The <Virtual> Myth Conservancy

A Framework for Virtual Heritage and Game-Based Learning

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Myth is far more than fire-side entertainment or proto-science. It has shaped culture, history, popular entertainment, and even politics. It has also come under threat from multiple quarters: concretization through commitment to ink, use as nationalistic propaganda, and bastardized versions that ignore cultural context. The various versions of a myth must be carefully preserved in their context, but they must also be permitted to evolve with their culture to prevent becoming toxic. Their amorphous nature requires a similarly amorphous medium in which to survive.

Video games are often derided as frivolous entertainment at best, and as addictive and destructive at worst. Like any new narrative form, they are a scapegoat for societies’ ills. Play and games, however, are as old as culture itself, and integral to early forms of learning. They are also an inherently narrative medium. Their sense-based delivery of narrative elements, deep immersion, and amorphous nature makes them an ideal platform for myth conservation. Unfortunately, many existing examples of myth in games exhibit a lack of understanding in how to apply myth to maintain and respect their original cultural context, thereby safeguarding the myth itself.

This dissertation offers a theoretical framework for the integration of myth into game design. It is for game developers who wish to be more conscious of the use of myths, and for virtual heritage design teams comprised of game developers and heritage specialists. The framework serves as a meeting point between the two disciplines; a way to communicate effectively when approaching the subject matter from different perspectives.

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Excerpt

Chapter 1

Introduction

I once related the myth of Fionn MacCumhaill and the Salmon of Knowledge to an acquaintance of mine. When I was finished, she looked at me with scorn and said, “do you honestly believe that really happened?” A bit confused, I said no. “Then what’s the point of having the myth?” I was, frankly, flabbergasted. A decade and a half later, I still am. I had no idea how to even approach the question, much less how to answer it. If the book had been published at the time, I may have directed her to the above quote from Stephen Fry’s Mythos: what Prometheus stole was the inner spark. It is not the literal interpretation of the myth which has most value, but its metaphors and fundamental patterns. They help us to understand who we are on personal, cultural, and cross-cultural levels.

 

Mythology is an intangible cultural heritage that is under threat. The aim of this study is to create a theoretical framework for the application of myth conservation to video games and other digital storytelling platforms. The phrase “conservation efforts” often brings to mind the tangible: the rainforest and other natural habitats, endangered species, archaeological sites, and similar. They are the things we can see disappearing, and we can watch the ripple effect of their destruction. What is often overlooked is the intangible, such as languages, cultural practices, and mythology. It is far more difficult to map the cause and effects of their disappearance which shifts cultural consciousness and the history it creates.

 

Mythology is under threat not from the loss of its native languages,[1] the sociopolitical evolution of its peoples, or the invention of new religions. It is under threat from ink and paper. From the technicolor lights of the silver screen. From the 1s and 0s of computer code. Most of all, it is under threat from misuse as a result of indifference. Specifically, it is threatened by the indifference of those in the entertainment industry who would pluck myth from its cultural contexts, strip it of its meaning and purpose, and insert it piecemeal into novels, films, or video games. Apathetic storytelling may be myth’s greatest threat, but conscious storytelling—and particularly the use of a storytelling medium best suited to myth’s uniquely amorphous form—is its greatest conservation tool.

 

Myth in Context

“It is impossible to define a myth,” writes Wendy Doniger, “but it is cowardly not to try. […] The best way to non-define a myth is to look at it in action, […] to see what myth does, rather than what myth is. […] Picasso called art a lie that tells the truth, and the same might be said of myths” (O’Flaherty 25). Despite the commonplace use of the term “myth,” there is relatively little cohesion in the various ways that scholars define it. The popular definition used in media today equates “myth” with “lie” (i.e. one of the titles to be found among my own sources, “The Myth of Blunted Gamers”), and that has colored the popular view of ancient mythology. This argument is a favorite among certain religious sectors that seek to prove the veracity of a “one true religion:” myth is a lie and a misguidance. William Doty highlights this when he argues that contemporary use of “myth” tends to refer to ancient or, in a more derogatory manner, “primitive” religions as well as non-Western religions, whereas many tend to refer to their own religious mythologies as “our theology” or “self-evident beliefs” (12). The reality is that the term “myth,” like the myths themselves, has different meanings in accordance to its use and purpose. Psychologists, anthropologists, and legal bodies working in conservation may all have a different approach.

 

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), whist taking care to list mythology as part of the “oral traditions” domain of intangible cultural heritage, does not offer a definition of mythology, itself. They do, however, define “folklore” in a 1989 recommendation, not as a concrete definition, but as part of a legal entity:

Folklore (or traditional and popular culture) is the totality of tradition-based creations of a cultural community, expressed by a group or individuals and recognized as reflecting the expectations of a community in so far as they reflect its cultural and social identity; its standards and values are transmitted orally, by imitation or by other means. Its forms are, among others, language, literature, music, dance, games, mythology, rituals, customs, handicrafts, architecture and other arts. (“Legal Instruments,” emphasis mine)

 

Here we see mythology, once more, defined by its legal container. Rather conspicuously, there is no legal definition of what a myth is.

 

Ethnologist Sonja Ross provides an excellent summation of myth that emphasis its role and culture:

For oral cultures myths are the carriers of belief and value systems. They represent the significant whole in human experience, while giving it form and expression. Myths provide a body of principles for human life and thereby constitute a framework for the preservation of time-honoured values as well as innovations. In this regard belief systems and values are affected by changes much as human life itself. They bestow life with structure and reenact it, although subtly and with that conservatism that can be peculiar to the development of religious and ethical belief systems. (“Mythology as Indicator” 433)

 

Ross’ definition encompasses the cultural and historical value of myth, but only hints at its psychological function.  For C.G. Jung, myths were an expression of archetypes—patterns within the collective unconscious (CW 9, para. 4, 6). “An archetypal content expresses itself, first and foremost, in metaphor” (CW 9, para. 267).

 

Inspired by Jung, Joseph Campbell famously defined myth as a metaphor. “Myth is an organization of symbolic forms, images, and narratives that are metaphoric of the possibilities of human experience and fulfillment of a given society at a given time” (Thou Art That 1-2). He goes on to state that “metaphor is the native tongue of myth” (6). And like any good metaphor it has many interpretations, all equally valid; it is pluralistic by its very nature (Hatab 31).

 

To return to the popular use of the word “myth” to mean “lie,” we must acknowledge a partial truth to this interpretation. As my opening anecdote illustrates, a body of mythology is not to be taken literally but this does not necessarily mean it is a lie. A myth illustrates truths inherent in the human experience, as so eloquently illustrated by Ross and Campbell. A complete understanding of myth requires an element of cognitive dissonance: understanding that it is both fiction and truth at the same time.

 

Myth acknowledges the existence of various truths, what Lawrence J. Hatab calls “pluralism” (7). It does not distinguish the difference between reality and illusion, between historical fact and metaphorical fact, or between imaginal internal experience and external experience (Hatab 35). The imaginal experience is no less real than events experienced externally; the memory cannot distinguish between the two (Hillman 40).

