TIPC 2 Online 2020 conference, virtual/Leiden This paper explores Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey as a way to explore idyllic historic landscapes and heritage sites with some degree of questing and simulated danger. It applies Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey in two ways, as discovery tour option mode and as a metaphor to explore in more general and speculative terms how questing and historical dilemmas and conflicts could be incorporated into both fan tourism and cultural/historical tourism (Politopoulos, Mol, Boom, & Ariese, 2019). Keza MacDonald views Assassin’s Creed as a virtual museum, Ubisoft regards it as the recovery of lost worlds: “ “We give access to a world that was lost” said Jean Guesdon (MacDonald, 2018). “Discovery Tour will allow a lot of our players to revisit this world with their kids, or even their parents.” Origins’ Discovery Tour mode “promises” educational enlightenment (Thier, 2018; Walker, 2018); Odyssey’s additional Story Creator Mode (Zagalo, 2020) adds personalized quests. Beyond the polaroid fun of sharing landscape selfies with other players and ancient history voyeurs across the Internet, there is also the prospect of “Video game–induced tourism: a new frontier for destination marketers” (Dubois & Gibbs, 2018). Plus physical location VR games. Game company Ubisoft created escape game VR and virtual tours inside physical exhibitions such as Assassin’s Creed VR – Temple of Anubis (Gamasutra Staff, 2019). Is there a market for historical playgrounds as virtual tourism?

1. Swords Sandals and Selfies in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, A Tour You’d Kill For
Erik Champion, UNSW & UWA, Australia erik.champion@uwa.edu.au @nzerik
ASSASSIN’S CREED
https://s3.amazonaws.com/prod-
media.gameinformer.com/styles/full/s3/
2018/10/01/d42a4002/hero-shjot.jpg
Nov 5-6, 2020
S2: 12:00–13:30

2. What is AC:O?
Museum or lost worlds?
1. Keza MacDonald
AC:O=a virtual museum
2. Ubisoft
AC:O=a recovery of lost worlds
“We give access to a world that was
lost” said Jean Guesdon (MacDonald,
2018). “Discovery Tour will allow a lot
of our players to revisit this world with
their kids, or even their parents.”
Open-World Museum Mode Comes to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey on September 10
“a conflict-free, open-world museum of Greek history and culture”

3. Two main ways of looking at AC:O Tourism
NOT Game-tool assisted meandering
Can Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey explore
idyllic historic landscapes and heritage
sites touristically with some degree of
questing and simulated danger.
1. as discovery tour option mode
2. as a metaphor to explore in more
general and speculative terms how
questing and historical dilemmas and
conflicts could be incorporated into
both fan tourism and cultural/historical
tourism (Politopoulos, Mol, Boom, &
Ariese, 2019).
https://www.nexusmods.com/assassinscreedodyssey/mods/1

4. "I was playing Oblivion on the Xbox 360, riding along on my horse on a path
overlooking the Imperial City, and it just looked so lovely I felt compelled
just to stop, get off my horse and stand there for a while taking in the view.
..transforming the environment from just being a space where the action
took place to… well, the kind of place that you actually want to just stop and
gaze out at for a while because it's beautiful.
Somehow this new appreciation of the beauty of the game world made it
feel more like you'd been there."
-- Jeff Minter, on No Man's Sky
https://steemit.com/games/@alexbeyman/the-psychedelic-game-design-of-jeff-minter
Game Tourism tool-assisted meandering

5. VR Tourism
It seems promising..
1. “Could this be the moment virtual-
reality travel finally takes off"
(Financial Times 2019)
2. "Popular Movies Can Increase
Tourism to the Film’s Location
between 25%-300%"
3. "Video game–induced tourism: a
new frontier for destination
marketers" 2018
https://www.unwto.org/node/11557

6. Swords & Sandals Tourism
Game-induced tourism dangers
"Video game–induced tourism: a new
frontier for destination marketers", 2018
“Through deductive content analysis, this
study looks at 137 online comments posted
on popular gaming and travel websites that
connect two popular video games
(Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed
Unity) and travel motivation.”
Tourism Review Volume 73 Issue 2 Video game–induced tourism:
a new frontier for destination marketers

