Methods and Materials
Jung's dream
interpretation procedure, Ulmer's post-criticism, and the increasingly popular
pedagogy of play all grant students and educators with the sense that composing
with videogames can be an important means of self-discovery. Jung does not
claim that his logical procedure leads to accurate interpretations of
irrational dreams (1971, p. 324), but Ulmer's method reasons that working with
illogic is valuable as a method of post-criticism because it permits us to
create freely while deviating from conventional practices, such as, for
example, providing"explanations" and"examples" that inevitably censor or
impose conformity (1995, p. 253). Play is the attitude by which students engage
in both (Holmevick, 2012). EDI is a hybrid of all
three. The following describes the project, including what was needed and how
it was made. The results section will examine the projects of five
participants, all first-year composition students who created the projects
during the Fall 2013 semester at Clemson University.
For this
assignment students needed:
1) three video games
(count is negotiable);
2) one web space (any
kind, so long as it is chosen wisely);
3) a working knowledge
of Jung's dream interpretation procedure
4) the project
descriptions (Clemson University's description and Prof. Hanzalik's
description);
5) research resources;
6) ailments and a
desire to resolve them.
For this assignment, students and instructors
needed to follow Clemson University's ENGL 1030 Generic Syllabus Project
Description:"Arguing in Multimedia":
This assignment
requires students to develop an extended
argument using multimodal composition
strategies (visual, textual, audio, tactile). Examples of the form your
multimodal argument can take are: op-ads, photo-essay, website, remix,
collage/montage, video, podcast, mp3 file(s), blog, or other multi-media
combinations. It will be important to decide on your topic, create a plan, then
organize, and structure your project according to effective argumentative and
design principles you are learning in this course. Projects will be evaluated
on the overall quality of the argument, the design quality, as well as the
creativity and effort needed to produce a final product comparable to a 2000-word traditional essay. [NOTE: This does NOT
mean your project needs to include 2000 words, but it should represent an equal
amount of work (research, designing, writing) as you will do on Project Five.]
(Haynes, 2013, p. 6)
For this assignment, students also needed to
follow the EDI Project Description:
You will play three videogame and then employ
dream interpretation techniques (which necessitates research) in order to make
an informed web-based argument about what your game playing reveals about
yourself and society. The presumption here is that videogames are analogues to
dreams and that they have something to offer. Videogames seem allegorical and nonsensical.
You have control over them and you don't. They're vivid and obscure. Sensual.
And yet they must speak to you in some way, otherwise why would we play? Acclaimed dream interpreter and psychologist Carl Jung once said
that dreams"bring memories, insights, experiences; they awaken dormant
qualities in the personality, and reveal the unconscious elements in
relationships" (1945, p. 13). To be sure, the ultimate question you're
attempting to answer isn't an easy one: what are the subtle wisdoms that my
videogame play offers? To find the answer, Jung invented a procedure that
involves gathering specific data and mining some of that data for meaning. You
will implement the procedure for each of the three games.
Jung's dream interpretation procedure (the
videogame edition) (pp. 18-19):
1. Create a"Dream-Book": Using a website,
document what happened during your videogame play as you would write down what
happened in your dreams. Identify the"who, what, when, where, why, and how did
you feel" of the narratives. You might want to use Quicktime
or record your gameplay using your phone. You might want to include images,
recordings, and such.
2. Create a"Dream-Narrative": After you've
gathered the basic data of each game, transform it into the following narrative
structure by taking the following steps (again, for each game) (pp. 19-20):
a.
Name the"Place": where were you? use concrete specific language. Name the"Protagonist": who
were you with in that place?
b.
Trace the"Development": if possible,"identify
the scenes of the action, people involved, and often the initial situation" of
the gamer; or, more simply, describe how the situation gets more"complicated."
c.
Note the"Culmination": describe the crucial
moment of change.
d.
State the"Solution/Result": How does the game
conclude?
3. "Take Up the Context" that
responds to the following (p. 9; pp. 16-18):
e.
Make personal associations: How do the images,
sounds, motifs, themes, patterns relate to your own life? Focus on one or many.
What patterns and connections do you see in relation to your own life?
f.
Make cultural associations: How does each image
relate to our culture? For example, do you see any pets? If so, how does that
representation compare to their natural behaviors and how do the symbols
differ?
g.
Make archetypal associations: Identify images
& motifs in the games that can be found in mythology, folklore, literature,
and sacred texts that have appeared throughout every culture over time and everywhere.
Here's a link to Carl Jung talking about examples of archetypes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYst_MkepOQ
4."Compensate": datamine to find out what
your videogame play is trying to tell you (p. 11).
Notes for students:
Challenge: As you can see, the word "compensate" implies you'll feel a degree of uncertainty as you attempt to
interpret the gameplay because, like dreams, we can't be 100-percent sure about
what our gameplay means. In other words, you're making claims and ultimately
crafting an argument. Why all these
steps? So you can learn how to manage data and mine it for meaning. Then,
you'll make an argument that 1) relates to all three narratives and 2) responds
to the question: "What does subtle
guidance does my video game play reveal about me and society?" Choose your
design wisely.
Critical analysis: To help you with your
interpretation, find examples of dream interpretations by Jung or others. I
sent you a link to a series of movies by Marie-Louise Von Franz, who has interpreted
65,000 dreams. She talks about the process, and the meanings she has
created/discovered for specific dreams, for archetypes, etc.
Game play: You can
play individual and multiplayer; role-play games are best.
Grading: This project is worth 20 percent of
your grade for the semester.
Process: We will have several workshops as well as readings that
pertain to dream interpretation, game theory, research, datamining,
and web design.
Requirements: The argument must consist of ten
sources and it must be the equivalent to a 2,000-word paper. You must use at
least four hardcopy sources, including at least one rare manuscript.
Research: Books have been placed on reserve
for you to take out over night. The librarian has put a course page together
for us, which includes sources and search terms for psychology, mythology,
videogame theory, and archival work. Here is the link: http://clemson.libguides.com/content.php?pid=532558&sid=4380975