Portal: Now required "reading" at Wabash College
By
Cowman,
Posted on: 2010-08-24 15:26 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
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Hamlet might make an interesting videogame if the game mechanics factored in multiple outcomes while leaving the possibility of losing the game if Claudius turns out to be innocent after all (or maybe simply accumulating penalties for Hamlet killing the wrong characters along the way). Hamlet as a sandbox game, however, would stink.|
Originally Posted by LiquidX
The end result is that students, along with reading Gilgamesh, Aristotle's Politics, John Donne's poetry, Shakespeare's Hamlet, and the Tao Te Ching, students will also play and contemplate Portal.
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That said, I disagree with the syllabus's choice of videogame. While plenty of games challenge the players with puzzles, if the narrative itself is linear, it doesn't count as "thought-provoking" for undergraduate credit. For this course to work, Wabash's professor needs to decide on a game with (a) an array of choices for the player and (b) multiple outcomes determined by them.
Besides, how much philosophical exploration can there be when an independent panel of ethicists has absolved the Enrichment Center, Aperture Science employees, and all test subjects for all moral responsibility for the Companion Cube euthanizing process?
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So... books, music and film aren't thought provoking because they have linear narratives?
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Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
While plenty of games challenge the players with puzzles, if the narrative itself is linear, it doesn't count as "thought-provoking" for undergraduate credit.
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The course doesn't seem to be about the difficulty of the game. Hamlet is also an easy read. |
Originally Posted by The_Coming_Storm
Portal was a brain-dead easy game.
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With this being a mandatory course that students are not allowed to drop and must pass to graduate, any video game required by the course material has to be brain dead easy. They're probably already going to get grief for requiring students to play a video game. Can you imagine what would happen if they actually started failing students for not being good at video games?
"Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly, the ill deeds along with the good and let me be judged accordingly. The rest is silence." -- Dinobot
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I should point out that the blog post at Brainy Gamer was written by the teacher at Wabash College, who was instrumental in putting the course together as well as choosing Portal as part of the curriculum. In retrospect, rather then expecting people to read through the articles I linked to, I should have gone ahead and posted the specific reasoning for why he chose Portal (Especially when he also considered Bioshock and Planescape: Torment). Allow me to correct this now:|
Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
Hamlet might make an interesting videogame if the game mechanics factored in multiple outcomes while leaving the possibility of losing the game if Claudius turns out to be innocent after all (or maybe simply accumulating penalties for Hamlet killing the wrong characters along the way). Hamlet as a sandbox game, however, would stink.
That said, I disagree with the syllabus's choice of videogame. While plenty of games challenge the players with puzzles, if the narrative itself is linear, it doesn't count as "thought-provoking" for undergraduate credit. For this course to work, Wabash's professor needs to decide on a game with (a) an array of choices for the player and (b) multiple outcomes determined by them. Besides, how much philosophical exploration can there be when an independent panel of ethicists has absolved the Enrichment Center, Aperture Science employees, and all test subjects for all moral responsibility for the Companion Cube euthanizing process? |
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My very first thought was Portal. Accessible, smart, cross-platform, relatively short, full of big ideas worth exploring. I played it again to be sure my impressions still held. No problem there. If anything, I admire the game more now than when it first appeared. A beautiful design. I recalled reading Daniel Johnson's recent essay on the game and its strong connections to Erving Goffman's seminal Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. One of the central questions of our new course, "Who am I?" is the focus of Goffman's study. He contends we strive to control how we're perceived by others, and he uses the metaphor of an actor performing on a stage to illustrate his ideas. Johnson describes it this way: "…we're acting out a role that requires constant management…of the interaction. The front stage is the grounds of the performance. The backstage is a place we rarely ever want to reveal to others, it contains the truth of our obstruction and to reveal it would be to defraud our identity in front of the audience - it simply spoils the illusion of where we're placing ourself in the interaction." This tension between backstage machination and onstage performance is precisely what Portal depicts so perfectly - and, no small detail, so interactively. Goffman would have found a perfect test subject in GLaDOS. Bingo! Assign students Goffman's Presentation of Self and follow it up with a collective playthrough of Portal. |
If people didn't think that Portal was thought-provoking, I'd hate to think what IS for them. Seriously... The game and its setting *make you think*. The music and visual appearance make you wonder, how spooky is it, you're alone here... are you alone? Are you really being spoken to by a sentient machine? Or is it some kind of nutter behind those glass walls? Who wrote those things on the walls, in blood? Is it the same person? Is GLaDOS lying *all the time* or just some of the time, or *never*?
