How Gaming Survived the Gothic Renaissance

Have you noticed there is a surprising overlap between early epic (quest-based) video games and Victorian Gothic novels?

If you’re unfamiliar with the Gothic genre, think Dracula or Frankenstein. They usually involve some dark -- often supernatural -- force that lurks below the surface. They’re the stories that make you feel a little uneasy; they’re the stories where the world is just a little bit dark.

No, epic video games are not all about vampires or zombies (although they might be!). It’s not in the content that epic video games overlap with Gothic novels, it’s in their shared nostalgia for an idealized past.

Online History Games Pose a Challenge to Education

The benefits of integrating online games – particularly role-playing games – into the classroom are endless:

• Rather than passively absorbing content to be regurgitated at a later date, students are encouraged to take control of their own learning
• Creativity, critical thinking, decision making, and leadership skills are employed to achieve desired goals
• There is freedom from failure, so students can try out different solutions in unfamiliar situations and can feel comfortable relying on their own abilities

In other words, role-playing games shifts the power in the classroom: educators are able to act as facilitators, rather than directors.