Adam Clare

I got an email from an online university site pointing out that they have a post on 20 educational games that were ahead of their time. It’s a good list and may get you thinking of how fun educational games can be. Obviously, it’s their list which may be missing games that you once loved when you were younger. My favourite from their list is none other than Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (1985):
Game developer Gary Carlston, a founder of Broderbund, wanted to make geography fun for learners, so he spearheaded this early educational project. To say it was successful would be an understatement, as it spawned numerous sequels (players could track Carmen through the U.S., Europe, and even time) and a game show in the early 1990s. Play involved chasing down a master thief, the eponymous Carmen Sandiego, around the world and answering geography questions correctly in order to retrieve objects and foil her plans. Its success was not only in its popularity: it also proved that games were the ideal medium for making just about any educational topic, even those that didn’t usually get kids excited about, fun and engaging.

Transmedia storytelling is a term used to describe stories which are told across multiple mediums.

A few years ago it was all the rage for Ontario media companies and everyone wanted something to do with transmedia, now, it’s a little passé. Still, it’s something to be aware of and can still be used for telling stories.

Henry Jenkins has a good writeup on how to tell stories this way in his post Transmedia Storytelling 101. There are ways that writing a story for multiple mediums at the same time differs greatly from writing for a single medium. Here’s a snippet:

3.Most often, transmedia stories are based not on individual characters or specific plots but rather complex fictional worlds which can sustain multiple interrelated characters and their stories. This process of world-building encourages an encyclopedic impulse in both readers and writers. We are drawn to master what can be known about a world which always expands beyond our grasp. This is a very different pleasure than we associate with the closure found in most classically constructed narratives, where we expect to leave the theatre knowing everything that is required to make sense of a particular story.

In this viral-info-snack he discusses the power of media in a 21 century trans-mediated world. A world where converging technologies and cultures give rise to a new media landscape.

Game thinking from Adam Clare

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Transmedia and Storytelling

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Author: Adam ClarePage 150 of 262

Some Educational Games Were Ahead of Their Time

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Transmedia and Storytelling

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