It's more than just a twitch-puzzle game. Far, far more. I applaud the decision - as much as I applauded the decisions of college and high school (and then finally elementary school) professors to include graphic novels and comic books in their reading materials. Video games like Portal, Bioshock, Torment, Half Life... those are impressive story telling for a variety of different reasons and using different means to get their point across.
It cannot have anything to do with "it's linear story telling"... of COURSE it is.
Unless your college professor made you play out multiple endings of the classics? Oh wait...
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
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I've heard that a lot, which is why I bought it. Still haven't played it, though.|
Originally Posted by GeneralKnowledge
I'd put The Witcher up there as suggested video game reading. It's the only game I've ever played that really made me think about what is really right and what is wrong.
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Going Rogue is having that effect on me, though.
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"Ok guys and gals! For this course you will be required to play through Praetoria at least once. And no Powerleveling!" |
Originally Posted by Marcian Tobay
I've heard that a lot, which is why I bought it. Still haven't played it, though.
Going Rogue is having that effect on me, though. |
In all seriousness though, Praetoria would make for a great class discussion. There's politics, ethics, morals, and the good of the few versus the good of the many. Heck, Praetoria even has it's own green club, the devouring earth!
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No, it's just it goes against the one thing that defines the medium, the interactivity of it. The only justification for videogames as an artistic genre is that you interact with the story which is what no other medium can offer (besides some plays i guess). By choosing a simple, linear game that you play through once because it has a cool atmosphere as the one game to represent it as a genre is doing it a disservice. Make them play Deus Ex, as even though it's a pretty rough game by today's standards, what it represents is the ideal for videogames as a genre.|
Originally Posted by Zikar
So... books, music and film aren't thought provoking because they have linear narratives?
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Of course that whole argument is based on the assumption that the course's aim is to expose students to paragons in different artistic forms. Since it's about the students questioning what it is to be human i guess they can go with portal because it's about machines using humans as lab rats or something. But they should still make them play Deus Ex because the entire damn plot is literally about what it is to be human.
Whoa... I agree with Solos.
I still think Portal is worth exploring though, simply because of the fantastic writing and atmosphere. But you're right, other games have delved into the concepts much deeper.
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Leaving aside the school of reader response criticism, the greatest literary works are open to multiple interpretations and invite re-readings even if their narratives are technically closed and linear. A few writers are daring enough to explore non-linear and open narratives - e.g. Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch or the Oulipo group's experiments - but their works are formally just a level or two above the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure series. The aesthetic advantage novels have in requiring concentrated imaginative effort from their readers turns out to be a significant obstacle in this goal.|
Originally Posted by Zikar
So... books, music and film aren't thought provoking because they have linear narratives?
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For videogames, as Solos points out, interactivity really is the medium's message. They can pull off open and non-linear narratives more easily than any of the other lively arts if their creators set out with this in mind. Valve, however, specializes in plots on rails - sometimes literally - despite the polish they devote to gameplay mechanics and world-building. Even a character as striking as GLaDOS or a setting as atmospherically rich as the Aperture Science Enrichment Center can take a game only so far when the challenges are presented in a strict sequence with only one or two ways to beat each puzzle.
