The Context of Form

“The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.”

— Lao Tzu

I admire discourse that challenges me to think more deeply about tabletop games, whether new perspectives or ones investigating (and sometimes affirming) concepts I advocate. I often wish the adventure gaming hobby had more such discussion geared toward the kind of hobbyists and informed generalists who wander the borderlands between more steadfastly ensconced professional and scholarly game circles. Secondary education offers some promising opportunities as young people, not yet established in our staunch intellectual silos, explore and develop their own ideas on gaming subjects. Dr. Jeremiah McCall, himself an innovator in the field of games for learning, recently mentored one of his students at the Cincinnati Country Day School through a senior independent study project examining how different media — literature, film, and video games — presents the same historical event in different ways...and to different ends. It encourages us to more closely analyze how we interact with the various media we consume and how the context of form shapes its messages.

Ali Zimmerman’s video “The Trojan War Across Different Media” serves as the culmination of this academic project. It proves a well-articulated introduction to and examination of the strengths and limitations of different media in portraying historical subjects. Go watch it now. It leads with a quote from Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan, “The medium is the message,” which encourages focusing more on the means of communication in media and how the form shapes the information it presents. Zimmerman’s video peels away a number of layered issues surrounding depictions of the Trojan War, from the earliest oral traditions, Homer’s Iliad, Wolfgang Petersen’s 2004 movie, Troy, and two different video games covering the conflict from the personal and strategic levels: the variations and nuances of the sources, including their intentions; how different media approaches and presents story elements; emphasis on certain themes and omission of others; and how audiences experience and interpret the story through the context each medium constructs.

Watching “The Trojan War Across Different Media” I couldn’t help but start drawing parallels to some of my own interests, notably my “Watch, Read, Play” articles surveying films, books, and games about various historical (and usually military) events. My own efforts are certainly nowhere near as academically rigorous as Zimmerman’s video (and the research and analysis behind it), but they run adjacent to discussion of “medium as the message” when considering the benefits of games for learning. The video encourages a more critical examination about why media makes certain choices, especially in tabletop games. Each form offers a different perspective and experience, shaped by the creator’s understanding and intent, their ability and method of interpreting the event within their chosen medium, and a host of other considerations (such as time, budget, production). Each film, book, and game we experience on a particular subject gives us a different and deeper perspective if we take the time to reflect on it. The more we experience a particular historical event through these assorted contexts, and various interpretations within each kind of media, the greater the breadth of our own evolving understanding. The more we consume the more material we have to evaluate and consider, both the value of a particular piece of media and our cumulative knowledge and impression of the history it presents.

The creator offers us their particular vision, shaped by the strengths and limitations of their medium; but as consumers we also arrive with our own individual expectations, our previous knowledge base, and our biases on a variety of topics (and the forms presented to us). These can affect the way we experience a piece and how we learn from it. For instance, I prefer to get my information from the written word, with little time or patience listening to podcasts or watching online video. I associate cinematic media with entertainment, approaching films portraying historical events with an awareness that storytelling considerations often take precedence over any deep sense of accuracy. I prefer tabletop games to video games (though I occasionally indulge in the latter); the in-person experience brings more uncertainty and depth to the table with each additional player and their individual sets of expectations, biases, and play styles. Maintaining an awareness of our own views helps us understand how we experience of media differently.

We don’t always consider media’s form, it’s limitations and strengths, the restrictions it imposes on the subject matter, the interpretive choices involved in fitting to that form, and the intent of the creator. Too often we accept simplistic depictions of history and other issues with little consideration, trusting the source. We don’t always realize the complexities of our everyday situations and experiences...or even of historical events. Most media distills information about complex situations, including entire historical events, so we can experience it in portions we can more easily process or enjoy. Each medium makes compromises with generally understood history to tell its story in the context of its form. It’s rarely a comprehensive study, but often enough to interest us to explore more on our own. Did a film, work of literature, or game accurately (or defensibly) portray a historical event? What sources did it draw upon for its portrayal of the past? What compromises did it take to portray a particular theme or message? What simplifications and ludic abstractions did a game use to make it accessible and playable for a wider audience?

Films, novels, and games primarily exist in the realm of entertainment (other than non-fiction books and documentary films), yet many serve to challenge and educate us beyond their face value. Too often the general public dismisses such diversions as frivolous, possessing little value especially when compared to the core money-making priorities capitalism demands of us. It’s an entrenched stigma more difficult to overcome given the vaunted importance our society places on professional credentials and official certifications (driven, also, by a capitalistic motivations for companies to make money providing those qualifications). Entertainment media can inspire further inquiry, reflection, and learning; if we carefully examine the message of its medium, we can incorporate it in meaningful educational endeavors.

I’ve long advocated that our experience of games goes beyond simply learning the rules and playing the game…that reflection on the experience remains key to the various levels of learning engaging us. Dr. McCall also highlights this in his teaching approaches using games for learning, as illustrated in his “Cycle of Gameplay and Analysis” diagram. Examining a game’s portrayal of historical events benefits from this discussion: how a game abstracts and simplifies systems representing history; how the medium shapes its presentation of events; how we interact and influence both the game state and others as player agents; how our own pre-existing understanding and biases affect the game; and what we learn from the experience. Understanding how the medium of different games provides context for experiencing and understanding an issue (including history) remains key in our awareness and application of our learning at any level.

“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.”

— Abraham Maslow