A concerted effort is made on the part of roleplayers to historicize the environment they engage in, and establish a timeline of events that define the activities of the town. In the case of the Wild West MUD Maddock, their website lists a series of “historical events” in the town that are archived roleplaying logs. Additionally, they have a page of town news and current events. These establish the historical narrative that user interactions are based-upon. Both Tombstone and Sigil started town newspapers (the Tombstone Epitaph, and the Sigil Tribune) to achieve similar objectives. With that said, my interviews of participants in these communities indicate that there is practically no knowledge of other Wild West roleplaying communities. The historicizing of events within these virtual worlds is foundational to the growth of these communities, and a feature of historical roleplaying.

Accurately and consistently presenting one’s character is extremely important in these communities. The Maddock website includes a “Who’s Who” of notable “citizens” where you can learn more about members of this “varied population.” The Tombstone website encourages users to join one of three character groups -  Outlaws, Natives, and the Army (as if, historically, those were the only three groups that you could be a member of). Sigil would give new citizens, upon arrival, a roleplaying guide to help situation their character within a larger historical framework. What’s interesting is how idealized, homogenous, and “Hollywood” many of the descriptions and representations are. This is a portion of the Sigil Roleplaying Guide that describes the town and frames the interactions of users within the simulation:

You are in the Wild West arriving in a frontier town the setting is the period of 1860-1890. History of this period will assist you. Arizona was not yet a state but a territory of the United States. It was taken firstly in a war with Mexico and then the rest of the land purchased. Thus an old Adobe style church remains. The US Civil war has just taken place and the Union has won. If you are arriving in Sigil you have just lived through this historic moment. Mining is an important industry in this area of Arizona at this stage in time Gold was becoming harder to obtain and Silver becomes the principle product. Copper later takes over later in the period. The Railroad Industry is expanding West towards the pacific causing some parts to boom where the railroad passes through.

I hope to investigate other historical roleplaying simulations in the future (not limited to the Wild West) to see if they follow similar patterns of behavior.

Women only appear to have subservient roles and are pictured wearing pink dresses and bonnets; usually beside the children. They are absent from hunting, and infrequently appear throughout the game. By focusing on male-oriented jobs within the game, the role of females is erased (Bigelow 86). Along the journey, the user playing the game can choose to “ask for advice”, where another character in the game offers advice on how to get to Oregon safely, or shares his or her fears of the journey. The only time female characters are featured is to offer advice, for example, Aunt Rebecca Sims tells you:

I hear terrible stories about wagon parties running out of food before Oregon – the whole party starving to death. We must check our supplies often; we might not get there as soon as we think. Always plan for the worst, I say.

While she offers helpful advice along the trail, such concerns are consistently voiced only by female characters. The recurrence of female characters in this role portrays them as powerless and unable to contribute toward the journey. Conversely, men are portrayed as workers and decision makers on the trail. However, in 1848 and in preindustrial America when the game’s narrative takes place, there was no developed ideology of a “woman’s place.” Women often contributed to a family’s income and did physical labor on the farm (Faragher and Stansell 152). This role is wholly absent from the characterization of women in the game.

The ability for women to offer advice suggests certain leisure in their daily life which would allow them to socialize with others. However, the recent scholarship of New Western Historians suggests that this was not the case at all for women. With research done into diary entries from the Oregon Trail, it appears that women were often busier than men (Pascoe 41). While men were often able to enjoy periods of rest from their hard work, the work of women was structured around that of men (Bogue 224). In addition to duties such as preparing all the meals (which was a nonstop task) and taking care of the children, gender roles quickly became malleable once the journey West became underway. As the journey became harder, women would often have to drive the oxen, or even hunt, in addition to their other tasks (Faragher and Stansell 156). Despite their active and critical role on the Trail, women were both under and misrepresented in the Oregon Trail Game.

