About a year ago I visited William Shakespeare's home in Stratford on Avon. It was a surreal experience. As with many of the English historical sites I had visited, I was in a building centuries old where people had lived that I had only heard of during some boring high school lecture or book. We've all seen Shakespeare depicted in cartoons and TV commercials, or seen the Dr. Who episode at the Globe Theater, and that is what we have come to know as Medeival representations. It was very much like experiencing a parallel dimension where historical and modern eras were co-existing.
It was at that moment that I realized that there is a massive disconnect between what we think we know about Medieval life and times versus historical information. There are a host of games published each year of a Medieval (fantasy) theme. They are filled with scattered factual details, but tend to focus on dragons, magic, and epic battles. I decided I wanted to create a game based on the daily lives, economic challenges, technology, and the political/social climate of the times. In doing so, the goal became providing a teaching tool and a repository of teacher resources.
We have the technology to create emersive virtual environments that bring the player into historical simulations. We are capable of bringing the museum into the classroom, so to speak. This "classroom" can easily be the home, the library, or any other location with an Internet connection. This type of learning eperience can cover K-12 and life long leraning as well. Through MMO games, the experience can connect players worldwide, invoking discussion and international knowledge exchange.
This is our mission, to entertain, inform, educate, and open dialogues. We have started the first game of the series complete with quests, crafting, achievements, and in-game trading cards. The wiki will contain full recipes from the 14th Century, 1500+ occupations with decriptions, Medieval guilds and companies of London, and dozens of historical/architecture sites to explore. There will also be 1000's of facts and details presented in the interactive environment. Players will feel that they have been a part of history, rather than doing homework.
