So here’s to writing. May it go on and on.

Bibliography:

The Holy Bible, NIV.

Anchor Bible Dictionary, Volume 3. “Isaiah, Book of (Second Isaiah).” pg. 493-501

“40″ by U2, click here to listen

To give you an idea of what we’re looking at here, Professor Bandstra has always been testing the limits of what technology can do for education. We had class cancelled yesterday so he could attend a conference in Chicago on this idea of “alternative” learning. What tools are available that we’re not using? Is there another educational format for teaching the Old Testament that might involve the learner more effectively than a lecture?

Since we missed class yesterday, he asked us to respond to this question:

…and I read the book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal (Penguin Press, 2011).
The book argues that computer gaming can provide the satisfactions and fulfillment that real life mostly lacks. This includes satisfying work, the experience of being successful, social connections and meaning–being a part of something larger than ourselves. She goes on to claim that massive social gaming could solve some of our planet’s biggest challenges.

While her claims seem somewhat overdone to me, she convinced me that gaming does tap into the kinds of emotions and social connections that can lead to happiness. So that got me thinking: could an introduction to the Hebrew Bible course be structured as a computer game, or as a totally immersive environment, within which learning could take place? What do you think?

If you were to design learning the Hebrew Bible as a game, or as an immersive environment, how would you do it? How would you structure it? What goals would you look to achieve? Would you be willing to accept a game score as your final grade?!

I think that we’re far enough into the course that you have an adequate sense of the biblical text and the kinds of skills I’m hoping we’ll all gain. But could it be made more fun? What would that look like?

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Here it is in a nutshell: Yes it could, but I’m not sure the results would be worth the cost. On top of that, I’m guessing you would have trouble harnessing the interest of the class.

When I was younger, I used to play “Age of Empires II,” a great old strategy game whose goal is to essentially build a civilization successful enough to dominate that of each of the opposing computer players. World domination could come in several ways: You could capture all of the “relics” left by past peoples – there were generally five or six in any given map, and once captured you would only have to hold them for a certain amount of time before given the victory. You could build a “Wonder,” a massive and hugely expensive building which would deliver you victory in much the same way as the Relics. The appearance of the Wonder itself would vary by which civilization you had chosen. The Byzantines had a Hagia Sofia. The Aztecs had one of their distinctive stepped pyramids. Spain would give you a Castille, and so on. You could also choose to dominate using sheer military might, but that was never as informative a route as building yourself a Wonder. These buildings spoke volumes of the civilizations they represented, and it was worth playing as every distinct civilization (of which there were 15 or 16) just to come to an understanding with that culture.

The game also included several “Campaigns,” which followed several chosen military heroes of the Dark Ages (on through Early Renaissance) as each led his (or her, in the case of Joan of Arc) civilization to victory. The creators of this game did so to teach the children of my generation this history. There is no doubt in my mind. Some of the topics I’ve since covered in class. As I mentioned, Joan of Arc was included, as was William Wallace, Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, Attila the Hun, Hernán Cortez. These are important figures by Western standards, to the point where they are covered even in High School Curriculum. However, there were some lesser-known characters involved too, such as Frederick Barbarossa and El Cid, both of whom are much more important in other histories.

There was a database aboard the game itself, which gave a pretty well detailed summary of each civilization, both to explain why each was reckoned a power, and to point out the significance of the “special unit,” a military unit each civilization was able to create to further its aims. There were Spanish Conquistadors, Viking Berserkers, Gothic Huskarls, Briton Long-bowmen, and so on. Each of these special units had their appeal, their weakness, and their abilities influenced the player’s overall strategy. If your special unit required a lot of gold to build, you would send extra workers to mine gold. If you were using Long-bowmen, you probably had a lot of lumberjacks. And so the infrastructure you set up would depend upon these units, and the history invariably attached to them. The historical overviews given in the game, along with the visual realization of them, created an intoxicating mix that kept me coming back; not only to play, build, and win, but to learn.

I loved the game, but I don’t even want to think about how many hours were poured into creating it. The scholars involved – I’m sure it had to be a team, to write, check, and design so many details – put enough information there to form the foundation of my understanding of world development from about CE 1000 on until probably 1600. It’s insane! And it was a great tool for me, as a 12-16 year old who was discovering where his interests lay.

I have no doubt that you could create an informative game. The trouble, in my mind, comes when you try to get college students interested in it. By my understanding, young (college-age) gamers generally want games that demonstrate their ability in some area. Games like Halo and Call of Duty test reaction times, awareness of 3D surroundings, goal-orientedness, and overall timeliness. You can get some idea of what veterans say it was like to be in a certain war for Call of Duty, but that’s JUST the war, and the gaming maps are typically pretty generic. Other games, such as Wii Tennis, still test skill, but in a much more general sense. Can you aim the remote in the right direction? Do you understand the concept of tennis? Can you come to understand your opponent? As games become more and more focused on the player, they move further and further away from the story.

As an important aside – I haven’t been watching the gaming world closely for the past few years. I haven’t even lived in dorm or near someone who owns a current system.

But with that said, my general sense is that systems are moving toward closer interaction with the players themselves, transporting them to that other reality for the sake of that other reality only. Gamers aren’t playing to learn, they’re playing to “escape,” to put their brain on idle. It’s the same that that’s occurring when I catch myself staring at Facebook after ten minutes. The electronic reality is just so alluring that you get sucked into it when you don’t go into it with a goal.
The point is that (as I have discerned it) college-aged kids don’t approach games wanting to learn. To create a compelling atmosphere, you would almost have to involve some sort of violence, which might not fly at all, depending on who you talk to. Then again, the Old Testament is full of violence. How do you redeem that?

I think my biggest hang-up is finding a suitable setup. If you were to go with the empire-building template I described earlier, how would set the goals? What sorts of resources would you employ? Isn’t there just one way for each story to play out? Role-playing games never turned my crank. If you created a “Jacob” character, and a “Joseph,” and a “Moses,” who is to guarantee that the player would make the right decisions to learn what you are trying to communicate? Too, the role-playing setup would lend itself to (pardon) screwballs who would do things the wrong way just to see how the game would react. A Trivia sort of setup probably wouldn’t be too enthralling. You might as well use Moodle quizzes at that point.

I would apologize for the length, but it seems you’ve struck a nerve there, and I have a feeling this is exactly the input you’re looking for. I wouldn’t discount it just yet – maybe wait and see, as you have, what other sorts of technology becomes available. This sort of thing might be a waiting commercial product, too. If you could sell Microsoft on creating the programming for a “Playing the Old Testament” computer game, and then send them the script, they might just be up for it. You’re aware, but that is something that could work on multiple campuses.

That is all. Thanks, Cas.

I should probably clarify, I’m not celebrating Mr. Pulaski’s birthday for his sake, necessarily. It’s mainly just that, since Sufjan named a brilliant song after the day, it’s a perfect time to resurrect his music for a week or so.