Gamers of the world unite - we've got just the university courses for you. Well, as long as you're prepared to nip over to the States, at least. The first offering comes from the University of South Carolina, where next spring students are offered the chance to examine "the ways history is presented in computer games" by pairing selected games and pieces of written historical scholarship". And when they're not busy playing anything from Railroad Tycoon to Assassin's Creed (with, perhaps, a bit of a break every now and then for a spot of Company of Heroes) they'll be working towards their evaluation by writing two five-page essays comparing assigned games and readings, plus a longer research paper relating representation of a historical event or person within a game to research conducted by professional historians.
So it's not all fun and videogames: the course does offer a certain amount of historical education. And training, perhaps, for the future. After all, doesn’t the saying go "Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it?" But going further back in time, the English Department at Rice University - in Houston, Texas - are offering their idea of education and training for the future in the shape of their own special course, You can almost the scratching of American mothers' heads from here, as they wonder why their sofa-bound gamer kids are all whining: "But Mom, I really want to go to university - honest!"
They, of course, are puzzled by their XBox-addicted offspring wanting to learn anything about medieval Scandinavia and Old Norse and Old Icelandic legends. It all comes clear, though, when they discover that the course in question is named - appropriately enough - Scandinavian Fantasy Worlds: Old Norse Sagas and Skyrim." Ah. Skyrim. That makes all the difference, doesn’t it? Again, its not just about whacking and hacking, Scandinavian-style - the course description makes it perfectly clear there's education and training involved as well: "We’ll consider the political saga of Skyrim, with its emphasis on Empire and rebellion, as pursuits made possible by way of Scandinavia in order to think through what Scandinavian fantasy worlds are really about and why they resonate with contemporary Anglo-American culture. " So that makes it all OK, then.
In the meantime, as soon as we hear of any university offering any equally useful degree courses featuring Sonic the Hedgehog, we'll let you know.
