planned range of course activities for the course. I'm incredibly excited not just about the cool individual items (in-game labs and discussions, interviews with designers and community-managers, internet forum observation), but by the way they're all going to fit together in the matrix for the course, so that every unit (the next post in this series will have the specific units) is going to have a mixture of enlightening and fun stuff to do.

Readings: Homeric Iliad, Homeric Odyssey, A. Lord, The Singer of Tales (Cambrdige, MA: 1960); G. Nagy Homeric Questions (Cambridge, MA: 1996)

Lectures by podcast and video podcast

In-game labs in Halo, Fable, Lego Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings Online

In-game discussions in The Lord of the Rings Online

Internet forum discussions

Internet forum labs through observation of discussion on gaming web-forums

Designing, conducting, and analyzing interviews with developers’ personnel (incl. community-managers) about what it means to be an interactive storyteller

Visits by proxy (video podcast) to developers’ studios

Living Epic: the ONLINE COURSE!

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!