7. Video-game induced?
Stranger, T – Truspacer, A – Adventurer, L – Loaner,
K – Killer, E – Explorer, R – Robber
-B&D argue S.T.A.L.K.E.R. induced
considerable tourism since early 1990s
despite dangers
“Chernobyl tourists should avoid plant life, and
especially the depths of the forests. Those
areas were not cleaned in the aftermath of the
disaster and remain highly contaminated by
radiation. Research has showed that the
fungus, moss and mushrooms growing there
are radioactive. Eating or drinking from the
area is not safe.”
NB “One can venture to say that the game
creates new must-see places that are obvious
only to players” (Magdalena Banaszkiewicz,
Anna Duda, 2019)
Tourists have been jumping into the bumper cars at an abandoned fun park
in Pripyat to take selfies. Photo: AP
These stalkers enter the Dead Zone for fun, but spend most of their time
on political action in Kiev. Chris Bairstow: The Babushkas of Chernobyl

8. Ubisoft has already been thinking about a
travel assistant..

9. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Alexa Meets Alexios | Ubisoft [NA]

10. 10 Little Things That Make Assassin’s Creed
Odyssey Great (And One We Wish They’d Fix)
CONVENIENCE
1. Looting is easy
3. Soft landings : “I’m glad that I died by falling
off that cliff, it really added a lot to my
immersion and overall gameplay experience,”
said nobody ever. Also, if your horse falls off a
cliff and “dies,” it’s only temporary.
7. Bounties? Ha!
AFFIRMATION
2. Your own cheering section
DIFFERENT WAYS OF.. WORLDFULNESS
8. Icons for other missions in progress
..11 STYLISH UNDERPANTS?

11. Assassin's Creed Odyssey: E3 2019 Story Creator Mode | Launch Trailer | Ubisoft [NA]

12. Dialogue?
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Has 30 Hours of Dialogues, Multiple
Endings; Launches October 5th
https://wccftech.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-hours-dialogues/

13. “Interact with history like never before and dive deeper into Assassin’s Creed Odyssey with Story
Creator Mode, which allows you to create your own narratives in Ancient Greece. Freedom of
creativity is key, and with a quest editor and branching dialogue system, the only limit is your
imagination. Play other users’ creations and experience new narratives told by the community
themselves.”
https://assassinscreed.ubisoft.com/story-creator-mode/en-au/
Basic intro: Herodotus guides youhttps://assassinscreed.ubisoft.com/story-creator-mode/en-us

14. Chapter 2: the Relic
*Play part one if you haven't* The story takes place a week after the first chapter. Meet the
mysterious immortal man, and learn more about the ancient relic.

15. https://www.vg247.com/2019/06/10/assassins-creed-odyssey-story-mode-creator-out-now-free-to-all-players/

16. E. Champion, Rethinking Virtual Places, Indiana University Press, 2021
E. Champion. 2020. Culturally Significant Presence In Single-player Computer Games. Journal of Computing and Cultural Heritage. 13, 4, 29 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1145/3414831

17. AC: parodies
• “Modern politics is a Trojan horse in
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey”
• ANTI-ELITISM (& other key themes)
says Colin Campbell, Polygon
• Can we mod AC:0 as parody-based
machinima?
Socrates and Kassandra discuss politics Ubisoft

18. https://www.thegamer.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-mods-make-game-better/
https://www.thegamer.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-mods-make-game-better/
Story Creator Mod
Apex Reshade Mod
No NPCs In The World
https://www.thegamer.com/assassins-creed-odyssey-mods-make-game-better/
Most mods are for increased skills or appearance..
• https://www.nexusmods.com/
assassinscreed/mods/thisweek/

19. historical playgrounds as virtual
tourism?
Escape Room potential
• Origins’ Discovery Tour “promises” educational
enlightenment (Thier, 2018; Walker, 2018)
• “Odyssey’s additional Story Creator Mode (Zagalo, 2020)
adds personalized quests. “
• Beyond the polaroid fun of sharing landscape selfies with
other players and ancient history voyeurs across the
Internet, there is also the prospect of “Video game–
induced tourism: a new frontier for destination
marketers” (Dubois & Gibbs, 2018).
• Plus physical location VR games. Game company Ubisoft
created escape game VR and virtual tours inside physical
exhibitions such as Assassin’s Creed VR – Temple of
Anubis (Gamasutra Staff, 2019).
• https://experience.ubisoft.com/event/en-
gb/birmingham/news-detail.aspx?news_id=353950
• https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/352175/How_U
bisoft_designed_and_refined_its_Assassins_Creed_VR_es
cape_rooms.php
• https://www.ubisoftescapegames.com/
https://experience.ubisoft.com/event/en-gb/birmingham/news-detail.aspx?news_id=353950

