Assignment Options
Playing Walden, a game will likely be a very different experience from playing other video games. The “action” of this game is not direct conflict, but rather an experience of living Thoreau’s ideas through a game simulation. In this game, the game designer has presented an interpretation of how Thoreau lived, and the challenges he faced balancing his time in filling his basic needs, responding to requests from family, friends and colleagues, and seeking inspiration in nature.
You should have notes on the quotes you found in the game, the mechanics you engaged with, the characters you met or corresponded with, and any other experiences that captured your interest. If you didn’t take notes, you might want to go into your saved game and review the quotes in your in-game journal to remind you of your experiences in the game. If you are still playing, a good time to take notes is at the end of each game day, when the user interface allows you time to reflect on the day.
If you have been able to take your time with the game and play deliberately, you will be in a good position to think critically about how games can engage with serious subjects.
Choose one of the following topics to report on in class:
Discuss how the game system models Thoreau’s experiment in living simply. What activities in the game reflect Thoreau’s daily experience? How does the game world change over the seasons and how does that change affect the challenge of living in nature?
What does Thoreau mean by the words, “necessary of life”? What might he consider a luxury or “so-called comforts” of life? Discuss the way that you lived in the game: Did you buy anything at the store? If so, was it a luxury or a necessity? Why do you think the game designer included a store mechanic in the game if Thoreau’s goal was to “live simply in nature?” How does this change the player experience?
How does the underlying economy in the game relate to what Thoreau is trying to tell us about the meaning of how we spend our time on Earth? For example, the game designer has created a system where time is a scarce resource and it is impossible to get everything on our in-game “to do” list done. Discuss what this design decision communicates about the nature of human life and how our choices relate to our values.
Listen carefully to the sounds of the game world. What do you hear when you are in different places or different times? How is the audio designer using ambience, sound effects and music score to give a sense of Thoreau’s world and the time in which he lived?
Choose one or more plants, trees, or animals in the virtual world to inspect closely every season throughout an in-game year. Describe the changes that the plants or trees go through, including Thoreau’s quotes about them. Discuss what the world design communicates about Thoreau’s experience in each season. How does each season make you feel as a player? Why does Thoreau begin his experiment in summer and end in spring?
Follow one of these quest lines all of the way through the game: Sophia’s poems, Emerson’s books, Agassiz’s animal specimens, Greeley’s manuscripts, Alcott’s Underground Railroad deliveries, or the survey jobs. Discuss the story or theme that emerges as you complete these quests. What choices are you being asked to make? What personal, social, or historical aspects of Thoreau’s life are you learning about? What do you find out about Thoreau and his life in this quest that you didn’t know before? Why did the game designer include this quest in the game?