Students at UCL have proposed a ‘genius’ idea for a gaming project designed to engage people with medieval literature and promote the digitisation of original texts.
Students at University College London are involved in the design of a computer game based around the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf.
This advances a theme in role-playing and strategy games that gives players the option to play ‘evil’.
The Dungeon Keeper series by Bullfrog / Electronic Arts, which began in the mid-1990s, was a leading exponent of the genre. It challenged players to build a dungeon and then protect it from ‘heroes’ that would attempt to claim the realm back.
Going back a thousand years in literary history, Beowulf, one of the oldest pieces of literature in English, creates deliberate parallels between the ‘hero’, Beowulf, and Grendel, his foe. Both are described as aglӕca, a term that could equally mean ‘hero’ or ‘monster’.
In a workshop run by UCL’s Dr Victoria Symons and Professor Richard North, students suggested a twist that would bring to the game the layers of ambiguity between man and monster that exist in the poem.
The students suggested that first-person perspective could be used to keep players unaware of which character they are directing. Players must discover for themselves whether they are the man or the monster.
The students also wanted to include a prologue that would introduce players to manuscript culture and book history.
‘Genius’
Dr Symons, Teaching Fellow in Old and Middle English at UCL, described the students’ ideas as ‘genius’.
“One of the things that Beowulf plays around with is the difference between being a monster and being human”, she said.
“Our students had this genius idea that you’d enter a room where you’d either be Beowulf or you’d be Grendel, but because it’s first person you can’t look at yourself and you don’t know which character you are.”
To put their ideas in motion, the students used Missionmaker Beowulf, a gaming engine that enables users to customise a level by adding elements from the poem to create challenges for the player. (See the results below.)
The software is scheduled for release later this year.
Print to screen
The collaboration behind Playing Beowulf (UCL Institute of Education, UCL English, and the British Library) hopes to promote the digitisation of texts in homage to the sole surviving original copy of Beowulf.
Damaged by fire in the 1600s, it is currently housed in the British Library. The manuscript was part of the library’s first major digitisation project 20 years ago and is now freely available online.
The co-director of DARE, Professor Andrew Burn, says gaming can help readers at all levels to engage with classic texts.
“We’re working on the final version of Missionmaker Beowulf for use in libraries and education, and we plan next to move on to Shakespeare”, he said.
Engage with real issues
Another issue raised is the ‘demonisation’ of gamers by those who associate video game violence with violent crime.
To researcher Abel Drew (IOE), the ongoing stereotype of gamers as “antisocial teenage boy in a darkened room” is both outdated and counterproductive, as the presence of weapons in games can help to educate young people about violence.
“There are kids out there with real issues being swept under the carpet because of the notion of big bad videogamers”, he says.
“In the original Missionmaker there was a Raygun item”, he explains. “I’ve run workshops with this version and, without fail, at least one teacher in every class will raise the concern about guns and violence in games.
“But without the gun, how can you have the conversation?”
- This article stemmed from ‘Are you man or monster?’ View the full item for more.
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