"Sally has died from dysentry"

My parents were against video games. Fortunately neither my brother nor I were all too interested in them either but reading the articles for this week's class on the subject of game-centred play and my classmates blog posts, I am impressed with how much of an impact these games have had.

I don't know how the one cd-rom game that my brother and I did play got past my parent's guard, but it certainly more closely resembled an acid trip than a history lesson. Created by New York artist Rodney Greenblat in 1992, players in the game have to fight the evil Mediogre, CEO of BLANDO corporation, a company hell bent on turning children everywhere into brainwashed zombies (okay so maybe I can see where my leftist parents were going with this...). The "good guys included Titan Rose, "a super-strong weight-lifting hulk who loves to read and write beautiful poetry", a slam-dancing bungee-jumping incontinent sheep named Stinkabod Lamé, a four-armed, scottish-accented techno whiz named Yendor Talbneerg, and their leader, the exiled princess Anne Dilly Whim who has horns growing out of your head. Just to prove that I couldn't make up this kind of weirdness here is a clip of one especially absurd part of the game. Don't say you weren't warned:
...Yup, that was my childhood folks. I don't think you could get any further away from historical content if you tried.

Anyways, over at my more normal friends' houses they were playing a game with significantly more historic content. And I bet you can guess which one. Oh yes folks, I am referring to perhaps the first historic video game ever (Professor MacDougall?), The Oregon Trail. I hadn't realized it but apparently the game was first developed in the early 70s! While early versions were rather crude, the game reached its peak just as we were first jabbing our sticky little fingers at keyboards in the late 80s and early 90s. The game was aimed at teaching schoolkids about the often harsh conditions the pioneers faced by letting them assume the role of a wagon leader, leading a group of settlers from Missouri to Oregon in the mid-19th century by means of Conestoga wagons. I only played the game a few times and enjoyed it though my party always seemed to die of dysentery. I suppose the game did teach me a little about the hardships the pioneers faced, but being a kid, my friends and I enjoyed intentionally sabotaging our party and seeing how quickly and gruesomely they would die (don't pretend like you never did this). This guy sums up the various ways of playing The Oregon Trail, and I think keeping these tendencies in mind is important when developing any interactive game:




Newer games are of course more sophisticated and by immersing a player fully in an environment they become invested in the outcome. I see a lot of potential for video games enhancing historic skills and knowledge in this regard but from our readings this weeks it seems as though there are many obstacles to creating a game that is both educational and fun. Though the path to this goal is not clear, our generation and onwards have been brought up in an environment where video games are an important part of entertainment and it is vital for historians to figure out a way to capitalize on these audiences.

Have you played any video games that you felt really taught you something about history? Do you think it's possible to get past the shoot-em up culture that currently characterizes the genre?