 |
Indiana Jones and the Joystick of Doom: Understanding the Past via Computer Games
Erik Malcolm, Champion (2004-01-01) Indiana Jones and the Joystick of Doom: Understanding the Past via Computer Games. Traffic: A Vision Splendid 5 ().
|
|
| |
| Attached Files (Some files may be inaccessible until you login with your UQ eSpace credentials) |
| Name |
Description |
MIMEType |
Size |
Downloads |
Traffic2004.pdf
|
Traffic2004.PDF |
application/pdf |
315.66KB |
196 |
| Author(s) |
Erik Malcolm, Champion
|
| Title |
Indiana Jones and the Joystick of Doom: Understanding the Past via Computer Games
|
| Journal name |
Traffic: A Vision Splendid
|
| Publication date |
2004-01-01
|
| Volume number |
5
|
| Editor(s) |
Harris, Natasha
|
| Subject |
439900 Other History and Archaeology
280211 Virtual Reality and Related Simulation
280104 Computer-Human Interaction
|
| Abstract/Summary |
In 1997 Jane Murray published "Hamlet on the holodeck: the future of narrative in cyberspace", which forecast the computer as a future platform for interactive drama. Yet a great
deal of recent literature has focused on the failure rather than success of virtual environments (particularly three-dimensional ones) as an engaging medium of entertainment and education. In this
article I will discuss three key problems in designing virtual environments that in some way depict the values of past cultures. The first problem is how to create a feeling of immersion or of
presence in a virtual environment - how we make the past come alive for people so that they feel they are transported "there". This goal is often seen as limited by technical constraints such as
the speed of the Internet or network connection, limited processing power, or the computer's capacity to render a large number of objects on the screen in real-time that are seen to impede the
production of realistic virtual scenes. By contrast, this article emphasises the need to foster engagement not through realism but interaction. Secondly, our idea of what reality is may be at odds
with understanding the past or a distant place from a local perspective. What does reality mean when we are trying to recreate and understand cultural perspectives? Is it useful, desirable or even
possible to interact with digital reconstructions of different cultures in a meaningful way? Culture understood from the distance of a hotel or guidebook is obviously not the same as the culture
that guides, constrains and nourishes a local inhabitant. I would like to bring the same distinction to culture experienced through virtual environments, and argue that a virtual traveler is not
the same as a virtual tourist. Despite or perhaps because they have a goal to solve, and have more constraints and more direct immersion in the local way of doing things, people who travel rather
than tour arguably have richer and more interesting experiences. Thirdly, if we do manage to create an engaging and believable virtual environment, will the novelty or entertainment value actually
interfere with the cultural understanding gained by the users? In virtual heritage environments this is particularly evident in the conflict between individual freedom to explore and the more
pragmatic need to convey historical information. We may for example create an entertaining game but will that allow us to convey varying levels of historical accuracy in reconstructing the
past?
|
| Keyword(s) |
culture
virtual reality
heritage
archaeology
hermeneutics
|
|
|
|