 

The psychological and philosophical aspects of myth have been employed from the therapy room to the writers’ room. A myth/metaphor can transport us “from one arena to another, from a visible reality into the terrain of invisible presences; it links what is known with what cannot be known directly, but only by way of analogy, through metaphor, that is, by likeness” (Slattery 11-12). Psychologists, philosophers, and writers use myths to “transport” their audience to an imaginal and relatable state of being in which they can explore archetypal patterns on a personal and cultural level. Perhaps my favorite summation of this is from Richard Kearny: “Myths were stories people told themselves in order to explain themselves to themselves and others” (3).

 

There is no definition of myth that takes all these lenses and interpretations into consideration. Bruce Lincoln, in the preface to his book Theorizing Myth, makes this bold statement: “It would be nice to begin with a clear and concise definition of ‘myth,’ but unfortunately that cannot be done. Indeed, it would be nice to begin with any definition, but to do so would not only be misleading, it would undercut and distort the very project I intend to pursue” (ix). Lincoln’s refusal to give any definition whatsoever may be extreme and in direct conflict with Doniger, but it does hit upon an important point that is relevant to this thesis: that, for the purposes of the framework created here for myth conservation, it would be a dangerous thing to attempt a standard definition of myth. My reasoning here is twofold: 1) that a concrete approach might restrict the conservation efforts of any team using the framework; and 2) that any legally binding definitions could have a repercussive effect in general conservation efforts undertaken by such heritage bodies as UNESCO and local heritage councils.

 

Following his extraordinary opening, Lincoln goes on to say that “I will not attempt to identify the thing myth ‘is’; rather, I hope to elucidate some of the ways this word, concept, and category have been used and to identify the most dramatic shifts that occurred in their status and use” (ix). I have followed his example in the construction of my final theoretical chapter, which makes a case study of Irish mythology, its history, and its socio-political impact. Finally, I have included an appendix which offers an outline of a video game that makes a practical application of my myth conservation framework and Irish myths.

 

A New Medium for Ancient Stories

As media technology changes, so too do storytelling methods (McLuhan 20). Oral traditions begat the stage, poetry, novels, films, all the way to the digital arts of the modern age. Choose Your Own Adventure novels gave audiences the chance to affect the story’s outcome with their choices and create their own plot. With the invention of the computer came the natural progression of Choose Your Own Adventure to the hypertext novel, interactive fiction, and now video games—the medium which combines the audio-visual immersion of cinema with the complexity of the novel, the visual language of poetry, and the otherworldly space of gameplay.

 

New media technology reflects the change in the stories we want to tell, and the change in medium also brings a change in the stories we choose to tell (Kearney 126). The internal world of characters in a novel is not as easily conveyed in the visual world of cinema. The vast expanse that can be visited in the world of a film is not so easily conveyed by the intimacy of the theatre setting. Regardless of methodology or constraints, one source of inspiration remains: myths. Authors might use mythic allusions with as much intention to entertain their audiences as to draw parallels to sociopolitical issues.

 

The eighteenth century saw a surge of interest toward what is, now, commonly termed “Celtic” mythology, inspiring storytellers, historians, politicians, and revolutionaries. This resurgence was brought on by the search for a non-British cultural identity as Scotland and Ireland were incorporated into what would become the United Kingdom (James 47). No longer relegated to brief mentions in Shakespeare or the isolated attention of local scholars, volumes have since been penned on the sacred histories of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, and Gaul. They ushered in a new era of literature, scholarship, and nationalism (Thompson 4). With the enthusiasm for the elucidation of these myths, however, came their potential downfall.

 

The various cultures of the Celts, and in particular the Insular Celts of Britain and Ireland, have been greatly muddled—as has the blanket term “Celtic.” However, few general knowledge books on “Celtic” myth define what makes each unique—particularly in their treatment of the Otherworlds. In using Irish mythology as a case study, I would be remiss in my myth conservation and cultural heritage goals if I did not highlight this distinction. The driving force of this cultural conservation is narrative.

 

Thesis and Approach

Digital storytelling methods such as video games and interactive fiction are an ideal platform for the conservation and preservation mythology. Despite the often-stated prejudice against them, video games can function as a valid and important tool for cultural conservation (Champion, Playing 83). The amorphous digital platform of games and interactive fiction, in which the game world (effectively an “other world”) is affected by the actions of the player, is ideal for the polysemy and ever-fluctuating state of mythic stories. The main advantages of this digital platform are its flexibility of form and its focus on the audience. There is no Game without a Player. With their broad and ever-expanding popularity, games reach a nearly global audience.

 

Games created with the intention to educate, however, often fall short of success, either as a game or as an education tool (Majewski, Skyrim ii). One possible explanation for a game’s lack of success is a failure to treat the project as a game first and foremost. Fun and immersion are elements necessary to inducing critical thought in players (Amory et al 312; Ermi and Mäyrä 45). A second contributing issue may be a disconnect in the communication between the game’s design team and the heritage consultants (Copplestone, “Designing and Developing” 85). For my own observations in games designed around mythology, whether or not with a pedagogical intent, an oversight in the design leads to games which have not grounded their subject in its cultural context. The primary role of the mythologist is to be that bridge between academic study and practical application. Mythologists are, however, few and far between. As such, I propose a theoretical framework which aims to address these three issues.

 

Despite the stereotypical image of the gamer as a teenage boy, surveys show that in the 18+ category women now make up the majority of players, and the average gamer age is thirty-five (Lofgren, “2017 Video Game Statistics”). Women also make up forty-five percent of games (“U.S. Video Gamer Gender Statistics 2018”). Additionally, the Entertainment Software Association’s annual study discovered that in the United States over two-thirds of household heads and well over ninety percent of all youth engage in digital gameplay (McGonigal 11). As such, sixty-four percent of the general United States populace are gamers (“2018 Video Game Industry Statistics”). This popularity is due largely to the incredibly myriad types of games available and platforms upon which they can be played, from text adventures to puzzles to open-world role playing games, and from personal computers to dedicated gaming consoles to mobile phones and social media. Most people who decry video games are completely unaware that they themselves are included, as far as industry statistics are concerned, in the broad term “gamer.” From Solitaire to Stardew Valley, they are nevertheless engaging their time in a digital game which may or may not be accompanied by some sort of narrative.

 

Just as there are many types of games, so too are there several genres. Unfortunately, the games that provoke the most controversy, such as the Call of Duty series and the Grand Theft Auto series, get the most media attention and skew public perception of what type of games represent the bulk of the industry—namely first-person shooters and other intensely violent games. But just as not all novels are Lord of the Flies and not all films are Rambo, not all games are Doom. Equally popular are story-driven games such as Final Fantasy and non-combative games such as Portal. In 2016, the tractor-based game Farming Simulator 17 had a million players within the first month, outperforming the anticipated excitement for big-studio shooter games like Titanfall 2, Dishonored 2, and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Yin-Poole, “Farming”).

