Revolution

Concept

Revolution has been conceived as a Massively-Multiplayer 3D game where each player navigates the space of the town, interacts with other players, and is given the opportunity to act in and react to various events that in one way or another represent the coming of the war. Players begin by choosing the role they wish to play and then tailoring their character as much to their own liking as the role allows. Players will be able to choose skin-tones, facial features, hair color, etc. within the race, class, and ethnicity they choose. Once this is finished players immediately find themselves within the world of the game where they will be free explore and improvise their own narrative based on the resources available to them as well as their interactions with other players.

Revolution is designed to be educational and engaging, and can be played as a classroom activity or over the Internet commercially. In a classroom setting Revolution is designed to essentially take the place of a live role-playing exercise, substituting a virtual space for the space of classroom performance. A typical session (or “lesson”) will consist of students in a computer lab setting all participating in the experience from individual terminals, after which a teacher-led discussion or some other classroom-oriented event could possibly follow. On the other hand, if the game were being played from home by an individual who had purchased it the only interaction would come from others playing the game online and would provide a slightly different experience.

Unlike most other online games Revolution is designed have a strong narrative component, an important aspect drawing the playing into a world of actual historical events. This is achieved by dividing the game into “stages” or “chapters,” a strategy common in single-player games but practically unheard of in MMORPG’s because of the scheduling constraints it invariably puts on the player. Revolution, however, is able to solve this problem by appealing to the episodic structure of classroom learning. In each class (or “session” in the commercial version) students will play a “chapter” of the overall story, one that contains a beginning, middle, and an end, and last about 30 to 40 minutes. Each chapter involves a circumstance or series of circumstances that each player has to negotiate to a lesser or greater degree depending on their role, the resolution (or non-resolution) of which marks the dramatic climax of the episode. Ultimately, each smaller chapter will represent an overall narrative progression towards the outbreak of the war, with each “chapter event” becoming more serious and dire as the overall story unfolds.

A typical play-session of Revolution would involve a student taking his or her seat at a computer terminal at the beginning of class, logging in to the game, and beginning the “chapter” assigned for that day along with all the other students in the room. As the game began the player would be able to speak with other players and get a general feeling for what was happening in the world of the game that day. Soon, narrative events would begin to present themselves in the game-world that the player would need to react to as well as cooperate with other players to deal with. Eventually, these events as well as the player behavior they set into motion would reach a point of peak intensity forcing the players to make difficult decisions quickly. This would be followed by a denouement where the player was able to reflect on their decisions and speak with other players in-game about them. After they logged-off, they would discuss the session with their classmates before leaving the room at the end of class.


	*Concept* Revolution has been conceived as a Massively-Multiplayer 3D game where each player navigates the space of the town, interacts with other players, and is given the opportunity to act in and react to various events that in one way or another represent the coming of the war. Players begin by choosing the role they wish to play and then tailoring their character as much to their own liking as the role allows. Players will be able to choose skin-tones, facial features, hair color, etc. within the race, class, and ethnicity they choose. Once this is finished players immediately find themselves within the world of the game where they will be free explore and improvise their own narrative based on the resources available to them as well as their interactions with other players. Revolution is designed to be educational and engaging, and can be played as a classroom activity or over the Internet commercially. In a classroom setting Revolution is designed to essentially take the place of a live role-playing exercise, substituting a virtual space for the space of classroom performance. A typical session (or “lesson”) will consist of students in a computer lab setting all participating in the experience from individual terminals, after which a teacher-led discussion or some other classroom-oriented event could possibly follow. On the other hand, if the game were being played from home by an individual who had purchased it the only interaction would come from others playing the game online and would provide a slightly different experience. *Unlike most other online games Revolution* is designed have a strong narrative component, an important aspect drawing the playing into a world of actual historical events. This is achieved by dividing the game into “stages” or “chapters,” a strategy common in single-player games but practically unheard of in MMORPG’s because of the scheduling constraints it invariably puts on the player. Revolution, however, is able to solve this problem by appealing to the episodic structure of classroom learning. In each class (or “session” in the commercial version) students will play a “chapter” of the overall story, one that contains a beginning, middle, and an end, and last about 30 to 40 minutes. Each chapter involves a circumstance or series of circumstances that each player has to negotiate to a lesser or greater degree depending on their role, the resolution (or non-resolution) of which marks the dramatic climax of the episode. Ultimately, each smaller chapter will represent an overall narrative progression towards the outbreak of the war, with each “chapter event” becoming more serious and dire as the overall story unfolds. A typical play-session** of Revolution would involve a student taking his or her seat at a computer terminal at the beginning of class, logging in to the game, and beginning the “chapter” assigned for that day along with all the other students in the room. As the game began the player would be able to speak with other players and get a general feeling for what was happening in the world of the game that day. Soon, narrative events would begin to present themselves in the game-world that the player would need to react to as well as cooperate with other players to deal with. Eventually, these events as well as the player behavior they set into motion would reach a point of peak intensity forcing the players to make difficult decisions quickly. This would be followed by a denouement where the player was able to reflect on their decisions and speak with other players in-game about them. After they logged-off, they would discuss the session with their classmates before leaving the room at the end of class.
Games-to-Teach Project MIT Comparative Media Studies