How Games Are Designed - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 227

The previous two paragraphs are not simply a tirade against the trend they
condemn, but an example of another important aspect of theme: It need not be
universal, or all-inclusive, but you should believe in it.

The Game ' s Story
Let

s say you are teaching a class: Poetry 101. How could this theme for Poetry
101 be reinforced? Not through diatribes like those same two paragraphs above,
as part of the coursework. Some of the most brilliant and famous scientists of the
past read and wrote poetry. This fruitful marriage of art and science was not
considered strange in the past. It was common not much more than a century
ago. And we still find this union today. In fact, the Euro-Science Open Forum in
2006 celebrated a Science Meets Poetry Day in Munich, Germany. The day
celebrated the complex personality of Ludwig II, the visionary King of Bavaria.
The celebration was such a success that the idea was expanded to an entire event
devoted to science and poetry during the Euro-Science Open Forum in
Barcelona, Spain. Factual stories like that one could easily be woven through
the class to support the theme.

'

Or how about this? A game story could be built challenging students to uncover
two secret societies intent on protecting, on the one hand, science, and on the
other, art throughout the centuries. Arcane clues could be discovered in poems;
strange connections between rhyming couplets and mathematical theories could
emerge. And the ultimate realization for the class might be that a combination of
the two could be the key to saving our civilization. Best-selling topics and
blockbuster movies are built upon similar foundations all the time. Why not a
multiplayer classroom?

I am often asked how I come up with my ideas for stories and games, even goofy
ones like in the preceding paragraph. Inspiration comes from as wide a source as
the universe. But that doesn ' t always mean we can recognize it, even when it

smacks us upside the head.

Write down some ideas for ways you could use games to teach poetry. Write down
all of them, no matter how silly. (As you can see, I do.) Next, roll each one around
in your mind. Try out your ideas on friends, colleagues, and family members. This
will often lead to impromptu brainstorming sessions where your idea will spark
one of theirs. And their resulting thought could inspire or focus your thoughts.