 

With such a massive and varied industry as video games, the narratives that game developers choose to tell have the potential for wide cultural impact. Many games, like their more literary predecessors, have already turned to mythology for inspiration. Not all, however, have treated their subject with due reverence. Several games pluck names from sacred texts or religious canon and remove them from their cultural context. They often pit the player against pagan gods made evil and show little regard for the original meaning of the source material. Other games, such as Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa) have made a conscious effort to preserve mythology and its associated culture for younger generations (Cook Inlet Tribal Council 21-22). Some large story-driven series have built entire universes in which their stories take place, such as The Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age. These fantasy games, much like the elaborate settings in novels such as Lord of the Rings, draw extensively on mythic sources to create in-depth and immersive worlds with unique cultures and lore for the player to explore.

 

Regardless of the stigma against them, video games have a wide cultural effect, both negative and positive. The negative effects of violent games on youth have been studied extensively, but without any definitive conclusions. In 2018 alone, several papers were published that either proved or disproved a link between video games and aggression. Some of the papers were a direct result of research studies, while others were metaanalysis reviews of previous studies. A qualitative study published in November 2018 disproves the theory of desensitization of player empathy (Kühn et al), and a similar study published in February 2019 provided evidence against video games and aggression in teens (Przybylski and Weinstein). Nor are video games the first medium to be held responsible for social issues. Comic books, films, rock music (and several other genres), and even novels were once accused of inciting immoral behavior (Vogrinčič 103-104).

 

The subject of game violence dominates the conversation between game designers and developers, the public, and policy makers regarding the value and cultural effect of video games. By comparison, too little attention has been dedicated instead to the study of representation and its effect on cultural perception. The discussion is beginning to open up with the cry for diversity and the non-sexualized representation of women. The majority of big-budget games are grossly under-representative of minorities and depict women as over-sexualized objects with little to no impact on the story. For example, the 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) Convention announced one hundred and eighteen games to be released over the next year. Of those titles, exactly half featured a pre-designed player character. Thirteen percent featured an avatar whose gender was not applicable for one reason or another, and five percent were purposely designed to be gender ambiguous—an increasing trend which shows a growth in inclusivity. However, of the remaining gendered characters, twenty-four percent of games featured a male protagonist while eight percent—only nine[2] games in total—featured a female protagonist. (Petit and Sarkeesian, “Gender Breakdown”). The ratio of people of color featured in games is even more stark, despite African-descent and Latinx players outnumbering Caucasian players (Packwood, “Era of White Male Games”). A recent study that surveyed video game character race and gender found that roughly eighty percent of playable characters were white men (Williams et at 825).

 

The accurate representation of diverse world mythologies needs to be a part of the discussion about representation. “The culture that fails to take its mythographic task seriously,” wrote William Doty, “stands in danger of finding itself overwhelmed by cheap stereotypes and specious pseudomyths” (403). Narrative can influence cultural values, morals, and even political conflict, as evidenced by the effect of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the American Civil War, or by the Celtic Revival—and in particular William Butler Yeats’ Cathleen ní Houlihan—on the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland. A piece of fiction—or even creative nonfiction—that is irresponsible to its source materials, such as mythology, will likely not resonate with its audience on a psychological level. More importantly, it can damage that source material’s influence through how it is perceived (Hughes 39). Irish mythology for example, and particular its Otherworlds, has fallen into this trap of modern popular culture.

 

For a myth to survive it must evolve with its culture. There are multiple versions of any one mythic story within its original cultural context, none of which is the one “true” version; therefore, the term “accuracy” is problematic. Even perceptions of historical events have issues of accuracy (Copplestone, “That’s Not Accurate” 416).  For any society to survive the ages, it must grow and change to accept new values and morals. Its mythology changes to reflect that evolution.

 

The fragments of myths we have from ancient cultures offer glimpses into their progression, but they also preserve the cultures of the past. The available recorded myths of the Greeks, for example, changed over a thousand years. Images on vases that pre-date the written word show scenes in common myths that are different than those recorded centuries later. One famous example is an episode of the tale of Jason and the Golden Fleece. Art from as early as the seventh century BCE repeatedly depicts a serpent regurgitating Jason as Athene observes. There are no literary sources that record this particular event (Carpenter 184-185).

 

History also shows us that political shifts influenced mythology, and vice versa, as seen in Norman E. Brown’s Hermes the Thief: Evolution of a Myth, in which he argues that the Homeric “Hymn to Hermes” is a work of propaganda against the cult of Apollo (91-93). This metamorphosis is what keeps a myth alive. When it is systematized or concretized—for example, when one Official version is set down in print—it can no longer grow, and therefore it dies. It can no longer mature with its culture and, it may be argued, this lack of evolution can stunt its culture’s growth. As Dennis Patrick Slattery is swift to point out, “myth has a plasticity and an elasticity; otherwise we might be arrested in one way of living if the myth could not metamorphose into new venues or mutate into new areas of attraction” (10). If not permitted to grow, a stagnated myth can even become a toxic element, contributing to a culture’s decline.

 

By working with myths in the context of fiction, a medium which allows for reinterpretation, they can be revivified. When treated as the subject of popular media, a myth evolves if its cultural context is respected. However, when a writing team lifts an element such as a hero, god, or theme from a myth but does not respect the original purpose of that mythologem, or its archetypal forms, it is not an evolution but a perversion of it. Misrepresentation, especially if the project is popular, can change popular perception of the represented culture and its history (Hughes 39). This distortion can lead to unforeseen cultural effects. Even the careful selection of certain mythemes over others can have an influence, exemplified by the impact of Irish myth on politics.

 

Though complete definitions vary, a myth is, at its very core, a story. Aristotle argued that storytelling created a shareable world (Kearney 3); with no narrative to encompass myth’s sacred subject, it would not be shared from one person or culture to another.  A story’s purpose, of course, is to entertain but also to instruct, on some level. To tell and to listen to stories is a form of play. If these sacred stories were not enjoyable to hear, or to tell, they would not be disseminated.  A video game is the same: at its heart it is a game and a game is, at its most basic function, meant to entertain. Of course, these are extreme oversimplifications. Both myths and games do so much more than pass the time on a quiet night. They can teach and inspire.

 

Video games have enormous potential in the realm of narrative. Unfortunately, progress has been mired in two distinct areas: 1) as with any new storytelling medium, it depends too heavily on the methods of conveying narrative that previous popular media use, in this case cinema; and 2) prejudice born from the resistance to new technology-based storytelling forms. This reticence is because the impact of narrative is universally recognized, but the narrative potential of video games is largely unrecognized. As such, video games are not widely accepted as an art form.

 

A 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling however, challenges this misconception (Schiesel, “Supreme Court”). When a California state law attempted to ban the sale of games to youth, the Supreme Court overturned it. To protect video games under First Amendment rights, judges argued that their emotional and intellectual impact legally defines them as art. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote of the case: “like the protected books, plays and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas—and even social messages—through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player’s interaction with the virtual world)” (Scalia qtd. in Schiesel, “Supreme Court”). Despite a legal declaration that video games are a legitimate art form, public opinion has little changed; video games continue to provoke controversy and legislation. Video games do have an impact on their audience, though probably not to the extent to which they are held responsible. Their impact is an inherent part of any narrative medium. To hold video games responsible for society’s ills is to hold all storytelling forms responsible, from novels to films.

