Class discussion for "Gaming Homer" online course

[Roger Travis]

Now let's see if I can get this thing linked up on HuskyCT. . .

[Joanne Faust]

So far for me, after reading Lord and watching the lectures, I look at the Odyssey and the Iliad a bit differently now; differently in a good way. Something as simple as the concept of In Media Res never occurred to me. Also, I don’t believe my previous translations had neither a forward nor one that went into detail of oral traditions and controversy of authorship. With that said, as I read I could see how a bard fits into these stories and how important this minor character could be.

As for playing Penguin and Runescape, I love Penguin, unable to enjoy Runescape yet. I am not good at RPG games. I have Kindgom of Hearts for PS2; I bought it because it was Disney. It has not had much use. I like games like Mario where there is a starting and ending point of each screen/level. I knew once worlds 1-1, 1-2, and 1-3 were complete, world 1-4 would be a mini-boss that would unlock the next level. In Runescape, I don’t know where I am going, what I am doing, nor the purpose of the game and keep dying because of it.

[Joanne Faust]

Andrea said:

Karen,

After time, however, an experienced bard will know how to sing in meter, just like an experienced player will understand the logic in game mechanics. They will also develop certain formula-like knowledge, like "m" calling up the map, or efficient spell rotations. Once mastered, this knowledge can be applied to other games, just like other songs. This of course means my boyfriend, whom I have enlisted as a case subject for this class for his epic skillz, jumps right into Runescape while I am still trying figure out fishing for crawfish. Andrea,

I know the boyfriend department. When we got PS2, he put GTA in and with in no time he mastered it. He can put in any game and use previous skills and go through the new games. It drives me crazy. He is currently enjoying my torment with Runescape as I have died somehting like 12 times.

[Dan Benitez]

Joanne, I just wanted to say, you should really pick up Kingdom Hearts again and play through it. My younger sister had bought it, and I thought that since it was a Disney game, it was for kids. After seeing her play some of it, I started a file myself, and found it to have one of the greatest stories I have ever played, and is now one of my favorite games.

[John Flanagan]

Having played through a bit of Runescape, I realize more and more just how alien an MMORPG is to me, compared to my other gaming experiences. Were I an ancient bard attempting to tell my character's story, well, I'd be a a rather newb-ish one. Fumbling about with the controls (which I judged as rather clunky) in opposition to my eternal love of Knights of the Old Republic, and the way that game let's you interact with the world, and being shocked to learn that there's more than just fighting when it comes to earning kleos. I'd suppose an analogue to this feature (being good at something, be it fighting, cooking, fishing, what have you) would be how Penelope is said to earn kleos for her goodness rather than her nonexistent feats on the battlefield.

It makes me wonder, is the game the bard, or are we bards in playing it? Surely there is a distinction between genres in just which role you play. What say you?

(all that said, Charon does not approve of my Fallout 3 shenanigans and wants me to play more Runescape... http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/6659/screenshot0dq2.png )

[Samantha Lee]

Megan Wenker said:

I have to say I agree with Karen and Erika in feeling a bit overwhelmed so far! Not being an experienced gamer, I feel very aimless in wandering around the worlds of Runescape and Club Penguin. I'm sure, as you've all been saying, once you really understand the "formulas" of these games, you can see that the smaller mini-games, or quests, are there as a way to build your character and kleos. I'll have to try thinking of them in terms of this build-up, rather than as unrelated, individual cycles within themselves. Although, that is also the way I have always thought of Odysseus' story of his adventures. His adventures build his kleos, and explain his past, but have always seemed very episodic to me, as if they could be put in any particular order and do not really lead one into another. So, I guess I feel a bit like a young bard in the first phase of his learning, thrust forward and forced to play before an audience! So I hope you'll bear with me.

I have to agree with your interpretation of Odysseus' adventures as individual episodes. I would like to see how a bard would expand and explore the narrative of his adventures. This would probably take some closer reading on my part, but I wonder if there's any pattern to his episodes (other than Odysseus trying to trick someone or make himself more self important).

[rcharryjr]

I honestly, don't have as much gaming experience as many that are in this course. I have played my fair share of games but I haven't followed the newest trends. I've always been too preoccupied to constantly follow games. I also tend to have a short attention span. I have played games like Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog and other games like that in the past but when I started working full time all the spare time to play games went out the window.

What I will state is that first, the readings in Singer of Tales were a little drawn out. I was sucked into the readings of The Odyssey because of the form of writing that was used for it. Odyssey was telling a story and Singer was more of an educational aspect. I really do enjoy reading stories about Achilles and other adventurous characters. I feel captivated when reading about these because these are stories which have been told for generations. What is great is that with the new wave of videogames such as Halo, certain aspects of these stories are captured, such as conquests, and armies and associating with new people. That is what I am currently getting from Runescape as well. All in all I think this semester should be interesting and I look forward to progressing with the games so that I can see more similarities between the games and the readings.

[Tom Fino]

I would like to comment on the idea a single player RPG game does not reflect the experience of a bardic occasion. It seems to me that it truly depends on how it is that you look at the actual experience of the game.

All the arguments listed earlier are true; that the game is essentially mapped out and the player has little control over anything that is to contribute to the storyline. But the idea that I had thought of while reading through the posts has to do with the bardic tradition.

I am not sure if this is correct but from the way I interpreted what I learned from the reading assigned in Lord’s book it seems as though a bard would sing different songs but all of which have a basic theme. All songs can be, and always were, sung in very different ways improvised in meter by the bard. In my eyes, and if this is even correct, a single player RPG reflects this type of occasion more than an MMO because in the single player RPG the gamer has the ability to play the game completely different from another player, or bard, but still tell the same story. Obviously you would have to assume that the bards are singing the same story but in that context a single player RPG seems to map quite well onto the bardic occasion.

I know that this was also supported by some other students I just wanted to give my outlook on the subject.

[Jackiea]

I find the premise for the course unusual and exciting. I have to admit that I never thought too positively about video games, largely because the prevailing opinion on the subject, at least that I have heard (from the nongamers perpsective)is that video games are a waste of time and a sapper of individual creativity an energy. I will admit, that while I was never a gamer, I found certain video games enjoyable, myself, but only as a guilty pleasure. It never even occured to me, until I loistened to the introductory lectures for the course that perhaps video games could be one of the important creative ventures of this generation. Much as the bardic tradition was once looked upon as frivolous and wasteful, so are video games today, and perhaps there could/should be more credit given to these unsung creative compositions.

[Jackiea]

Afetr reading through the posts of the other classmates, I can see that many of the students have some gaming proficiency, and others, like myself have very little. I have almost none actually. I haven't played a video game in about 15 years probably, since mario 3. I also have no prior knowledge of bards or the bardic tradition, beyond something very rudimentary at least. I only remember reading Homer as epic works of literature without delving into the art of the telling. So I definitely connect with the idea of the new bard, beginning with little skill and experience and jumping into into this world that has been developed and mastered by champion and resident barders, in connection to the idea of the novice gamer, as I awkwardly fumble through the worlds of Club Penguin and Runescape, feeling embarrassed in front of my virtual, and seemingly to me, more proficient peers, as I try to figure out what and where I am supposed to go in these bright and magical virtual worlds, and feeling a sheepish and self conscious triumphant glee when I master such fundamental skills such as ice fishing or chopping wood.

[Jackiea]

I also had the same though/question. Are we the players the bard, or is the game the bard? I think in the end it is probably that we are the bards afterall, as most bards did not create their own stories, just created their own signiture version of the stories, upon mastery of the original. Similarly the gamer takes a pre-written experience and plays it with his own unique twist, takes his own course, and created his own outcomes, all closely tied to the original story line but differing to whatever degree.

John Flanagan said:

Having played through a bit of Runescape, I realize more and more just how alien an MMORPG is to me, compared to my other gaming experiences. Were I an ancient bard attempting to tell my character's story, well, I'd be a a rather newb-ish one. Fumbling about with the controls (which I judged as rather clunky) in opposition to my eternal love of Knights of the Old Republic, and the way that game let's you interact with the world, and being shocked to learn that there's more than just fighting when it comes to earning kleos. I'd suppose an analogue to this feature (being good at something, be it fighting, cooking, fishing, what have you) would be how Penelope is said to earn kleos for her goodness rather than her nonexistent feats on the battlefield.

It makes me wonder, is the game the bard, or are we bards in playing it? Surely there is a distinction between genres in just which role you play. What say you?

(all that said, Charon does not approve of my Fallout 3 shenanigans and wants me to play more Runescape... http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/6659/screenshot0dq2.png )

[Jackiea]

Interesting point, that the personalization of the bardic epics could hinder them as literary pieces to be topics of intellectual discussion. I wonder than if the intellectual discussion is limited more to the discussion of the bardic tradition than to the bardic stories themselves?

Dan Emmons said:

Hey guys! Hope my first post here is alright. I decided to being exploring the factor of improvisation in the telling of epics.

The ancient bards that sung the tales of Homer were performers of an art not seen in recent history. Their method of storytelling is different than future methods because there is no standard form. These bards had to improvise with each telling of the story. Unlike conventional methods, such as books, movies, or television, the story told by the bard was different every time. Each telling of the story would be personalized, and each audience would get a unique experience. If the bard were aware of that enough, he could personalize the epic for his audience, creating something that would be more enjoyable than a basic retelling of the same epic. The whole experience of a tale such as the Odyssey or the Illiad would be enriched.
While this method of storytelling does make for a more intense individual experience, the range of discussion about these epics becomes limited. While today, two people who have never met and live on opposite sides of a country can comb through a movie, scene by scene to expound on the technique or skill of the director. Two telling of a story in the bardic occasion cannot be related so easily. They can only be compared as far as the main points of the story can be. I believe that this is a problem that has social implications. Stories that are diffused through a country may not act as common enough ground for people to discuss. By improvising and personalizing an epic, you make it a more exclusive experience.

[andybear]

Well to me there are such obvious circumstances when you compare the traditional bardic occasion with nearly any open ended adventure video game. In games of this genre, Runescape, Diablo, and World of Warcraft to name a few I have played it is incredible how one level and every path through the game are never the same. Similarly, when any given Bard would belt out a book from “The Iliad,” or “The Odyssey,” their paths would inevitably vary. Names and places would change, different circumstances were emphasized, and in the end the story has undoubtebly been altered countless times. In adventure gaming, the final goals to beat the game, or at least grab the best unique gear remains the same, but the course chosen to reach this destination changes depending on who the “bard” behind the keyboard happens to be.