Another striking omission in the game is that of Indian women. While there are many times the user comes in contact with the Indians in the game, there is never any mention of Indian women at all. Their absence further reinforces the masculinity of the journey westward, and at the same time the male Indian character remains only a peripheral character in the narrative the game tells. The inclusion of Indian women would challenge the way the game’s narrative entirely. Not only are women insignificant in the game, but Indians are also. Additionally, if there were Indian women included in the game, there would likely be Indian families or tribes. These social groupings would complicate the relationship between Indians and Whites in the game.

Works Cited

Bogue, Allan G. “Frederick Jackson Turner Reconsidered.” The History Teacher 27.2 (Feb. 1994): 195-221.

Bigelow, Bill. “On the Road to Cultural Bias: A Critique of The Oregon Trail CD-ROM.” Language Arts 74.2 (Feb. 1997): 84-93.

Faragher, Johnny, and Christine Stansell. “Women and Their Families on the Overland Trail to California and Oregon, 1842-1867.” Feminist Studies 2.2 (1975): 150-166.

Pascoe, Peggy. “Western Women At The Cultural Crossroads.” Trails: Toward a New Western History. Ed. Patricia Nelson Limerick, Cylde A. Milner, II., and Charles E. Rankin. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1991. 40-58.

The Oregon Trail. Apple II. 1st ed. MECC, 1985.

1. business people could shake hands from across the globe
2. allow museum visitors to feel precious exhibits that are normally out of reach

Is this the future of virtual museums? Backtracking to a previous post on museums in Second Life, a lively debate currently taking place is between imitation and innovation – how can virtual worlds help students learn beyond what already occurs in the classroom? What are practical uses of simulated environments? Devices like this may be the answer to those questions by creating physical interfaces to navigate virtual representations of objects. Normally when you visit a museum there’s a barrier between visitors and artifacts; this device could remove that, and allow museums to be entirely represented in simulated environments. Imagine being able to hold an ancient sword, or object that would normally be encased in glass. It would change the entire experience of museums.

Building physical interfaces for experiencing history may sound familiar – it fits right in with Bill Turkel’s idea of creating history appliances. The article stated that NTT is currently working with the British Museum in London to create a touchable exhibit; the future isn’t that far off.

“A Journey to the Past: A Quebec Village in the 1890s” is a 3D world which recreates a Quebec village of the 1890s, complete with characters of that time with whom elementary school students can interact. You can use this 3D world to teach students about life in Canada (and specifically in Quebec) at the end of the nineteenth century, and encourage students to compare life in that place and time with their contemporary lives in order to understand better the changes that have taken place.

Kevin Kee, Canada Research Chair in Humanities Computing of Brock University helped develop this simulation while working at McGill, and is currently working on a historical simulation in Second Life. I’ll definitely be posting about this in the future

Although not exactly roleplaying, Virtual Powwow and living museums in Second Life offer a starting point for future discussions of the educational uses of historical roleplaying in virtual worlds. It may also bring together the seemingly disparate topics of this blog, including Wild West and Native American roleplaying in Second Life, visualizing history, and educational roleplaying games. The powwow itself can be contextualized within two pertinent discussions: the shifting of knowledge from experts to amateurs, and innovation vs imitation.

The largest difference between Virtual Powwow and the Native American roleplaying I’ve studied (which includes authentic dance and ritual) deals with ownership and who controls the historical narrative manifested within the simulation. The roleplaying sims I’ve come across are typically created by enthusiasts, who are “playing Indian” (yes, a direct reference to Philip Deloria… more on that in another post) as opposed to the more traditional presentation of historical knowledge by experts. In many cases, the results of this shift are historical inaccuracies, and the emergence of stereotypes within the fragmented knowledge of amateurs. That is not to say that amateurs are incapable of accurately representing history through roleplaying, but instead indicates the necessity of developing new computer-based teaching strategies and augmentative instruction to guide amateurs through their learning.

