The Voyage: A history game that is a museum about convict voyages
- Posted by Jeff Fletcher |
- Thursday 6 July 2017, 03:32 PM (EST)
The Voyage is a free online game based on historical records about the transportation of convicts from Britain to the penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land around 1830. Are you up to the challenge?
The year is 1830. You are the Surgeon Superintendent aboard a convict vessel transporting its human cargo from Britain to the farthest reaches of the known world – Van Diemen’s Land.
You are charged with delivering several hundred convicts to the colony in good health and in the shortest time possible, with minimum loss of life. This is the way to make money and further your reputation and position.
Are you up to the challenge?
Who am I and where am I going?
The Voyage is based on historical records about the transportation of convicts from Britain to the penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land (modern Tasmania) around 1830.
Traversing the globe by ship in the 1800s was dangerous, sometimes terrifying and often just plain boring!
The ship’s Surgeon Superintendent was responsible for the convicts on board and had to make decisions constantly. Do we stop for provisions or keep going? How do we improve the mood of the convicts? How do we keep them in good health?
So, in this game you will take their place and your decisions will affect the lives of everyone on board!
Manage life onboard the ship
There’s a lot to organise before you even leave port! What ships are available? What do I know about the convicts? What’s my budget and what provisions will I need?
Once underway, players oversee many different aspects of the voyage, and a wise player keeps an ever- watchful eye. Pop-up scenarios demand your attention and the challenge is to make the right decision, as whatever you do will affect what happens next.
It’s not all serious, though. Humour is a very important component of The Voyage and breakout games like culling the rats or organising convict dances are fun but they also have a point. If you don’t kill enough rats they can spread disease and eat your food!
Can students learn by playing games?
Games in education have been around for a long time, from board games to electronic games and now on-line games. Benefits include improving skills in group dynamics, literacy and numeracy, critical thinking, strategy, empathy, collaboration and engagement with curriculum content.
Well-designed games provide students with a comfortable “buy-in” and give them a stake in the progression through the levels. Learning from mistakes and repetition becomes a challenge rather than a consequence and both content and skills are delivered through a medium that is relevant in everyday life.
Our trials with both Year 9 and Year 5 also showed that a measure of serendipitous learning – engaging with the unexpected – took place and this was appealing and stimulating for players.
In his article on gaming in education, researcher Richard Halverson asks school leaders to look at the “compelling nature of gameplay”. He talks about how core learning structures are built into the design of successful games as inspiration to embrace a different way of learning. This is the inherent challenge for teachers: to explore gaming as a legitimate educational tool that sits comfortably within their teaching framework.
Museums expand their horizons
Today’s museums are reinventing themselves to reach more people through multi-media platforms in effective and engaging ways. Digital displays, virtual excursions and on-line exhibitions couple with existing museum practices to create a broader experience for visitors, both on- and off-site.
My confidence in this project was buoyed by our partnership with ROAR films, University of Tasmania and Screen Australia and the fact that primary sources – such as Ship Surgeon’s documents from British National archives, convict records from our State archives and Old Bailey transcripts – were the foundation of the game.
To me The Voyage is a museum in a game! It utilises primary sources, has a level of interpretation but doesn’t dictate, offers multiple pathways to information and encourages players to explore more for themselves.
We encourage you to take up the challenge!