Pwning The Faerie Queene

Pwning the Faerie Queene
Literature in the Age of Online Gaming and Social Networking

Pawning the Faerie Queene

a

Editorial conference

Vowel search

Eureka

Thesis I
The difference between Digital Natives and the rest of us:

Thesis I
The difference between Digital Natives and the rest of us:
vowels.

Pawning

Pwning
Derived from the word "own,"it implies domination of a rival.
Used primarily in online games to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated.
-Wikipedia

World of Wordcraft: Digital Narrative and Virtual Reality
Co-taught with Matt Hall, head of ITS at Vanderbilt
First Year Writing Seminar at Vanderbilt University
Class blog:
worldsofwordcraft.wordpress.com
Total views: 20,010
Busiest day: 2,054 (October 5, 2008)
Views today: 8
Total Posts: 258

Lord of the Rings Online
Book, movie, and massively multiplayer online game (MMO)
Remediation (Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, Remediation: Understanding New Media)

Thesis II
Remediation highlights formal features of narrative in unexpected ways.

Ancillary Goals
Toolkit of free, readily available digital technologies that instructors can draw on without extensive training.
Blog (Wordpress)
iTunes University – podcasts of classes
YouTube – videos related to the class
Windows Live – posting supplementary materials
Google Documents or Microsoft Office Live – peer reviewing

Digital classroom
To learn more about using these free programs, view our pod cast on YouTube.
Search for: “Narrative forms in the Digital Classroom”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i71sTxCl4CY

Thesis IIi
Off the shelf programs are the salvation of Digital Immigrants

Thesis IV
Digital Natives know next to nothing about the media they use.

Faerie Queene Online
Designed and built in the final three weeks of the semester
Never Winter Nights 2
Goal: students making a game from Spenser
not producing a game for others to play.

Design Notes

Entrance to Faerie Queene Online (FQO)
Players enter FQO through an early modern replica of our First Year Writing Seminar classroom. Two doors lead off – one into Spenser’s Study, the other into the game.

Spenser’s Study
On the desk is a copy of “The Mutability Cantos.”

Spenser’s Study is the respawn area.
If defeated, a player is resurrected in Spenser’s Study, where he or she discovers two stanzas about the mutability of all mortal life before re-entering the game.

Entering Faerie Land
Emerging from a forest, one encounters Britomart.

Castle Joyeous Plain
Before the doors of Castle Joyeous, one must defeat several knights who challenge you to swear allegiance to their lady, Malecasta.

Castle Joyeous dining hall

Merlin’s Cave
Emerging from Castle Joyeous, you are transported, as in Britomart’s flashback in Canto 2, to Merlin’s Cave.

Castle Busirane Forest
NPC tells you to follow the winding river through the forest but to watch out for wolves.

Sir Scudamour
A dialogue tells the player about Sir Scudamour’s beloved Amoret, imprisoned in Castle Busirane.

Castle Busirane
The castle is defended by a wall of fire.

Ollyphant
Before one can enter Castle Busirane, one must first defeat the giant Ollyphant.

The Cupid Tapestry
Click on the wall hanging and you enter the stories depicted in the tapestry (Book III, Canto 11). Ekphrasis as virtual reality.