The group struggled with representing native groups accurately – particularly regarding who participated in the virtual powwow. Their website shared the following:

Initially we were thinking that we could have the learners participate as dancers in the powwow. However, after initial investigation related to this, it was decided it would be a potential problem having non-natives participate as if they were natives. We subsequently changed the design to have the dancers be accepted members of the host group. The host group would consist of Native Americans with knowledge of powwows.

Even though the simulation was intended to engage students and individuals who attended the powwow, the history and culture represented within the simulation was controlled by natives, who themselves were “experts.” Students attending the powwow remained spectators. That distinction hits at the heart another hot topic within the Second Life educators community, “innovation vs imitation.” Although there is an impulse among tech-savvy educators and digital historians alike to use technology for everything, this use of technology seems be nothing more than a recreation of what already happens in real life. While the virtual powwow may be a great way to learn across long-distances, it pales in comparison to physically attending a powwow.

Rather than imitating what happens in real life, my vision of a virtual living museum is innovative. In many ways it’s not a museum at all – but a historical laboratory where students can explore history in the virtual world. Instead of limiting the participation of dance to natives, students could be engaged. In my historical laboratory they would spend time creating the artifacts used within the simulation, and learn about the history of the tribes they represent. Citations are attached to objects and the environment they create is no longer a place they visit to observe others, but one which they have ownership of. Each piece of the simulation and living museum is an assignment, which gradually builds throughout the course of a semester as students learn. If actual tribes were interested in participating, that would be another way of historicizing the content within the sim. Collectively, these students share their ideas and participate as a class together in a powwow, which becomes a celebration of culture and the knowledge they’ve gained.

That ideal scenario outlines the basic thrust of my pedagogical research in Second Life. I’m not wedded to this exact idea, however I see great deal of potential for students to represent ideas and themselves within virtual worlds, particularly through the creation of objects “in-world.” That synthesis alone makes further research worthwhile, but the technology itself also lends itself to a unique form of communication and learning through our own virtual interactions.

When teleporting to the sim, I was given a free visitor’s outfit that’s meant to historicize my character with appropriate clothing. This is a common practice in historical roleplaying sims – however there’s a social stigma associated with this clothing, it instantly identifies you as a newbie. (In a similar vein – in Sigil one of the first things I had to do was purchase a virtual horse. It was a status symbol that, once I had one, allowed me to speak to others more freely.) With tacky pants and paw print tattoos on my chest I explored.

My initial impression of La Tribu (from what I could gather with my limited comprehension of French) was that it has very rigid gender roles. My guide frequently described the activities of virtual natives in terms of gender – men do this, women do that. A first hand account from a citizen historian confirms my reactions by writing:

We are standing on top of a small hill, where a little cascade of waterfalls runs into a few, deep blue pools. This place is for women only. “Men are only allowed up here if the women invite them.” Women are not oppressed in this small French speaking tribe I’ve been invited to visit. They each have their own teepees, with which they are free to do whatever they wish. The teepees are loosely arranged in the vicinity of the common campfire, around which household chores are performed.

I have to brush up on my French, but I hope to explore this further in the near future

After playing this game it made [me] want to learn even more about the Oregon Trail and all about the pioneers who walked and did their best to survive. To know that they survived sickness and weather and Indians was amazing to me

The reviewer was amazed that pioneers survived amid the threat of Native Americans, however that threat wasn’t present in the game. Yes, in the game thieves sometimes attacked your wagon train – but they weren’t Native Americans. Moreover, Native Americans offered food in the game – a far cry from any threat the reviewer perceived. The reviewer’s subtle reference parallels many of the inaccurate and more explicit responses I received from my survey. When asked to describe Native Americans in the game, survey respondents occasionally wrote, “they attack you”, “bad”, or “savages.” These descriptions indicated a disconnect between the history represented within the game, and the knowledge retained by the game’s users. Individuals unintentionally saw the past through racist stereotypes, engendered by other forms of media and culture.

