Halo: Reach as epic
One of the things that fascinates me most about the epic traditions of the world is the way bards naturally sing their tales within cycles. The Greek word κύκλος just means “circle,” and the cycle with which I’m most familiar—the ancient Greek one—is usually just called the ἐπικὸς κύκλος “epicContinue Reading
The Happiness Metric in CivCity:Rome and the Critique of Simulation Games
Over the past 5 years Firefly studios has designed two city building games, Stronghold 2 and CivCity: Rome (hereafter CC:R) that offer thoroughly engrossing gameplay while also presenting some interesting models of human behavior. As a gamer, I’m more interested in the former; as a teacher who works with simulationContinue Reading
Writing History with Interactive Fiction
Sometimes the best graphics are the ones conjured up in your own head. Interactive fiction – the text adventure – has a long pedigree and literary aspirations; can it be used to write history?Continue Reading