Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Guess that song! My game proposal

First and foremost, I should state that I wouldn't choose to spend my time playing these games unless I am required to.  I do like the concept of learning through online games, but I think it is really difficult to create a game that people are interested in and entertained by while trying to properly educate them about a topic.  And I think this is where a lot of the games I played recently  failed, they didn't hold my attention for very long or they weren't challenging.  I don't know if this game proposal would do either of these things but it's the best I could think of.

I am a theatre major and think that going to the theatre can be a means of informing, educating and/or inspiring people.  However, popular theatre today consists of musical theatre that is first and foremost entertaining, and frequently does not educate the public.  To help bridge this gap, I would create a game where a clip of a musical theatre song is played and the person has to guess what the song is, what musical it is from etc.  And then, there would be a screen that pops up that gives the background of that song, if there is a historical context, underlying meanings or significance etc.  Maybe with each level the musicals get more obscure, the clips get shorter, or just the score is played without lyrics, I don't know.  But I think this would give people a more historically and analytically founded perspective on popular musical theatre and not simply understand theatre just for its entertainment value.

No comments: