1. @PhilipArdaghDragon Archivist Required:Evaluating The Suitability of a Role PlayingGame For Literature ModdingDigital Worlds:14:00 - 15:30 Digital Humanities Congress - 4 Sept 2014Erik Champion #nzerik erik.champion@curtin.edu.au

2. new-report-digital-humanities-and-future-archives http://www.finnish-institute.org.uk/en/articles/1011-new-report-digital-humanities-and-future-archives Digital history may narrow the gap between academic and popular history,and increase cross-disciplinary and international collaboration. New digital tools have not yet changed most historians' research methodssubstantially but digital tools and methods should be included in historycurriculum. Libraries, archives and universities see future digital preservation challengessimilarly, which encourages further collaboration. Digitisation projects: work-intensive..require new skills and attitudes. Private-public partnerships in the culture heritage sector are in many wayscontroversial but may offer opportunities for collaboration. 3. Dragon Archivist What is a ludic book? Game play artefacts and NPCscan create meaningful play? Can words be power? What interaction can bederived from Skyrim? Useful and effective tool? http://t.co/khvf3l9Ahm 4. The practical limitations and dramatic possibilities ofmodding Elder Scrolls: Skyrim1. Skyrims Creation Kit game levels are medieval settings (Skyrim) or for modernist settings(Geck: Fallout) but the hobbyist mods are wider-ranging.2. Climate, landscapes, hostile creatures, inventories, interaction (praying, healing, reading, toolcreation / repair, persuade, charm, cause fear, gain followers, collect flowers or specimens foralchemy experiments, buy and sell, sneak and pickpocket, induce disgust or revulsion, fermentfrenzy or chaotic behaviour, trap souls).3. The Non-Playing Characters have properties and roles, vary inrace and profession, can detectplayers, speak dialogue, and can be persuaded charmed or repelled.4. Skyrim books contain narratives to advance game-play, and can be stored and traded.5. Can books convey aspects of literature in a game setting to students and the general public whomay lack the initial inclination to read the great classics of literature? TO visualise new andengaging aspects of literature; can it induce them to read the text ?6. How much effort is required of a humanities scholar to develop your own Skyrim mods? 5. University of Queensland 2006 project Elizabeth Goins et al-Nefertari 6. Eric Fassbender-Use of The Elder Scrolls Construction Set to create a virtual history lesson 7. SketchUp to Blender to Creation Kit 8. Social Presence 9. No Cultural Presencethe difficulties of studying abandoned virtual worlds wherein direct identification ofhuman beings was essentially impossible (for all that was left in these worlds werefleeting digital traces)-Sara Perry 10. idea 1: books as keysWhen collected together, text from books adds to map informationor provides more abilities or gateways to different places (portals) 11. 2: Books as triggersPlace books to trigger events 12. 3: Books to train NPCsDemonstrate events in books to NPCS 13. 4: Jester librariansChange into certain clothes and immediately you become a performer and NPCSwatch you and try to guess what you are doing.Example: 14. 5: Text fragmentsCombine text fragments to create books 15. 6: Memetic driftTrade books to see progression of ideas, and how different characters/ cultures create or understand ideasin the books.Example: Books detail past key quests solved, owner characteristics or change the map.Can videos be added during gameplay, can book text change dynamically? 16. 7: Speak words of powerSpeak words into microphone to learn key words of powerExample: Icelandic saga; learn sacred words to protect monastic library.Learning: Pronunciation and improve memory recall and perhaps appropriate use of word 17. Skyrim: voice and infrared 18. 8: Augmenting storytellerInclude screenshots and movies into books to create picture book of Skyrim history or instructionsor travel guide. Or match screenshots to famous books.Example: Find flowers and herbs and connections or metals or crafts, and match to description. 19. 9: Turing TestTry to disguise yourself as an NPC or take over their role insociety and see how long you last before being discovered. 20. 10: Dialogue theftPickpocket books to learn dialogue and learn when or where to say the lines of dialogue and to whom.Or just learn dialogue through eavesdropping, if NPCS think someone may have sneaked up on themthey could say red herrings or misleading information or set traps. 21. 11: Recognise through book learningLearn to identify events or characters when dragons or animals appear.Example: Chinese mythology, shapeshifting legends, Neolithic archaeology. 22. 12: ArchivistFile books to develop different classification systems.Example: Enable classification methods, follow preservation strategies, right combinations createspowerful auras, recommend certain books to NPCs and face their pleasure/displeasure. 23. 13: Academic LibrarianTrade books to try to guess relative value or popularity of ideas.Example: could create academic spoof where you attack scare or ridicule or beridiculed or complemented depending on which books you are carrying or havetraded or have read or have either placed or destroyed or consumed. 24. 14: Book-based roleplayingIf you place, trade destroy to give away OR USE (as spell book) a book, you are transformed into that character withthat characters abilities and weaknesses and tendencies to believe or not believe or be amenable to player control.Nightmares and illusions could also appear based on the player character.At end be asked if beliefs were historically accurate.http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=15566&searchtext=legacy 25. 15: Author discoveryFind book authorsMatch dialogue language to hidden authors in your midst.Match texts to characters or races and discover interesting combinations. 26. 50 best Skyrim modsFollowers and wet and cold (NPCs dress to climate) orrebuild a town (Helgen Reborn) OR 200 mods 27. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/32988Macbeth the movie 28. Summary Literature as procedural learning, flashback, components,mystery ciphers, counterfactual worlds, commands & recipes. Books are not fully integrated into game. NPCS and memes are an interesting combination. Role-playing not fully developed. Cultural Presence can be improved further. Nordic, medieval, Western and apocalyptic settings possibleelse Skyrim modding is no faster than designing from scratch. 29. Useful Skyrim Mod Links http://www.creationkit.com/Exporting_meshes_to_Creation_Kit http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/NifSkope 3D converter http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/ Mods and modmanager and Machinimahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hua97IXrus8 Books read aloud https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijW6vdYTIKM http://www.pcgamer.com/au/2012/10/28/the-25-best-skyrim-mods-2/ best mods- see also http://www.destructoid.com/top-game-changing-mods-for-skyrim-on-the-steam-workshop-246430.phtml Gallia debut trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtvFIHiMmI4#t=23 ORsee Macbeth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnKKyh8T2tk ORMacbeth:skyrim version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLWV3UbbLM4 OrMacbeth Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZhE6mOKISE 30. Academic references http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-2/going-beyond-the-textual-in-history-by-jeremy-antley/ (pacifist play) ORhttp://www.playthepast.org/?p=4333 http://alex-reid.net/2011/12/open-skyrim-reading-text-objects.html http://cnms201sp14.dhinitiative.org/2014/04/22/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-julian-ophals/ Digital Humanities: Current Perspective, Practices, and Research- edited by Charles Wankel, p.94 http://cyborgia.wordpress.com/ http://emergenceofdhbook.tumblr.com/post/59772273737/you-can-now-read-the-introduction-at-the http://thatcampgames.org/2012/01/06/session-proposal-skyrim-edu/ course? https://www.academia.edu/6998611/Songs_of_Skyrim_Diegetic_Folk_Music_and_Identity_in_The_Elder_Scrolls_V http://jsaddcox.com/virtualstowaway/ (beowolf) http://memetechnology.org/2013/08/01/archaeology-and-skryim-a-qualitative-survey/ Spoof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEMD28MMtNg and all books of Skyrim or Falskar mod