 

As with any evolution in technology—especially those that bring new forms of storytelling—video games have been held accountable for the evils of society such as a hotbed of immoral thinking and the primary cause of violence in youth. The same was said of comic books, television, films, and even the novel. Psychoanalyst Fredric Wertham (accurately) pointed out the rampant racism and misogyny of comic books in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent, which at the same time (inaccurately) accused Superman of promoting fascism and Batman of forcing a homosexual agenda on children (Kripal 73, 167). He went further to decry Wonder Woman as a negative and “anti-feminine” influence on young girls, for the Amazon warriors live exclusively without men in a clearly lesbian society, and they do not behave like homemakers (166). It is worth noting, as an argument to Wertham’s analysis, that the character of Wonder Woman was created by psychologist William Mouton Marston. The comic was a result of his invention of the lie detector which “led him to believe that women were more honest, efficient, and reliable” (166).

 

As films became more sophisticated in the early twentieth century, telling more complex stories, the Supreme Court allowed censorship in 1915 “because movies could be ‘used for evil’” (Schiesel, “Supreme Court”). The lack of protection afforded to other, “high” art forms led to the Motion Picture Production Code, more commonly called the Hays Code, which severely limited anything that might be of an “immoral” nature. Because films were so lifelike, any portrayal of criminal activity and especially any suggestion of sex was a “moral threat to the nation” (Denby, “Sex and Sexier”).

 

The novel, today held as the standard of literary arts, was not so well received either. With their growing popularity in the eighteenth-century, an outcry against immorality rose in England. Novels were believed to be frivolous and insipid entertainment that wasted thousands of hours and prevented people (and especially women) from performing their duties. They were also considered to be dangerously addictive. For the first time, audiences were privy to the intimate inner world and thoughts of the protagonist. Anti-novel activists feared that readers would identify too strongly with the novel’s characters and their personal development and thus begin to question their own station in society and develop “false expectations”—a common phrase used in anti-novel discourse (Pearson 83). To the novel’s critics, the popularity of reading such intimate fiction was no less than a culture-wide moral crisis (Vogrinčič 103).

 

All of the above arguments may sound familiar because they have been used in the case against video games, particularly immorality and addiction. They are merely the latest in the list of “moral panics,” a term coined by sociologist Jock Yong in 1971 in reference to drug use. As a general term, it was made popular the following year by Stanley Cohen in his reflections on the 1964 riots between rival groups in youth subculture and music—another popular scapegoat for the ills of society (Vogrinčič 104). The list of moral panics is extensive, and ranges from the examples above to film, painting, and even the internet: anywhere storytelling thrives. Any medium that carries an idea or communicates a sociopolitical message, as per Justice Scalia’s definition of art, is a target for moral outrage. The video game is today’s scapegoat. Once we move past our prejudices towards the medium, and once it has found its voice independent of other media, it can open up to its potential—for each new storytelling medium presents unique advantages in narrative. For video games, that advantage is the player. No other medium is so inherently dependent upon its audience. The inherent changeability and immersion of narrative gameplay makes it an ideal forum for mythological and cultural conservation.

 

This dissertation does not attempt to demonstrate whether or not video games are a viable platform for mythology. This topic has already been effectively examined by Robert Guyker in his doctoral thesis Myth in Translation: The Ludic Imagination in Contemporary Video Games. What has not been established is the efficacy of digital storytelling for mythic conservation. I have chosen Irish Otherworld mythology as my case study because 1) it is a mythology that has been damaged by the careless efforts of popular culture; and 2) I believe that, consciously or not, the Irish Otherworlds have influenced a great deal of the treatment of various Otherworldly realms in popular media. Many horror and fantasy stories, no matter their media, use similar forms and functions. From the unseen world of Neil Gaiman’s novel Neverwhere to the silver-screen Otherworld kingdom of Labyrinth and the small-screen Upside Down of Stranger Things, Western culture has a fascination with the idea of a realm which cannot be seen but which overlaps our own. Even the popular farming game Stardew Valley has an otherworld. In each representation, it is a realm which can be crossed into by supernatural means. Science fiction visits this idea in such concepts as alternate dimensions and parallel universes. As such, it is a mythology worth preserving.

 

A common mistake is to assume that all cultures that make up what we think of as the Insular Celts and their beliefs are interchangeable. Although they share similarities, they nevertheless have distinct approaches to their Otherworlds. Of these, Ireland sets itself apart. When we speak of the mythologies of Wales and Scotland, we speak of the Otherworld. It is a realm physically set apart from ours, overseas and underground. It is fixed and unified. The Irish, however, have a far more pluralistic approach (Sims-Williams 67). These Otherworlds can be found overseas, under seas, on islands, underground, or in the various side,^[3] the burial mounds dotting the landscapes. Though there are multiple Otherworlds in Irish mythology, they are actually the “other side” of the world we know (Sims-Williams 64).

 

Though Irish mythology has had cultural and political impact on the local and world stages it is vastly understudied in comparison to the Classical mythologies, and particularly in light of the recent interest in Norse myths. While Irish myth shares themes and archetypes with sister Insular Celtic cultures such as Welsh, what makes it distinct is its Otherworlds. Otherworlds themselves are common in many mythologies, particularly maritime cultures (Löffler 118, 326), but the Irish Otherworlds are unique to their mythology and it is important to make and preserve that distinction.

 

Methodology

Though this dissertation focuses heavily on cultural heritage and game design, it was not written from either background. Rather, it was written from a mythological studies background. While this may be unusual, it demonstrates the outsider perspective that makes interdisciplinary studies so valuable. As such, it approaches the topic of heritage conservation, particularly in virtual heritage, through a lens which focuses on the psychological, literary, and religious value of mythology and related intangible heritage. To this end, I refer to the aim of this dissertation as “myth conservation.”

 

In order to construct a theoretical framework to incorporate myth conservation into video game design, a number of factors must be taken into consideration: 1) to determine a working definition for a number of key terms; 2) to determine the unique benefits the video game technology offers in education; and 3) to determine the elements of critical thinking in education. The background of the people the framework is intended for—both heritage conservationists and game designers—must also be factored in.

 

With the necessary background information covered, I move to chapter three, which presents the results of the proposed framework. As each element is presented, it is supported by applicable research. A determining factor in the presentation of the framework, and some of the elements included, was the result presented by Tara Copplestone in her paper “Designing and Developing a Playful Past in Video Games.” An archaeologist and a game designer, Copplestone noted that both groups approach history differently.

