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Professor: Epic drops have epic literary origins
The conventional game mechanics of today's WoW-like MMORPGs are thousands of years old -- at least dating back to the Ancient Greeks. That's the thesis of Classics professor Roger Travis of the University of Connecticut in an article he wrote for The Escapist, called "Achilles Phat Lewtz."He compared the excitement he experienced when gaining a rare drop in The Lord of the Rings Online to similar instances in Greek poet Homer's epic war story The Iliad. He also located examples of quests, guilds, character classes, grinding and boss fights in Homer's work. Check out the article; it's insightful and entertaining.Travis also runs his own blog on the subject of relating games and ancient literary epics called "Living Epic: Video Games in the Ancient World." The various posts there are substantial and fascinating. Give it a look-over.
University professor uses Halo to teach Homer
UConn associate professor Roger Travis thinks that video games can be an important learning tool -- and not just lame-ass edutainment, but real video games. Like Halo. Travis draws parallels between the legendary FPS and epic literature like the Aeneid: "Both Halo and the Aeneid tell a story about a more-than-human hero defeating enemies who would be too much for ordinary people like us – enemies who nevertheless bear an important resemblance to the ones we and the Romans face in our respective presents."Uh-huh. UConn students, if this guy starts saying the Konami Code was inspired by The Hero With A Thousand Faces, you should probably consider transferring to a more academically demanding school.
