Track 2: Rise of the Horde

Welcome to our adventure! For those of you new to World of Warcraft universe - no worries!

This track is about stories, myths, lore and games. We are using World of Warcraft as an example of a game that is associated with a novel and has a rich metagame.

We will be reading the World of Warcraft Novel, Rise of the Horde by Christie Holden.

Week 1  Prologue and Chapters 1-7

Week 2  Chapters 8  - 15

Week 3  Chapters 15 - 22 and Epilogue

We are reading the book Rise of the Horde along with Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth.

In Joseph Campbell's the Power of Myth, Bill Moyers asks the question, "Why are there so many stories of the hero in mythology?"

Campbell answers, "Because that what's worth writing about. Even in popular novels, the main character is the hero or heroine who has found or done something beyond the normal range of achievement and experience. A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."

That's what good games do, they give the player the opportunity to do something beyond the normal range of achievement and experience. These games allow the player to be the hero.

We'll start Track 2 with reading Chapter V "The Hero's Adventure" in the Power of Myth. At the same time, we'll be reading Chapters 1-7 in the Rise of the Horde.

In addition to immersing ourselves in reading the Rise of the Horde, we will show you the universe in which participants (maybe even you or your students) play in a massively online multi-player game. While the Rise of the Horde book has you interpreting the book, playing a game has you participating constructively in creating a character, reading the lore in the form of quests and cut-aways and being a member of the universe that has been constructed in the game. We will also look at fan sites and other websites that were created by players to extend, optimize and enrich the game play. Good games not only give you the opportunity to play hero, the corresponding metagame gives you the opportunity to be a storyteller.