The reoccurrence of these inaccuracies and stereotypes is intriguing. Are they due to the inherent limitations of computer simulations? Are stereotypes foundational to how we see the past? Are there other examples of history and the past becoming abstracted in the minds of individuals – being replaced by stereotypes? Is this a phenomenon that could be studied further? Am I unduly extrapolating upon a perceived pattern and is this all just a waste of time? I already have preliminary answers to several of these questions – but I would appreciate feedback from my readers regarding ways to approach this.

I’ve been witnessing the disneyfication of historical roleplaying in Second Life. Since the closing of the first Wild West roleplaying sim, Sigil, a number of new RP sims have been created to take its place. It’s difficult to keep track of these sims – they briefly appear and then, just like Sigil, completely vanish. Their significance is not in the number of simulations that have followed, but the manner which they conduct business. Many of these new environments resemble historical amusement parks or shopping malls more than they do roleplaying environments. A good example of this is Sand Ranch, where the streets are lined with small shops selling “authentic” avatar clothing, as well as stylized clothing that can make you look like a Country singer. The historical accuracy of these environments isn’t necessarily intended nor desired – their goal is to create a profit.

My criticism of disneyfication directly relates to my studies of the Oregon Trail computer game, Second Life historical roleplaying, and the potential use of virtual worlds for educational purposes. I should clarify that not all roleplaying simulations have been simplified into historical amusement parks. What has occurred is a shift in ownership – several successful historical roleplaying sims persist with group ownership. New simulations take advantage of the popularity of these environments and market their products to that community of users. The disneyfication that occurs in these newer roleplaying sims is largely due to an imbalance of ownership. When one person, or only a select few control how ideas are represented within a sim, they are naturally limited.

One of the exciting things about Sigil and other historical roleplaying sims is how collaborate these environments become. For example, Sigil itself had virtual town hall meetings, where virtual citizens would gather together with the mayor to discuss pressing issues. There were a list of roles that citizens could take up, and each person collaborated to affect the sim’s narrative structure. How the West, and history itself was represented within the sim depended on these individual users. The disneyfication that occurs in many newer Wild West sims can be attributed to this lack of community and collaboration. Traditional computer simulations, the Oregon Trail included, were limited by the presentation of ideas. Since all actions are hardcoded into the software, only a few select “experts” could present the West’s narrative, while Second Life as a social space has no such limitations.

The power of Second Life and any type of new social media is that it allows user interaction and the creation of relationships between individuals and environments. When learning history, those elements are critical to the retention of knowledge. Must there be disneyfication of historical roleplaying in Second Life? I would argue no – not more than there is any other process of learning. There is abstraction to some extent – we can only learn so much and most of us will not become experts. But there is the potential for Second Life, as a collaborative and social learning environment, to allow students to reach beyond the limited knowledge presented by experts, and learn through their peers in ways that mean more to them individually – a process of internalization that is the intention of learning.

“WWS is not meant to be 100% accurate to actual history, but rather 100% accurate to the romanticized version of the era, which is fairly close, but makes for better game play. Of course, prostitution was a very integral and accepted part of society in those days, so it will be included in WWS,” commented Anastasia.

The notion that a romanticized version of the era is even remotely close to the reality of the West is ludicrous. The best way to illustrate this is by seeing the only screen capture I’ve found of the game.

I can only imagine what Patricia Limerick or Richard White would say. To WWS’ credit, the game did include many ethnic groups, however they only seem to have been included to intentionally create conflict.

There may be an alternate version with modified elements that will be available for younger players, and possibly even geared for educational purposes in the classroom. ([It would be] a sort of multiplayer “Oregon Trail” where students could interact with other students around the world.)

Great. They wanted to teach a romanticized version of the West to children, and expose them to prostitution when they’re in the 4th grade. It doesn’t surprise me this never took off.