Digital Humanities Quarterly. 1.1 (2007).

This article discusses the gaming activity and literary form known as the ‘quest’. Focusing mainly on game theory, Howard uses this article to propose ideas on how ‘quests’ can be used in literature classrooms. He examines debates between narratologists and ludologists, where narratologists analyse games as works of storytelling, and ludologists maintain that games should instead be mined for the meanings inherent in the components related to play, such as rules and simulation. It is a debate of games vs storytellers, which many in an UG classroom will be familiar with. Howard then details various types of quests and how they arise in game formats; including how this relates to literary forms such as the hero narrative. Following this, Howard suggests ways that the understanding of quest elements can allow teachers of English literature to create assignments which have students transform traditional literary narratives into ‘quests’ in a digital game format. An example of this assignment is extensively detailed, in a descriptive narrative that includes formation, classroom delivery, student perception, assignment outcome, and finally assessment. Howard believes that through an activity such as this, student will engage more with the intricacies of storytelling within well-known works of literature. Students could also benefit from being encouraged to map the world experienced in literature into a simulated geographical space: this could allow a more realistic conception of the movements of the characters during the events of the story to be realised. Howard suggests that through the design and comparison of conceptual spaces, along with ‘real world’ locations within narratives, students could better comprehend how comprehend how various works of literature were constructed. This will reinvigorate the students’ interest, as well as making them aware of the relationship between digital storytelling tools, and their subject of literature, which they may have not thought of nor experienced previously.