But if Moby Dick were a full-fledged video game, what would it be like? What sorts of tasks would you have to complete to capture Moby Dick? Would you be able to play as Ishmael, Queequeg, Ahab, Starbuck, Stubb, Flask, or the harpooners? Would mastering the video game be a metaphor for how hard it is to read Moby Dick?
Some whaling skills could definitely be translated into features of a video game. For example, when Queequeg is harnessed and suspended over the deck to help with collecting the whale blubber, he is dodging sharks, trying to balance, and do his job. During this ordeal, Ishmael is on deck watching Queequeg and the harpooners are stabbing the sharks below. Or maybe as part of the game, you could listen to Ishmael or Ahab's ponderings on the philosophies of how humans and nature interact. You then would have to summarize what they said or interpret their words into a meaningful life lesson for yourself. And of course there is tremendous potential in gamifying the actual rowing out and harpooning of the whales.
These musings of Moby Dick as a video game make me think of how students could gain a greater appreciation for the narrative, symbolism, and world created by authors of other literary masterpieces. How fun would English class be if every great work of literature you read had an accompanying video game that helped you delve into the book more fully and connect with complex characters and themes? In a way, I think this would be awesome! Is it realistic? Probably not, but it would be a new avenue of instruction that would be a great marriage of technology and the humanities. What do you think? Wouldn't Moby Dick make a cool video game? What parts of the book could be gamified to help readers experience a greater depth of understanding and relation to Melville's work?
I would definitely be interested in playing a Moby Dick video game, especially after all the time I've invested in reading this mammoth book! I spent some time with the flash game you linked and it is now my goal to eat everything and make a giant white whale >:D
ReplyDeleteIt would be great as long as the creators spent time with the real book. I think if it was an accurate representation of the literature as WELL as having quality game play to equal popular games like Assassin's Creed, I think we could really incorporate literary education in a video game! And going from there, couldn't we make educational games way more fun and way less Jump Start 4th grade rabbit mathematics, you know what I'm talking about
@ Heidi: yah, classic literature would be more entertaining than Math Rabbit and Playroom 1.
ReplyDelete@ Mary: this could be an epic video game. And just like the book, it could also be a cultural/historical insight for players into 19th century whaling practices. Could it foster certain attitudes towards the environment? (ie is whaling good or bad?) depends on how it was made.
As Lizy notes, there's got to be something more engaging than Math Blaster. We sometimes think that a video game can't teach you anything unless it's doing so actively. As a kid though, I learned a ton from video games, and I see them as an important aspect of my educational and personal development. Everything I know about European history, for example, I learned from games like Age of Empires, and it wasn't something where I was memorizing facts either. Instead of reading about how Joan of Arc took Orleans, I took control of an army with Joan at its head and laid siege to the city myself. Rather than memorizing vocabulary, I was learning words from upgrades or units in various games: myrmidon, praetorian, chitin, ethereal, corporeal, and a host of other words came from video games! I think we'll begin to see more and more legitimacy for video games in the coming years, if for no other reason than a generational change in the ranks of those who are defining the artistic and educational canons.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments guys. I know what you mean about the "fun" interactive learning games for kids. I think the trick to using video games as a successful educational tool partially comes from not designing the game to have solely an educational purpose. I agree with Heidi that the creators of games about literary works would have to consult or hire literature majors/experts to write a lot of the content for the games. The environmental point you bring up is interesting Lizy. It's definitely one way to make the whaling part of the book more applicable to today's world. That's so cool that you learned that much about European history through a video game, Greg! I think you're right about younger generations using video games in new ways and seeing more potential in them other than for entertainment.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the link to this game. I played it for a minute and it was pretty fun. :) I haven't really played many video games, and those that I have played aren't terribly educational. However, I think you're right that video games do have a lot of potential in terms of helping students learn. I think that there would have to be some kind of balance between the "fun" and the "educational" aspects of the video game. I have seen video games that go too far either way. Aside from Age of Empires that Greg mentioned above, have any of you found any good examples of well-balanced video games?
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