This divide in describing the past could be broadly summarized as such: game developers tended to describe the past as systems, interactions, agency, and multilinear narratives; whilst archaeologists and heritage professionals tended to describe the past as physical things, linear narratives, and the known outcomes of a process. (Copplestone, “Designing” 85)

 

With this disparity in mind, I have broken the framework into two major sections. The first, labeled “Game Elements for Virtual Heritage and Myth Conservation,” contains elements necessary to engage the player in critical thinking, such as immersion, empathy, story sensing and emergent narrative, implementation, and communitas. The second part is labeled “An Extrapolation of Design Elements for Myth Conservation and Cultural Context.” It contains within it a cross-section form both backgrounds: game design and heritage conservation. While it would be considered incomplete either as a game design system or as a conservation system, it serves as a springboard for the necessary research. I have created a number of tables to simplify the presentation of this information, which are incorporated into the text of Chapter Three as well as included on their own in Appendix A.

 

Chapter Four provides supporting research in myth conservation, including a survey of its challenges. Accuracy and authenticity are a concern when presenting material that has multiple versions and may have roots in more than one culture. The shadow side of cultural conservation is also examined, from legal issues to nationalism. For example, who has a legal right to traditional knowledge? How can heritage become a nationalistic concern? Heritage conservation can be as damaging in excess as it is in its absence.

 

To exemplify myth conservation in existing video games, an analysis is made of games which have been created with the intent to educate, such as Never Alone and The Frostrune, and other games which use mythology without a specific educational intent. Two major fantasy games which use existing mythology to create their unique world lore, Skyrim and Dragon Age: Inquisition, are also subjected to analysis.

 

The final chapter of this dissertation caries out a case study on the importance of the impact of myth through an examination of the history and evolution of Irish mythology. Already used in numerous examples through the study, Irish myth is popularly conflated with Welsh, Scottish, and Gaulic myth under the blanket term “Celtic mythology.” To understand the oral and literary importance of Irish myth, the narrative of the Gaelic arrival in Ireland, its mythologization, and the historical impact on the perception of the Irish people is examined. This study grounds the mythology in its cultural context. To further this framework, a summary of Irish myth’s use in political struggles and literary movements, as well as how this use has shaped the myths today, is undertaken. This chapter serves as the base research for a game designed concurrently with this dissertation to illustrate the use of the framework. A summary of this game is found in Appendix B.

Brief Review of Literature

Cultural Heritage, Virtual Heritage, and Myth Conservation

Robert Guyker, Jr’s doctoral thesis, Myth in Translation: The Ludic Imagination in Contemporary Video Games, examines the link between ludic space and myth and their natural place in video games. In particular, he looks at the incorporation of myth in existing games and its effect on emergent mythmaking, both by developers and the players. He focuses on interpretatio ludi (the processes of transferring myth from a traditional medium to a digital medium), mythopoesis between developers and players, and the agonistic theory of myth which focuses on the contestation between variant versions.

 

Erik M. Champion is extensively published on the subject of video games, education, and cultural heritage. A professor of Media Culture and Creative Arts at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia and the UNESCO Chair of Cultural Heritage and Visualization, Champion is experienced as both a heritage expert and game designer. As such, he has more than a decade and over a hundred published articles concerning the cross-section of cultural heritage, digital humanities, and game design. His book Critical Gaming: Interactive History and Virtual Heritage is a plea to the digital humanities to reconsider the value of video games studies in cultural heritage and emphasizes the advantages of computer games in critical learning. Playing with the Past focuses on building virtual environments and designing player experiences around critical learning.

 

Champion also edited an anthology of essays on using game modifications (“mods”) for building heritage projects, Game Mods: Design, Theory and Criticism. Supported by several other essay, Champion’s paper “Teaching Mods with Class” details the benefits and trials of using commercial game engines (such as the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Engine or the Skyrim Creation Kit) to build mods that teach cultural heritage.

 

Champion is one of a growing number of heritage and folklore scholars to argue the academic and heritage value of mods. Jakub Majewksi in “The Potential for Modding Communities in Cultural Heritage,” Sean Gouglas, Mihaela Ilovan, Shannon Lucky, and Silvia Russell in “Abort, Retry, Pass, Fail: Games as Teach Tools,” and Shawn Graham in “Rolling Your Own: On Modding Commercial Games for Educational Goals” discuss their experiences in using game mods for education. Majewski gives examples of player demand for accuracy in games, and other players’ willingness to put in hours of unpaid work in order to provide mods which attempt accuracy. Gougals and his team argue that a modding system encourages learning through implementation.

 

Shawn Graham supports this in his paper as well, which details a Civilization IV mod he created for a class on Roman history. While none of his students elected to play the mod with him in lieu of a final exam (citing the “creepy treehouse” effect), there were plenty of volunteers in the modding community who helped him construct the mod, thereby learning through research and implementation. T. Mills Kelly also supports this in his own paper, “True Facts or False Facts – Which Are More Authentic?” It is not game mods he discusses but a rather unorthodox (and ultimately controversial) class project. His findings support the overall claim students/players learn better by engaging creatively with the material and construct something of their own.

 

Tara Copplestone’s paper, “Designing and Developing a Playful Past in Video Games” played a major role in shaping the framework produced in this study. Using her background in archaeology and game design, she conducted a series of interviews amongst both groups of professionals in regard to how they view history. What emerged was a vastly different approach to the same subject, underlining issues of communication between the two groups when collaborating on the same project.

 

Copplestone’s background in archaeology has also led her to tackle the issue of accuracy (and perceived accuracy) in video games with her paper “But That’s Not Accurate: The Differing Perceptions of Accuracy in Cultural-Heritage Videogames Between Creators, Consumers and Critics.” She begins with an overview of epistemological approaches to accuracy, from constructionist to reconstructionist and deconstructionist. Like Majewski, Copplestone highlights the ambiguity of “accuracy,” and delves into issues of perceived accuracy from developers and players.

 

Other issues and limitations of cultural heritage are addressed by Gabrielle Hughes of the University of Oxford. Hughes’s paper “Tradigital Knowledge? Indigenous Video Games, Copyright, and the Protection of Traditional Knowledge” addresses first the question of whom heritage and traditional knowledge belongs to. The cultivation and control of cultural knowledge has, Hughes points out, been used as a colonization tactic. In controlling how a culture is perceived by outsiders, and to an extent how a culture perceives itself, has in extreme cases led to genocide. Hughes supports the use of creative heritage games, but he asks who the cultural content legally belongs to.

 

Ludology and Framework Theory

Despite the fact that video games have only existed for six decades, and have garnered very little respect in that time, an astounding number of academic studies surround them. Ludic theory—the study of games—was born out of two seminal books: Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture by Johan Huizinga and Man, Play and Games by Roger Caillois. Both authors consider the need for play and games to maintain a healthy society and a sense of communitas. Huizinga emphasizes the similarities between games and ritual. “There is no formal difference,” he claims (Huizinga 10). His definition of the magic circle informs much of this dissertation’s approach to game space in video games. Caillois focuses on the social aspect of games. Although he believes play is often a way to waste time (Caillois 5), he maintains that games are necessary for a society to develop culturally and spiritually. In place of more traditional games, video games are now assuming that responsibility.

 

Ludology today uses the theories put forth by Huizinga and Caillois and applies them to the development of games to engage and inspire. Game designers Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman’s oft-cited book Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals offer their own definition. Additionally, the book popularizes the term “magic circle,” lifted from Huizinga’s text, in reference to a game’s inner world. Published shortly after, Jesper Juul’s book Half-Real: Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds improves on their definition. Both have been incorporated into the definition of video games offered in the second chapter of this dissertation. Additionally, child psychologist Donald Winnicott’s definition of play includes embodiment, which features prominently in my developed framework.

