A Letter From Tracy Fullerton

I was twelve when my father gave me a copy of Walden, or

Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau. We were visiting

family in Massachusetts and I read the book while floating in a

rowboat on a pond not far from Walden itself. This experience

brought the adventure of living in nature alive for me, in a way

that made the book a special favorite, one that I returned to

again and again as I got older. Each time I read the book —

as a high school student, as a freshman in college, and as an

adult looking for inspiration — I discovered different types

of wisdom in its pages. The book, like the pond, seemed a

multifaceted surface, reflecting back thoughts on whatever

questions about life were absorbing me at the time.

I have found that many people today are introduced to Walden

in a less idyllic way — forced to read it in classrooms cut off from

nature and devoid of the special memories that tend to make a

piece of literature resonate with its reader. But the words that

Thoreau wrote about his stay at Walden Pond are as important

to us today as they were when he wrote them — perhaps more

important. His thoughts about how advancements in technology

and communication change the quality and pace of our lives are

deeply relevant to those of us living in the digital age. So are his

critiques of other aspects of society, including our relationships

to governments and, of course, to nature.

When I set out to create a game based on Walden, I wanted to

create an experience that would give players an introduction to

this important book that goes beyond just reading Thoreau’s

words. I wanted to create a virtual world that would allow you

to explore his ideas in context, to try for yourself his experiment

in living simply in nature, and to find your own answers to the

questions he was asking about life and how to live it.

We often think of great writers like Thoreau as stodgy old men

living in a distant past that is hard for us to relate to. But when

Thoreau went to the woods, he was a relatively young man still

searching for his best path in life. He had tried several careers,

including teaching, surveying, construction, and working in his

father’s pencil factory. He had recently experienced a great loss

in his life that caused him to think deeply about how important

it is to live our lives fully every moment of every day. When he

writes, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,

to front only the essential facts of life … and not, when I came

to die, discover that I had not lived,” he is speaking for all of us

when we consider the preciousness of life and the importance of

choosing wisely what we do with our time here on Earth.

I hope that you enjoy the opportunity to play “deliberately”

in this virtual Walden, and that exploring the game will

inspire you to read Thoreau’s words with a deeper feeling

for the questions he was asking, the person he was, the times

he lived in, and then, perhaps, to apply that inspiration to

finding your own personal Walden Pond, wherever you live,

and however you define it.

Sincerely,

Tracy Fullerton

Game Designer and Director