THE END: The Story of My Paper

I started the research unit very enthusiastic about this digital/social approach to writing. I had heard reports from some students from last semester's class of their topics and research and was really excited to try my own. I already knew I wanted to do something with Shakespeare and games because I had been digging into the idea of games scholarship of any and all kinds the semester before. Games have always been a huge part of my life, even if I haven't always acknowledged it (no one you know owned a wider array of trading card games as I did--I promise), and I wanted all that time I spent playing games to amount to something interesting and intellectual. Ironically, however, I've played many, many more board and card games in my life than video games--my parents never allowed any video game console into my house until the winter I left for college, so the move to video games was a strange one for me. I figured, though, that in a way gave me an advantage because I could look at games more objectively and intellectually. I could more legitimately answer the question "Can video games be art?" because I hadn't already answered it for myself. I started looking around and found some interesting resources on Shakespeare possibly being a game designer were he alive today, and that helped narrow things down to just four possible paper topics.

The paper I ended up writing was, of course, really a mash-up of all four ideas. (Good thing I had ten pages.) I was pleasantly surprised to find out that other people were actually interested in this topic, and that there was plenty of material from Shakespeare's text itself to support such claims. As I kept looking, I found discussions actually happening about a topic I thought was extremely specific, which was very encouraging. The class really got involved in my paper, too, as I kept getting a lot of good responses on my posts, even when I was just musing. All of this really got me going, so by the time we had to do annotated bibliographies and find possible audiences, I already had tons of info--enough that I could easily pass some of it over to Britton in hopes that he could treat some stuff I didn't have time for but really interested me. By the time I did my first rough draft, my mind was racing all over the place because I had found so much information and so much interest.

That's when my paper took a difficult turn. I realized I was getting too much to say and too many angles on the topic that my paper just wouldn't be cohesive unless I cut. I went back to the primary text because I knew if I stuck close to The Tempest I could keep it tight. When I went back to do research again, I focused a lot more on specific arguments I had rather than general information on video games, art, and Shakespeare like I was doing before. The stuff I found in that round of research actually made up the bulk of my final paper because, thanks to the suggestions of others and some great feedback from author and game philosopher Chris Bateman (twice), I tightened up my paper significantly to be a discussion of the legitimacy of video games in our culture compared to the fight for legitimacy for English drama in Shakespeare's own day, which made for a good first full draft.

In discussions with Dr. Burton late in the game, I found out about the RMMLA conference and, luckily, they had a panel planned for this year's conference about games and new media that instantly became my number one choice for publishing. I got into contact with the panel chair and got enthusiastic responses from her because she was having a hard time getting the panel off the ground, so I was quickly accepted, though with the chance that I might not get to present because the panel might get canceled.

After getting accepted, though, I had to really make sure the paper turned out well, so after a final interview with Professor Burton I made some pretty big organizational changes and brought back a couple elements from my first draft and kicked out some from the full draft and finally submitted my finished paper. I'm still not sure what's going to happen, but I've been so inspired that I'm seriously considering starting a blog about the intersection of the humanities and video games, which I very well might do after this semester ends and I have some free time this summer. It's been a great ride--and it's not over yet.

Learning: A Lifelong and Social Experience

Learning Outcomes

1. Gain Shakespeare Literacy

Over the course of this semester I have read and watched various Shakespeare plays and sonnets including: The Taming of the Shrew, The Winter’s Tale, Henry V, King Lear, and Love’s Labour’s Lost. I was introduced to more Shakespeare works than I had previously been exposed to. The breadth of my study included plays from the main Shakespearean genres: comedy, tragedy, history, and romance. I was able to gain a wider picture of Shakespeare’s works through the various genres. Henry V and my individually assigned play, Love’s Labour’s Lost were two plays that I studied more in depth. Through this process, I learned more about rhetoric and how powerful it can be. I also learned that pretty much EVERYONE has their own opinion about it. During this time, I was also able to watch various plays on film and stage. Some film/stage adaptations were certainly better than others. Certain artistic and theatrical features determined the quality of the performance. For example, the Henry V stage production chose not only to cast Henry as a female but also adapted much of the play for a children’s audience. This greatly changed the way Henry is viewed as a character. Sometimes these changes worked, and sometimes they didn’t. However, all the changes revealed something different about the play and emphasized its applicability to our day. In addition, over the course of the semester I have read countless sources about background information about Shakespeare, peer-reviewed articles, and found numerous blogs and modern-day adaptations of his plays.

Life is a Highway

Don't judge me about the title. I was feeling sentimental when I wrote it. Anyway, let’s start from the beginning. My paper began after reviewing digital dialog posts and talking with classmates. I was really intrigued by both the rhetorical and linguistic aspects of Love’s Labour’s Lost and Henry V, and I couldn’t decide which one to do. However, after doing my literary analysis, I decided that Henry was the way to go. It seemed like nearly everyone disagreed with me in thinking that Henry was an overall good guy, and to be honest, they had some really good points. The comments discouraged me, but they also helped me realize that I really did want to show that Henry is a good person. My friend also helped me realize that Henry is not as black and white as I was making him out to be.

And now I feel like this baby! :)

            Here’s the part where I go around in circles for a couple of weeks. I went from lying and attachment theory to who knows what else. Along the way, I did research, returned to the primary text, and did research again. I was even able to come up with some sort of draft. I tried to be an altruistic scholar and help out others here and there, and I was even able to get some social proof feedback, but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. At this point, I realized that my thesis was generic and overdone. I had hit a wall. A really big wall. I had to revise my whole thesis and thought process and come up with something that I could be proud to put my name to. Ultimately, I used an idea from another class about sympathy and how it works. I claimed that sympathy is the foundation of rhetoric, and because of this, perhaps Henry’s rhetoric was not as manipulative as many claim it to be. Finally, I have a finished product. It was hard. It was rough, and there may or may not have been some tears along the way, but I learned and I tried. 

Once Upon a Research Paper

My research paper started with a small idea and a concept that I was struggling to grasp.  I initially was confused at Iago and his amoral nature as well as the way in which he so easily altered himself and adopted new selves to fulfill his revenge upon Othello.  As I was talking to Steve in class, I realized that I needed something hard as evidence to back this cloudy theory that my paper was standing on.  The true makings of my paper were discovered in the tweethis exercise which helped me pull my ideas together and narrow everything down to one succinct topic and purpose.  The major social proofing I did was in class, with my roommates, or with my High School English teacher and the ideas I fostered there really helped my paper get off the ground in terms of sustenance.  My purpose was truly realized in class talking with Amelia.  The way she discussed her topic, I was able to infer the passion she had for her paper, or at least a great sense of purpose for what she was discussing.  I knew that for my paper to truly be something special, I was going to have to find that same purpose.

Going back through the primary texts, I found that Iago was sensible in his change in "disguise" and even more than that, in reflection of Carl Jung's personality theory, Iago was a deep character, perhaps deeper than any of the other stock characters in the story.  He is a maze of complexity inside a the guise of a purposeless and malicious revenge seeker.  However poor my mini rough draft was, I was able to move past it for the most part after meeting with Dr. Burton and published my final draft just in time, both for the class and for the submissions that we all made.