Although Portal is unquestionably one of the best games of all time, and one of the most hilarious, too, the Wabash instructor could just as easily have assigned, say, Philip K. Dick's UBIK to explore the theme of the self and everyday life in a science-fiction setting. (I don't see any mention in his blog post of the issue of Chell's identity and GLaDOS's allusions to Enrichment Center androids - that's an intriguing philosophical element but, ultimately, not significant to the gameplay.) Admittedly, he wanted to expose his non-gamer colleagues to a thoughtful videogame, which Portal definitely is, in order to accustom them to the medium. While they've conceded the videogame "could provoke thoughtful reflection and vigorous conversation", those are some rather soft expectations.
Perhaps for the advance course he can move them up to Going Rogue for a proper intellectual challenge.
Oh I dunno, I think if people put as much effort into making up hidden meanings in Portal as they do for books and film, they could come with all sorts of alternate interpretations.
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Well, they'd probably learn something useful from GTA, 'cause they sure ain't gonna learn squat from that class |
Originally Posted by Failure to Sense
Because when you're teaching a mandatory humanities class, you want the one that involves carjacking, violence and prostitution. Expose them to the truth, hell the kids are paying for it.
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Goodbye, I guess.
@Lord_Nightblade in Champions/Star Trek Online
nightblade7295@gmail.com if you want to stay in touch
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Certainly, but this could be said of virtually any work in any medium if one tries hard enough (or just takes the easy route with critical sophistry like deconstruction). And there's nothing like a college seminar for making up hidden meanings.|
Originally Posted by Zikar
Oh I dunno, I think if people put as much effort into making up hidden meanings in Portal as they do for books and film, they could come with all sorts of alternate interpretations.
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The point is, Portal is the equivalent of an introductory text for this syllabus while all the other works are masterpieces. The instructor admitted that he considered more formally challenging games but decided on this one because it would be easier to receive permission to teach.
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Also it's short.|
Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
The point is, Portal is the equivalent of an introductory text for this syllabus while all the other works are masterpieces. The instructor admitted that he considered more formally challenging games but decided on this one because it would be easier to receive permission to teach.
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Using a game that's 60+ hours probably wouldn't fit too well into the schedule.
I personally see no problem with it. Whether you think it's the best example or not, it's simply a short, sweet modern example of the theme they're studying. It isn't the lynch pin of the class; just one small part of it. It's also a great way to get kids interested in the subject.
The problem is that this "course" is really just a bunch of left wing moonbat philosophy professors trying to justify thier own existence.
But, of course, nowadays that's half of the "college experience"
6000+ levels gained and 8 level 50's
Hello, my name is Soulwind and I have Alt-Itis.
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Because, you know, the collegiate experience should not include any sort of philosophy or any humanities whatsoever. History? It's already happened, why study it? English? You can read, you're good.|
Originally Posted by Soulwind
The problem is that this "course" is really just a bunch of left wing moonbat philosophy professors trying to justify thier own existence.
But, of course, nowadays that's half of the "college experience" |
We'll focus entirely on technical studies of your chosen major, because colleges should only be about preparing you for the job market.
Especially at a "traditional liberal arts school."
Comrade Smersh, KGB Special Section 8 50 Inv/Fire, Fire/Rad, BS/WP, SD/SS, AR/EM
Other 50s: Plant/Thorn, Bots/Traps, DB/SR, MA/Regen, Rad/Dark - All on Virtue.
-Don't just rebel, build a better world, comrade!
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Higher education has a left-wing agenda.
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Originally Posted by Soulwind
The problem is that this "course" is really just a bunch of left wing moonbat philosophy professors trying to justify thier own existence.
But, of course, nowadays that's half of the "college experience" |
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Fixed
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Originally Posted by Marcian Tobay
Higher education is a left-wing agenda.
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@Quasadu
"We must prepare for DOOM and hope for FREEM." - SirFrederick
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It's perfect!