20. Value-added case for
VR?
Sony PS5 VR Support need to downgrade
games and controllers to #4 to run PSVR?
https://uploadvr.com/editorial-psvr-on-ps5

21. Aspects of Cultural
Significance
Culturally Significant Place Examples in Games
Dynamic & often contested:
cultural significance is variable;
places have range of values
over time for different
individuals or groups - places
reflect diversity.
Embodies & represents a range
of encounters and differences,
cultural values, and priorities.
Reflects the richness and
diversity of the community or
communities simulated.
Games host trigger points NOT
symbolically defined places with
amorphous boundaries.
Culturally rich bounded worlds in
detailed games with convincing
AI?
Evocative: connects a
community to landscape & past
experiences (as historical
records).
Connects modes of
inhabitation, identity, & place via
situated past experiences.
Few ways to store, preserve, &
access memory for players or
Non-Playing Characters (NPCs).
Shared fragility: places are
fragile & must be conserved for
present & future generations in
line with the principle of inter-
generational equity.
Conveys fragility but also care
& the means to care for the
cultural prestige and shared
meaning of the digitally
simulated environment.
Few examples of cultural
fragility in games as focus
typically on avatar health.

22. Sacred vs lootable
AC:OR lacks cultural “boundaries’
• Where is care?
• Care and social judgement via map
records and social media?
• Where is spiritual-profound?
• NPCs could detect forbidden entry
and stealing & situatedness of
culturally appropriate behaviors.
• Game as interactive scenery, as
theatrical backdrops, allowing role-
playing with games, puppet-controlled
NPC and narrators (see image)
Dr. Jeffrey Jacobson demonstrating puppeteer-controlled NPCs in “The Egyptian Oracle”
The Riddles of the Sphinx Tour, Pyramids
of Giza, Egypt, as shown in Ubisoft’s
Assassin's Creed: Origins Discovery Tour.

23. Conclusion
• Can the tour mode be used more creatively, pedagogically?
• Can mods be more historically immersive?
1. Boardgame or schema>mod>escape room>augmented reality?
2. AR smartphone maps that overlay AC onto tourist sites?
3. Augmented virtuality: real-world pictures on AC maps or as ghostly images in game world?
• Some ideas in upcoming book and article:
• E. Champion, Rethinking Virtual Places, Indiana University Press, 2021
• E. Champion. 2020. Culturally Significant Presence In Single-player Computer Games. Journal of
Computing and Cultural Heritage. 13, 4, 29 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1145/3414831
• Potential book on Assassin’s Creed Series for historical teaching..interested?
Culture is shared, defended, and transmitted, with consequences
Erik Champion, UNSW and UWA, Australia erikchampion@uwa.edu.au erikchampion@gmail.com t:@nzerik

24. References
• Dubois, L.-E., & Gibbs, C. (2018). Video game–induced tourism: a new frontier for destination marketers. Tourism
Review, 73(2), 186-198. doi:10.1108/TR-07-2017-0115
• Gamasutra Staff. (2019). How Ubisoft designed and refined its Assassin's Creed VR escape rooms Gamasutra.
Retrieved
from https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/352175/How_Ubisoft_designed_and_refined_its_Assassins_Creed_VR_e
scape_rooms.php
• MacDonald, K. (2018). We give access to a lost world: Assassin’s Creed’s new life as a virtual museum. The
Guardian, (27 March 2018). Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/mar/27/assassins-creeds-
origins-discovery-tour-virtual-museum-ancient-egypt-ubisoft
• Politopoulos, A., Mol, A. A. A., Boom, K. H. J., & Ariese, C. E. (2019). “History Is Our Playground”: Action and
Authenticity in Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. Advances in Archaeological Practice, 7(3), 317-323.
doi:10.1017/aap.2019.30
• Thier, D. (2018, 21 Feb 2018). 'Assassin's Creed Origins Discovery Tour' May Be The Best Assassin's Creed
Ever. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2018/02/21/assassins-creed-origins-discovery-
tour-may-be-the-best-assassins-creed-ever/#4a279ac15d32
• Walker, J. (2018, 22nd February 2018). We perhaps need a little bit more education: Assassin's Creed Origins'
Discovery Tour. Retrieved from https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/02/22/assassins-creed-origins-discovery-tour-
review/
• Zagalo, N. (2020). Engagement Design: Designing for Interaction Motivations. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature.