World Traveler

OVERVIEW

A role-playing adventure game, World Traveler, invites players to enter new nations as if they were rooms in a mansion in pursuit of a mysterious character who is said to be carrying a treasure more valuable than gold which she will give to anyone who catches her. The player engages with various aspects of the cultures represented by objects in the rooms and conversations had with characters in each room sometimes being challenged to participate in activities and events typical to the culture of the nation they have entered. The player uses hints and clues she/he learns in each room to make a decision about which nation to visit next, hoping to catch the fleeing character and gain the treasure in the end.

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVE

Students playing this game will be learning to understand, respect, engage with and reflect on the cultural norms of other peoples  in the world through a virtual traveling experience. In times past and even today, it is the rich who can afford to open the door of learning experience through travel to other nations, but with this game, players travel to other nations virtually, at no cost, and engage with complex characters as they might in the real world if given the time and opportunity. Student learning will be measured by their ability to show understanding of cultures they are introduced to, as well as their engagement in cultural activities which may require them to sing, dance, debate, draw, etc. This game is aligned with the curriculum goal for the high school ‘World Studies’ subject which aims for students to become world citizens.

LEARNERS

This game is designed specifically for high school students between the ages of fourteen and  eighteen. The game would allow players to create a character, defining their own age, nationality, gender identity, interests, languages, and experiences and would factor this information into the game. The starting place for each character would depend on the nation they chose for them self.

MOTIVATION

Players would be motivated to play because of curiosity more than anything else. What will I discover when I visit Madagascar? What kind of interactions will I have? Will I enjoy it? How well am I able to get along with people who are different from myself? What do I find myself interested in about other cultures? Players will have the same drive that treasure hunters, space travelers, and explorers have. They will have the sense that they are discovering something new, overcoming challenges by their own wit, and developing their own sense of identity along the way.

CONTEXT OF USE

This game has to do with players discovering who they are by discovering them self in the world around them. This would tie into their various learning experiences in ‘World Studies’ because they could apply what they learn in the game to what they actually experience in their interactions outside of school as well as what they are learning about the characters and events of History, an important part of ‘World Studies.’

SCOPE

Ideally the game would be gigantic in its depth, providing an experience as near to reality as possible. It would need to include each nation of the world and each nation would need to showcase the various subcultures which exist through objects and characters. The player would move to a new nation as if it were a new level, but would always be able to visit past nations if they wanted to go back and rediscover something.

OBJECT OF THE GAME

Although the act of traveling the world virtually would be enough fun in and of itself, the game would require a story line and an ending for those whose intent is not just exploration for curiosity’s sake. The object of the game, would be tied to the story line of the main character pursuing the holder of their treasure. The character holding the treasure flees from nation to nation and the player pursues them, but may only pass through the nation after interacting with the cultures there. At the end the player finds the holder of the treasure and it is revealed that the treasure was the experience itself. The player then transforms into someone new because of their accumulated experiences. Ideally the end of the game would give results to the player similar to IQ/EQ/personality tests. The game could use information gathered along the way to share a sort of profile which the player could use to better understand their own interests, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, potential careers, etc.

DESIGN PROCESS

I started with the idea based on an experience I had during a History class when I asked students to pretend they were a character in the History lesson we were discussing. For example when we talked about Julius Caesar’ s conquest of Gaul and return to Rome, a student played the role of Caesar and was allowed to say what he would do were it him and predict how events would have taken place differently. I found that students like to think of themselves as characters in History and to imagine who they would act in a given situation. I wanted to design a game which gave players this freedom to explore and be challenged without a fear of failure that would allow students to learn from other cultures they do not have the chance to interact with on a regular basis.