 

The idea of producing a framework as the result of this study was largely inspired by Helena Granström’s Masters Thesis, “Elements in Games for Virtual Heritage Applications.” Her own framework, accumulated from a review and literature and presented in a table format, concentrates on a series of elements and sub-elements incorporating cultural heritage content into a video game. Her main elements include interactivity, meaning, player character, other characters, and accuracy and realism. While Granström’s framework touches on immersion, critical thinking, and player empathy, it does not take into consideration methods of implementing cultural context. It is for this reason I have provided a table of suggested research with my own framework.

 

Archaeologist Laia Pujol Tost, together with Erik Champion, also addressed elements of cultural heritage in game design, summarized in their co-written paper “A Critical Examination of Presence Applied to Cultural Heritage” and Champion’s book Critical Gaming. Their focus is on cultural context and evaluating effectiveness of a virtual heritage project. Though they acknowledge the difficulty of the latter, they nevertheless reiterate many of the key elements already discussed above, such as accuracy/authenticity and allowing for player construction and participation.

 

To further ground my framework in education theory, elements of critical thinking are incorporated. Two primary sources are Cathleen Craver’s book Using Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical Thinking Skills in History and “The Use of Computer Games as an Educational Tool: Identification of Appropriate Game Types and Game Elements” by Alan Amory and his students Kevin Naicker, Jacky Vincent, and Claudia Adams. Craver focuses specifically on history, but her theories are transferable. In particular, she focuses on a critical examination of the source material, its variants, its perception, and the student’s perception.

 

The 1999 study on video games and education by Alan Amory and his team may be out-of-date in terms of its technology and preferred game types (also affected by changing technology available to game developers), but its identification of the game elements necessary to engage players in critical thinking has been heavily incorporated into my framework alongside Carver, Champion, and Pujol Tost.

 

To engage players in critical learning, they must be interested in the material enough to become immersed in it. Laura Ermi and Frans Mäyrä’s book Fundamental Components of the Gameplay Experience: Analysing Immersion deals in precisely that. They identify three critical areas of immersion: sensory, imaginative, and challenge-based. Video games are the only narrative medium which incorporates all three.

 

Celtic and Irish History

The matter of Ireland and Britain’s Celticity has come under scrutiny since the end of the twentieth century. The changing definition of Celt has, since their arrival in Europe, changed frequently. What was a culture group became a genetic group, then a language group, and now all three (Collis 12). Simon James’ controversial book The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or Modern Invention? (1999) caused outrage amongst people who felt their identity was beings stolen and scholars who felt their research was made irrelevant. His theory that there is no connection with the continental Celts and the peoples of Ireland and Britain is gaining more attention, however.

 

John Collis, publishing his book The Celts: Origins, Myths, Inventions a few years after James, takes up this reinterpretation and closely follows classical sources, mythic origins, historians, and linguists with far more detail than any other scholar I have read. He warns against the circular nature of the “Celt” debate, as well as any attempt to define the Celts using only one discipline, such as genetics or language. “Anyone dealing with the Celts has to range over a number of different disciplines,” he writes: “classical texts and historical criticism; linguistics; archaeology; art history; genetics; anthropology; and inevitably no one is master of them all” (12).

 

Dáithi Ó hÓgáin, late of University College Dublin, is rather more traditional in his approach to Celtic studies, though Collis declares that he gives the best overview of their history. The Celts: A Chronological History and The Sacred Isle: Pre-Christian Religions in Ireland provide a massive amount of historical information, as his Myth, Legends, and Romance: an Encyclopedia of Irish Folk Tradition provides a number of relevant myths. Unfortunately, all three are slightly marred by too literal a reading of Greek and Roman sources, as well as a somewhat Christianized interpretation of pagan religion and mythology.

 

Most valuable to the theories in this dissertation is Patrick Sims-Williams’ essay “Some Celtic Otherworld Terms.” Sims-Williams directly argues against the attempts of Carey and various other scholars to locate the Otherworld in Irish myth as a single geographical location, or even a single entity. In his interpretation of the myths, there is no “Otherworld” in a singular sense but a number of independent kingdoms.

 

The anthology The Otherworld Voyage in Early Irish Literature edited by Johnathan M. Wooding provides a number of essays analyzing and critiquing the literary and mythological merits of the early stories recorded in the Christian monasteries. Among these, the most influential are “The Location of the Otherworld in Irish Tradition” and “Ireland and the Antipodes: A Heterodoxy of Virgil of Salzburg” by John Carey, a lecturer in the department of Folklore at University College Cork, as well as “The Sinless Otherworld of Immram Brain” by Proinsias Mac Cana. Carey, in “Location,” gives distinct definitions of the Old Irish words echtrae and immram, both terms pertaining to Otherworld journeys. He also cross-examines the many contradicting references to the location of the Otherworlds, determining the distinction between oversea, undersea, and underworld kingdoms. In “Antipodes” he provides the history and evolution of the term “Otherworld.”

 

Mac Cana’s essay discusses the Christianization of Pagan myths and the beautiful, ageless Otherworlds as a representation of Heaven. Using the Bran voyage, he examines the role of women and sexuality to show the changing values of the church as reflected in later manuscripts and how Immram Brain (“The Voyage of Bran”) may have been closer to its Pagan origins.

 

Christina Maria Löffler’s doctoral thesis, The Voyage to the Otherworld Island in Early Irish Literature, is an immense volume of invaluable research. Focusing her efforts on overseas Otherworlds, which she points out is a universal feature of any maritime culture, Löffler includes meticulous details of voyage stories and their elements. Her interpretations of Pagan origins versus Christian alterations offer an interesting insight into modern interpretations of the myths, particularly in regard to undersea Otherworlds (Tír fo Thuinn) and their female inhabitants. Another area of myth she discusses is the realm of the dead, Tech Duinn, and its connection to sea travel.

 

Games

A number of video games are discussed throughout this study and analyzed in depth in Chapter Four. These are games which have either been conscious of their use of myth as a serious game for heritage conservation, or games which have used existing mythologies to develop in-game lore. Five major games stand out in the analysis: Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa) (2014), The Frostrune (2017), Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (2017), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011), and Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014).

 

Never Alone was developed by the Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC) in conjunction with E-Line Media with the intent to engage younger generations with traditional Iñupiaq stories and culture. The team consulted with twenty-four members of the local Alaskan Native community on matters from storytelling to traditional hunting methods. The game’s plot is based on the Kunuukaayuka, a traditional narrative passed down through the generations to storyteller Robert Nasruk Cleveland. Though Cleveland had passed, the development team requested permission from his daughter, Minnie Grey, to use his story for the game’s narrative spine (Cook Inlet Tribal Council 25).