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Originally Posted by Quasadu
Fixed
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Originally Posted by Smersh
Because, you know, the collegiate experience should not include any sort of philosophy or any humanities whatsoever. History? It's already happened, why study it? English? You can read, you're good.
We'll focus entirely on technical studies of your chosen major, because colleges should only be about preparing you for the job market. Especially at a "traditional liberal arts school." |
You know the simplest way to get an "A" in (most, not all, but most) philosophy classes?
Simply regurgitate the points and positions that the philosophy professor states as "truths"
You know the simplest way to get an "F" in the same classes?
Present reasoned, pursuasive, documented arguments that are diametrically opposed to the professor's point of view.
I took a half-dozen different philosophy/sociology classes (always on an Audit basis after the first one) during my college time [and only finished two of them, the others I was asked/told to get out of the class after presenting disenting viewpoints one too many times]
I did it because A) I enjoy a good debate, B) I knew that it was unlikely I'd be finishing the class, and C) because after awhile I really enjoyed yanking the chains on those so-called "free thinkers" who are anything but.
In my time I've been told that I was flat-out Wrong - in regards to an OPINION paper (and given a failing grade on it, because obviously if I didn't agree with the professor, I must be mistaken about life).
I've had a sociology professor actually call me EVIL because I presented an opposing view on her ideas of social engineering and methods of righting "society's injustices".
I could go on and on, but that's pointless in this thread.
All I was trying to bring up is how silly the idea of a required class "exploring what it means to be human" is, when the truth is that, in reality, it's not anything even close to that kind of lofty intellectual pursuit.
6000+ levels gained and 8 level 50's
Hello, my name is Soulwind and I have Alt-Itis.
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Reminds me of some of my English teachers...
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Originally Posted by Soulwind
You know the simplest way to get an "F" in the same classes?
Present reasoned, pursuasive, documented arguments that are diametrically opposed to the professor's point of view. |
Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
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I always hear these horror stories and am grateful for the sociology class I got. Yeesh. o.o
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Originally Posted by Soulwind
You know the simplest way to get an "A" in (most, not all, but most) philosophy classes?
Simply regurgitate the points and positions that the philosophy professor states as "truths" You know the simplest way to get an "F" in the same classes? Present reasoned, pursuasive, documented arguments that are diametrically opposed to the professor's point of view. I took a half-dozen different philosophy/sociology classes (always on an Audit basis after the first one) during my college time [and only finished two of them, the others I was asked/told to get out of the class after presenting disenting viewpoints one too many times] I did it because A) I enjoy a good debate, B) I knew that it was unlikely I'd be finishing the class, and C) because after awhile I really enjoyed yanking the chains on those so-called "free thinkers" who are anything but. In my time I've been told that I was flat-out Wrong - in regards to an OPINION paper (and given a failing grade on it, because obviously if I didn't agree with the professor, I must be mistaken about life). I've had a sociology professor actually call me EVIL because I presented an opposing view on her ideas of social engineering and methods of righting "society's injustices". I could go on and on, but that's pointless in this thread. All I was trying to bring up is how silly the idea of a required class "exploring what it means to be human" is, when the truth is that, in reality, it's not anything even close to that kind of lofty intellectual pursuit. |
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Which logically means that all colleges are exactly the same way.|
Originally Posted by Soulwind
I took a half-dozen different philosophy/sociology classes (always on an Audit basis after the first one) during my college time [and only finished two of them, the others I was asked/told to get out of the class after presenting disenting viewpoints one too many times]
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YAY LOGIC!!
Link to Blog Post at Brainy Gamer
Link to Kotaku article
Wabash College, in Indiana, has started a new course called "Enduring Questions". The course description of the class:
The daily activity of the course most often involves discussion, and students complete multiple writing assignments for the course. As such, assessment of student performance emphasizes written and oral expression of ideas.
Students may not withdraw from the course. All students must pass the course to graduate from Wabash.