At long last, this protracted monster of a research project is complete. The final document weighs in at an obese 81 pages containing 26,279 words. How did I write so much? Don’t ask me, I have no idea!
Really, though, it is difficult to describe large writing projects. From what I have read, every writer tackles an assignment differently. Some people have godlike self control, writing a single page a day for months on end. Others produce hundreds of pages in manic spurts. I’m not that bad, but I was shocked to find in my feedback that the best segments of the essay were the parts that I felt were rushed. I wrote those segments in a fugue, basically. In hindsight, I don’t think it was a trance that made those pages successful–my best research, my most novel ideas, and the subjects I was really interested in were in those parts. I think passion won the day there. It’s easier to write when you love what you are writing about.
Title: Minecraft and the Digital Robinsonade
So, what is this massive project all about anyway? I have been hard pressed to describe it to people because, besides the surface subject matter, it is actually quite boring. Most theses are. In essence, my thesis is about Minecraft and Robinson Crusoe. Specifically, my thesis presents an analysis of the uses of robinsonades (a genre of novels based on Robinson Crusoe) in education, ultimately implicating Minecraft within that didactic framework. The essay is particularly cool because I can throw around vocabulary like “didacticism” and “pedagogy” and not feel like an idiot. As it turns out, robinsonades have a long history in education that you are probably familiar with. There is a reason every kid reads Lord of the Flies in high school. I basically lay out a history in the essay that traces the evolution of the robinsonade from its origins as a socializing tool in the late 18th century to full blown literature of empire, colonial handbooks, by the height of the 19th century. Then, I explore how more contemporary entries to the genre criticize its colonial roots and ultimately shift their focus toward developing an environmental ethos within the reader. Minecraft, being a survival game about settling and managing land, fits into this robinsonade scheme perfectly, and I try to show how the development of Minecraft mirrors of the evolution of the literary genre to emphasize gameplay objectives that mirror the 19th century robinsonade. I conclude the essay with a discussion of my favorite mod, Better Than Wolves, which forces the player engage with Minecraft’s inherent colonial themes overtly while simultaneously laying the groundwork for a slower paced, more environmentally focused form of gameplay.
That’s a decent layout of the jargon. I intend to produce a series of small posts highlighting my most interesting findings, so stay tuned for that. Now that I am all wrapped up with my coursework, however, I hope to resume uploading content more regularly. The desperation of this ridiculous finals period had me drawing some pretty lurid art pieces, so I am going to try to get those scanned and uploaded eventually. My long dream of publishing a pornographic art blog might finally come to fruition! Aaron’s Vintage Pornographics!
Until then, thank you for reading.