 

Thus Never Alone follows a young Iñupiaq girl as she searches for the source of the never-ending blizzard that endangers her settlement. Her sole companion is a snow fox. Together they overcome obstacles through creative problem-solving and the aid of a few spirits. As the game progresses, the player unlocks video content detailing various things found in the environment including stories, symbols, artifacts, and other cultural items.

 

Following the example of games for culture, Grimnir Media formed around the desire to develop games that incorporated authentic Viking life and culture with immersive storytelling (“The Frostrune Press Kit: History”). Like Never Alone, The Frostrune is a puzzle game that requires observation and creative problem-solving on the part of the player. The player character has been shipwrecked and washed ashore by an abandoned village. Something terrible has clearly befallen the inhabitants, who have either died or fled. The player must explore the island to uncover the mystery and resolve the conflict. In so-doing, the player gleans clues about Viking culture, religious practices, daily life, and mythology from the environment.

 

Hellbalde: Senua’s Sacrifice follows a warrior’s mythological and psychological underworld journey. Senua’s lover Druth was killed in a Viking raid and she has taken it upon herself to retrieve him from the Norse realm of the dead. Throughout her battles, Senua must also struggle through her doubts and guilts that manifest around her through her psychosis. The development team, Ninja Theory, delved into Norse mythology to design the story and environment of Hellblade, but they also took on a team of consultants to represent Senua’s experience of psychosis. Her descent into the realm of the dead to find Hela is an external representation of her own psychological journey. Ninja Theory consciously sculpted this experience to increase awareness of mental health concerns through mythology.

 

Skyrim and Dragon Age: Inquisition, both fantasy role-playing games (RPGs), are heavily featured in the analysis of myth conservation games because they have borrowed extensively from existing world mythologies to build their game worlds and the accompanying lore. Both have constructed multiple religions and mythologies of their own to match the multiple cultures incorporated into each game.

 

Skyirm, the fifth major installment of The Elder Scrolls series, is highly Norse-themed in its design. The game-world Tamriel is comprised of several countries, each with a branch of elven, humanoid, or animoid race. Skyrim is home to the Nords, a distinctly Scandinavian people. Other humanoid races are the Redguard (Moors), Bretons (possibly Gauls), and Imperials (Romans). Elven races include High Elves, Wood Elves, Dark Elves, and Orcs, while animoid races are the Khajiit (cat race) and Argonians (lizard race). Each of the ten races has a fully-developed culture including ritual practices, architectural and costume aesthetic, language, religion, and mythology. Most of the religions and their pantheons are comparative, with variations of deity names in accordance to language and variations on their associated myths. These cultures, religions, deity myths, hero legends, and even creation myths find parallels to one or more world mythologies.

 

In Skyrim, players may select any of the ten primary races they wish to play. Avatars are highly customizable, from facial features to skin color to gender (the same goes for the Dragon Age games and is fairly standard practice in most open-world RPGs). The game’s story follows the player character’s journey from anonymous prisoner to Dragonborn hero destined to stop the end of the world and to end the civil war. The player may play all of the story at once or take it at a leisurely pace, freely explore the entirety of the country and play side-quests that enrich the game narrative, read as many lore books as desired, and engage with non-player characters (NPCs) as much as desired.

 

The Dragon Age series is not as long-lived as The Elder Scrolls, with Inquisition as its third installment. It is no less rich for having fewer years’ worth of development. A far more story-heavy series, Dragon Age also incorporates a number of distinct cultures, religions, and mythologies. They do not separate sub-races of humans and elves as The Elder Scrolls does, but there are unique sub-cultures among each. The game world, Thedas, is also broken up into multiple, predominantly human, countries. The Dwarves have their underworld kingdom of Orsimar with exiles living on the surface, and the Elves are separated into the nomadic Dalish tribes and city elves who live in impoverished Alienages. Each group can find its origins in one or more real-world cultures.

 

Most people follow the Andrastian faith, the game’s monotheistic religion whose god is referred to as the Maker and whose martyr-prophet is his mortal bride, Andraste. Its governing body, the Chantry, has a hand in many of Thedas’ ruling politics, the containment of magic users, and their policing force the Templars. There are plenty of other religions, however, struggling for recognition. Unlike the comparative mythologies of The Elder Scrolls, each religion is unique with its own pantheon, practices, and myths.

Following on the narrative heels of Dragon Age II, Inquisition opens with the war between the Mages and Templars, the destruction of the Chantry’s power base, and a tear in the Veil separating the physical world and the game’s otherworld, the Fade. The player character, an accidental survivor, becomes the only person able to close the rifts in the fabric of the world. Instead of being a purely open-world exploration game, the player character has a main base in which to review game lore and speak to various NPCs to move the story forward. To explore in an open-world setting, the player must travel to a region and engage in the quests available there. The various regions are separated geographically, and as such offer different natural and cultural heritage to explore. Highlighting the various cultures that make up Thedas lends itself to the game’s story, which weaves through Andrastian, Tevinter, and Elvish mythologies.

 

Organization of Study

The purpose of this study is to create a theoretical framework that serves two purposes: 1) to provide a general guideline for game designers who wish to be more conscious of the use for myth in their games, and to better retain their cultural context; 2) to serve as a common ground framework for virtual heritage project teams consisting of both game designers and heritage specialists. To do so effectively, several definitions must be clarified in order to frame the research. To give the study’s reader context for supplemental material the framework is presented first, followed by the research used to create it and related issues in tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Finally, to illustrate the importance of myth and its impact on cultural development and history, a case study is presented on Irish Mythology. Two appendices are included, providing a quick-reference sheet for the theoretical framework, and a brief outline of an original game written alongside this study which exemplifies the use of myth to create a game.

 

Chapter Two – Game-Based Learning and Myth Conservation

The purpose of Chapter Two is to lay out the information necessary to approach the theoretical framework. Terms are defined in order to cement what this dissertation means in reference to culture, narrative, and video games (and the ambiguities inherent in all three). The chapter further develops these terms in order to define myth conservation, cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage, and virtual heritage.

 

Colloquial and academic definitions of culture are approached first, followed by a discussion on the perception of culture, including challenges to the Western colonial projection of culture when dealing with non-Western representations. A key part of culture, and its development, is its mythology. This term, too, can be argued in various academic circles. In addition, psychological components of myth pertaining to their culture are examined. Poor definitions contribute to a general dismissal of myth’s value, and so the chapter also argues for the importance of preserving mythology. Preservation can be difficult, however, when the integrity of a mythology’s origins can be difficult to ascertain. Issues of translation between languages and media are discussed, as well as transcription bias and copy inaccuracies.

 

Once base terms have been clearly defined, the chapter defines this dissertation’s core concept: myth conservation. To do so it must define its parent terms, cultural heritage and virtual heritage. Virtual heritage is the vehicle for myth conservation, focusing largely on video games, with some attention to virtual and augmented reality games. Various parameters of games are examined before offering a definition of video games used within this dissertation and the theoretical framework.

 

Chapter Three – A Theoretical Framework for Myth Conservation

The chapter opens with a discussion of the link between play and learning, including an analysis of education in video games. Any effort toward myth conservation in video games is futile without equal effort to engage the player in critical thinking, and so supporting material is incorporated into the framework.

