THE HERO
The one who plays the role of the hero in your game is your student and his mission is to learn what you want teach him by facing a series of challenges to accomplish the learning goals.
Joseph Campbell explores the theory that important myths from around the world which have survived for thousands of years all share a fundamental structure, which Campbell called the monomyth.
In a well-known quote from the introduction to The Hero with a Thousand Faces It says; “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man”.
The teaching concept based on a book is redundant there is so much information about any specific subject that you simply cannot ignore, your role is no longer to teach, your role is to be a mentor, to coach your hero.
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The main point is you and your hero have to play the learning game with new skills and literacies you are not longer a consumer your are prosumer this involves new competences such as: judgement, negotiation, appropriation, play, transmedia navigation, simulation, cooperative intelligence, performance, distributed cognition, visualization and multitasking.
Thinking like a Media Producer or as Show Runner is the right choice for moving your hero through the 12 steps of the Hero’s Journey.
And these are the steps:
1.The Hero is uncomfortable in his ordinary world. I don’t think is too difficult to visualise as they are not so happy at school.
2.The call for adventure
It could be a very exciting idea to develop a game lesson for them and for their peers, so you call them for adventure making a game proposal and they visualise this new option because the actual one makes them unhappy.
3.The refusal of the call Fear
You may expect that not all of them are keen in doing something they associate to video games idea that requires computer programming, storytelling, graphics design, sound, music creation, in short it is a nice idea but too complicate to make it happen.
4.The Mentor encourages the hero The Hero overcome of the fear
And that is you, with the knowledge you posses from this project, you know you can make it happen, so just do it.
5.The Hero crosses the Threshold
There will be a moment of the true you go or not. in Matrix, Neo takes the pill, in the Prince of Persia he jumps, in Sonic he accepts the ring, so you must need to find something that triggers the game so the hero become to believe and the disbelief starts to happen, the Hero accepts the mission. He feels he is ready somehow.
6.The Hero enters on test phase; he wants to explore what a game design is and what he can learn, first draft to be produced.
7.The Hero approach
Now he understands what you have explained and the moment for testing and learning through a sort of rehearsal arrives. You have engaged them, now you have to pull the strings.
8.The hero faces fear by severe test
He thinks he got an idea and he delivers “a Pitch”, he knows it can be rejected so before becoming a real hero he is dead because his “pitch” is not good. Some students are too shy to make a live presentation and they may have lack of literacy how to present this kind “Pitch”, rehearsal and rehearsal is the solution.
9.The Hero’s reward if survives
A Good “Pitch” means having a good game idea, oh! That deserves a reward! Remember this not the game reward for the Hero’s journey, it is just a reward to encourage him to move ahead build their team and become a puppet master.
10.The road back
Now he has to collect himself and post the great news on Facebook or Twitter, he succeeded!! The “pitch”, has been chosen, hundred of ideas are floating around and he needs to order them because he starts to believe on his mission. By posting of Facebook and Twitter he gets instant feedback from their peer who help him to organize, filter and develop new ideas.
11.Resurrection
Despite he is happy he knows he has to face a bigger and deeper challenge than the 2 minutes “pitch”, and if the idea doesn’t match what he has to learn or mobilise, he can die/fail. Then your duty as Supreme Puppet Master is to save him and make the resurrection possible, don’t forget he is one of the chosen.
12.Return with the elixir
That the Hero’s results what he has to build whatever you said he has to learn or develop, in short is knowledge, something useful for the others that at the same time can be enriched by the peers and by you of course.
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Here, in a few words are your learning goals.
Watch the video based on Matrix movie which is a lovely and clear example: The Hero’s Journey
Some facts that affect your Hero
Companies hire people for their attitude and not only for their background so it is a good choice to combine possibilities explore their profile aptitudes and life attitude, bear that in mind when you develop your game.
Students communicate with peers this communication creates viral learning, so make your game multiplayer so they can exchange feedbacks and ideas and make them to post these ideas on Facebook or Twitter, so you keep records and you learn how they think and how they face the game.
Students communicate with you, with the puppet master, then you pull the strings making the game to move ahead. It is very important you open this communication channel so you get real time feedback to support learning and knowledge construction. You can also interact with their friends and open dialogue, learning without borders in a very strong collaborative way.
The Game concept is something you cannot do alone. Your strategy is to build a game with several components, focus your strategy on the ARG (Alternate Reality Game) concept they play a game that is the designing of game which requires to develop/build a particular knowledge. By doing this you end up with a game created by the students for peers or with the help of their peers. Your role as puppet master is to focus them in the goals.
The role of the Hero is affected by 3 elements
There is a temporary disbelief of the reality so the Hero is totally immersed in the game world because he has a mission to accomplish. Either is a single player or a multiplayer game they need rules to follow, to frame teh game and set ground rules.
Disbelief and game immersion are very important concepts.
ARG (Alternate Reality Game concept) is a must . Nowadays videogames are very realistic and they take the content of their plot from daily life. The ARG concept of blurring the reality putS them in doubt as to what is real and unreal what is true or false. It is a powerful component in a game because it makes them to explore, research, look for the right path and learn new literacies. The Game” is a clear example.
3G and WIFI networks are already there smartphones are becoming popular devices so most of the people is always ONLINE, the information reaches them anyplace anytime.
If we combine this with the tools of web 2.0 tools such as Facebook and Twitter you have powerful applications. Not many years ago GPS was an exotic device that most people had never heard about, today location based services are common. So more and more these applications are being combined, reinvented and implemented as an added value to attract consumers at the point that they are part of our daily life. The all-new Chevrolet Cruze. With real-time status updates. No matter how your game is designed one thing is clear that the hero has to learn/deliver he must be part of the story and complete his game mission. “Your goal” as puppet master is to make sure it happens.
Before going deeper in the game anatomy you have to define what your game is going to be about. Remember the “Pitch elevator”, any kind of genre even if very well defined are usually familiar. We can proudly say that IVETAGR is a new genre in itself because it includes innovative aspects that other games don’t. In any case you have to use the standard definitions to fix the idea of what kind of game you are designing. Don’t forget to define why it is so cool to play the game.
The second point is “single or multiplayer” it is your choice, maybe several “single players” can participate in a “multiplayer game” without noticing they are all playing the same game.
The third point is about competitive or co-operative gaming.
The key 3 elements the ABC of your game
A.Storytelling no doubt is based on Transmedia – Convergence Media
B.Narrative (the non interactive part of the story)
C. Interactivity (the game world how the player see the world and it’s interface)
For the ABC approach to work properly with your hero and obtain disbelief and total immersion you need an Interface and as you know any game platform has one. Your game platform is the NET this is why I say transmedia storytelling (is a technique of telling stories across multiple platforms and formats) you not only have the possibility of using videos, audios, photos, texts. You can use phones and there are many other possibilities too.
The story is highly emotional and it drives the Hero towards an impossible mission full of challenges, tasks mobilising information, framed by rules (that is a must!) with clear and very well defined goals.
And now that you have reached the end you are a Hero and you deserve your reward watch the video presentation
