Game On
Game On
Game On
By Aaron R. Conklin
November16, 2021
Summary
For years, Mellor, a distinguished teaching faculty member with the Department of German, Nordic and Slavic Studies, would begin his popular World of the Sagas course, a First-Year Interest Group based on the legends and lore of Iceland and the Vikings, by asking his students to read poems and prose from the early Middle Ages.
In the game, players assume the role of EivorVarinsdottar, a 13th century Viking raider who must use a mix of stealth and ax-swinging force to navigate political and military conflicts with Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in medieval England.
During the game, players explore digitally rendered versions of London and York, as well as a couple of dream-vision visits to mythological Norse locations like Asgard and Jotunheim.
The long-running Assassin's Creed games, developed by Canadian publisher Ubisoft, are lauded for their attention to historical and geographic detail, a fact Mellor discovered when he began playing the game last summer.
Mellor's students were immediately enthusiastic about the experience.
"Playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla was homework that I looked forward to, and I found that I retained more information from the video game than I had from some of my readings. It also made the readings for the class more engaging since I recognized names and events in the readings from those referenced in the video game."
During the height of the pandemic, Mellor worked with students in the Bradley Learning Community, a first-year dormitory group, to build community through playing videogames like Minecraft together online.
Reference
Conklin, A. R. (2021, November 16). Game on. Retrieved January 07, 2022, from https://ls.wisc.edu/news/game-on