 

The framework itself consists of two major parts: general elements for virtual heritage and myth conservation, and an extrapolation of design elements for myth conservation and cultural context. Game elements are broken into five major categories: immersion, empathy, story sensing, implementation, and communitas. Supporting research is discussed in each category. The extrapolated design elements are separated into two categories: the research supporting the source myths that the design team is working with, and an application of that research into general narrative design elements, which incorporates environmental authenticity and story sensing elements.

 

Chapter Four – Myth Conservation: Progress and Challenges

Chapter Four focuses on issues surrounding cultural heritage, and by extension myth conservation. Some conservation efforts toward mythology have been attempted with digital technology, though very few games have been made with this specific intention—the notable exception being Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa). Focusing on examples of Irish mythology and culture, a list is compiled of available digitizations of mythological sources and other heritage artifacts.

 

A major concern of conservation is who has the right to cultural heritage, and to whom does it belong. Amid allegations of cultural misappropriation, particularly with the advent of social media, the question of rights and responsibility has gained importance in the legal sphere. Another concern is the accuracy and authenticity of the myths presented in any conservation project. Accuracy, however, is highly subjective. Three major approaches to accuracy are discussed and applied to the question of what to preserve.

 

There is a shadow side to any effort, including conservation. Questions of ownership and subjectivity culminate in a discussion of the dangers of clinging too much to the past. Myth conservation for the preservation of traditional knowledge may be of benefit to intercultural understanding, but it also runs the risk of nationalistic intentions. Humankind tends toward tribalism, and an extreme version of that inclination is nationalism. Using traditional knowledge such as mythology to argue the superiority of one race or religion over another defeats the purpose of myth conservation.

 

To close the chapter, an analysis is made of existing game that use myth, either directly or in the creation of the game lore for an alternative world. The culminated research is applied to examine the effectiveness of game design and myth conservation.

 

Chapter Five – The History, Influence, and Impact of Myth: A Case Study of Ireland and the Celts

A mythology cannot be efficiently studied separately from its culture, thus Chapter Five explores the murky theories surrounding the origin of the Celtic immigration to Britain and Ireland. The first half of the chapter examines the history of the Celts, and why the term is problematic when applied to Ireland and Britain. The second half examines the mythology of the Irish culture, with focus on the Otherworlds. A comparative study investigates other insular mythologies, taking cultural histories into account, to examine how and why the Irish are unique in their approach to Otherworld myths. Theories are offered on the influences that shaped the differences between Welsh and Irish cultures, including Roman occupation, Christianization, and antiquarian studies. Mythology’s impact in the modern age is examined with the use of myth to shape the country’s history, politics, and literary movements, from the Celtic Revival to the 1916 Easter Rising.

 

Unfortunately, there is no pre-Christian record of the pre-Christian myths (Harris 15). Because the Irish had no written language more complex than Ogham, a script carved on the edge of stones to denote names and boundaries, they had only an oral tradition with which to pass on their myths. Those myths therefore were transcribed by the Christian monks who brought literacy as well as their religion to the Irish in the roughly the fifth century (Harrison 14; Welch 24). Scholars generally agree, however, that these monks were not entirely faithful in their records (Mac Cana 56; Welch 22). They freely changed details in order to draw parallels between the two faiths and gain converts; for example the Otherworlds become a proto-Heaven (Mac Cana 55-56). However, there is no way to know for certain.

 

Chapter Five closes with a brief review of Irish mythology in video games. It includes a brief discussion of an original video game, contained within Appendices B and C, created in conjunction with this dissertation as an example of the theories contained therein.

 

 

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Ludography

Call of Duty. Activision, 2003.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Infinity Ward, 2016.

Civilization IV. Firaxis Games, 2005.

Csatádi. Csatádi’s Visual and Historical Mod. 2011, www.moddb.com/mods/csatadis-visual-and-historical-mod.

Dante’s Inferno. Electronic Arts, 2010.

Dishonoured 2. Arkane Studios, 2016.

Doom. id Software, 1993.

Dragon Age II. BioWare, 2011.

Dragon Age: Inquisition. BioWare, 2014.

Dragon Age: Inquisition – Trespasser. BioWare, 2015.

Dragon Age: Origins. BioWare, 2009.

Final Fantasy. Square, 1987.

Grand Theft Auto. DMA Design, 1997.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Ninja Theory, 2017.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Virtual Reality Edition. Ninja Theory, 2018.

Hollow Knight. Team Chery, 2017.

Jotun: Valhalla Edition. Thunder Lotus Games, 2015.

Mass Effect. BioWare, 2007.

Mount& Blade: With Fire and Sword. TaleWorlds Entertainment, 2011.

Myst. Cyan Productions, 1996.

Never Alone: Kisima Inŋitchuŋa. Upper One Games, 2014.

Neverwinter Nights. BioWare, 2002.

Northgard. Shiro Games, 2018.

Octodad. DePaul University Students, 2010.

Oregon Trail. Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium, 1974.

Pokémon Go. Niantic, 2016.

Portal. Valve, 2007.

Scéal: An Irish Folklore Adventure. Join Custody, 2016.

Shurah. Immersive Citizens – AI Overhaul. Nexus Mods, 2015, www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65013?tab=description.

Skyrim Creation Kit. Bethesda, 2011.

Stardew Valley. ConcernedApe, 2016.
Sunless Skies. Failbetter Games, 2019.

Sunless Sea. Failbetter Games, 2015.

Super Smash Brothers. Nintendo, 1999.

The Banner Saga. Stoic, 2014.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Bethesda, 2002.

The Elder Scrolls: Online. Bethesda, 2014.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Bethesda, 2011.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dawnguard. Bethesda, 2012.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR. Bethesda, 2018.

The Frostrune. Grimnir Media, 2017.

The Legend of Zelda. Nintendo, 1986.

The Witcher. CD Project RED, 2007.

TheBlu. WEVR, 2016.

Tir Na Nog. Gargoyle Games, 1984.

Titanfall 2. Respawn Entertainment, 2016.

We Happy Few. Compulsion Games, 2018.

World of Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment, 2004.

 

 

Other Media

Black, Shane. Iron Man 3. Disney Studios, 2013.

Branagh, Kenneth. Thor. Paramount Pictures, 2011.

Emmerich, Roland. Stargate. MGM, 1994.

Henson, Jim. Labyrinth. TriStar Pictures, 1986.

Jenkins, Patty. Wonder Woman. Warner Brothers, 2017.

Kotcheff, Ted. Rambo: First Blood. Orion Pictures, 1982.

Kripke, Eric. Supernatural. the WB, 2005.

The Duffer Brothers. Stranger Things. Netflix, 2016.

Waititi, Taika. Thor: Ragnarok. Disney Studios, 2017.

 

[1] Though language is certainly a factor.

[2] Seven more female protagonists than featured in the 2016 E3 Conference, so there has been some improvement (Petit and Sarkeesian, “Gender Breakdown”).

^[3] Plural form of síd—a stone cairn said to be a dwelling of an Otherworldly creature.