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Week 3 Hero's Journey
This is our last week and our chance to look at Joseph Campbell's Hero Journey through the lens of Rise of the Horde. We will be holding our weekly session on Thursday at 9 pm ET over the Games MOOC Google Hangout.
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.
Our major question for this week is "Was Durotan a hero?"
Readings:
The Rise of the Horde
Chapter 14 - Prologue
The Power of Myth
Chapter 4 Sacrifice and Bliss
Chapter 8 Masks of Eternity
Chapter 5 The Hero's Adventure
The Hero's Journey is the foundational piece in Campbell's work on comparative mythology. This is one theory of a narrative Campbell describes this repeating pattern in mythology as the monomyth in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This narrative pattern usually has the following elements:
1) Call to Adventure
The hero receives a message, uncovers a item or is told a story.
2) Refusal of the Call
There is a barrier either internal or external that prevents the hero from accepting the the call or what is often called the quest.
3) A Road of Trials
This is the journey taken by the hero that has one or more challenges that happen during the journey.
4) Boon
This is the reward. It can be solely for the hero or for their community.
5) Return to the Ordinary World
The hero does not remain on the journey but returns to home or a permanent place.
6) Application of the Boon
Additional Readings
Using the Hero's Journey in Games by Troy Dunniway (2000) on Gamasutra.
The concept of the hero's journey is not new. Joseph Campbell originally wrote of the Hero's Journey in 1949 when he published The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Games Telling Stories? by Jesper Juul (2001) in Game Studies
This is one of the earlier articles by the game studies scholar that discusses the narrative features of games. Sherry Jones made this article part of Track 1 Game Studies during the summer book club. While written to show how games could be studied as some different than narratives, it still gives a good rationale on how we can relate to games as narratives. Juul outlines that games can be looked at as narratives because
1) We use narratives for everything.
2) Most games feature narrative introductions and back-stories.
3) Games share some traits with narratives.
The Mismeasure of Boys: Reading and Online Videogames (2011) by Constance Steinkuehler
This is a working document by Constance Steinkuehler. It is a counter to the displacement hypothesis that assumes if boys weren't playing video games they would read. This article instead details the results of four investigation of adolescents playing World of Warcraft and using digital texts. Five main categories of texts were reported from interviews of 50 players.
1) Information-seeking resources
2) Community discussion resources
3) Group Organization Resources
4) User interface modification (UI mod) resources/add-ons
5) Player production resources
Videos:
Power of Myth Video Clip
Episode 4: Sacrifice and Bliss
Additional Videos
Gaming for Literacy! CCSS and Text Complexity in Video Games by LeeAnn Tysseling, EdWeb Games Based Learning Webinar (August 2014). You will be asked to give your name and email to access this.
MMOs in Education (This Hangout is long! It is suggested you click on "show more" to see break-out).
Inevitable Instructors, (October 2014)
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