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Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

notesfrompoland.com

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Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#111

Post by zanmat0 »

goda90 wrote: post #97
humaniania wrote: post #81

Playing "This War of Mine" was one of the most powerful and emotionally stirring experiences that I have ever had with a video game. It really is a beautiful work of art. Highly recommend playing it.

It's a different gameplay experience, but I highly recommend Valiant Hearts for another emotionally stirring experience about people going through war.

Seconded, an absolute masterpiece of a game that was.

I would really love to have a save feature in TWoM, I feel like its sorely missing.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#112

Post by msclrhd »

ivanhoe wrote: post #58
Minor49er wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bible, Homer's Iliad, and Shakespeare's works are some of the most important ones in Western culture. I wouldn't say they're unapproachable at all. They may be more difficult to read than a modern teen fiction novel, but they contain archetypes and language patterns that were foundational for works that came afterward. Thinking about it now, Beowulf should be added to this list. That's another great way to teach…

I hated Shakespeare when I was forced to read it in my language, translation tried to keep the spirit of the language, but really made it just sound archaic and complete incomprehensible to us (high-school kids not really interested in the whole deal). Only many years later, almost by accident, I've discovered how Shakespeare's work was really meant to sound, making the story itself so much more approachable.

Is that from the work by David Crystal reconstructing the sound of Shakespeare? It's very interesting to listen to passages read out in that Original Pronunciation. There are several videos of it on YouTube. NativLang also did a video on Shakespeare pronunciation.

It's also interesting how the pronunciation is reconstructed. Looking at rhyming pairs that don't currently rhyme (e.g. loved/proved), looking at different accents of English (Irish, Scottish, American, etc.) to identify historic pronunciations, etc.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#113

Post by jwr »

q3k wrote: post #36
ceceron wrote: post #10

Interesting move. Sadly kids nowadays (at least in Poland, where I live) don't like reading books and tend to skip even very important titles. This may be a good way to bring some interest in the history via a genuinely entertaining medium.

> don't like reading books and tend to skip even very important titles That's because the list of mandatory [1] reading in Poland is 90% haphazardly thrown together nationalistic martyrdom bullshit with terrible state-mandated interpretation. I used to _hate_ literary analysis, partly because of the works we were studying and how we were forced to interpret them. Then, years after leaving school I've discovered that…

> the list of mandatory [1] reading in Poland is 90% haphazardly thrown together nationalistic martyrdom bullshit with terrible state-mandated interpretation

I've experienced this about 30 years ago and I'm experiencing it now with my child, and I couldn't agree more with that description. In fact, it is the best summary of our reading curriculum that I've ever seen. Saving for later.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#114

Post by alasdair_ »

The thing that I found very important in this game is that there is no clearly defined end-goal like “survive for 100 days” - this really helps the game capture the feeling of “will this never end?”

Having a defined end date would make things easier psychologically.

There is also a board game (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/188920/war-mine-board-ga...) that I’ve heard good things about.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#115

Post by wobbly_bush »

This was a very difficult game to play. The difficulty was not in the gameplay, but in the emotional content of the game. If the other games help in escapism, this is the opposite where you can feel what the characters are going through in a war zone.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#116

Post by ceceron »

Krasnol wrote: post #78
ceceron wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that electronic books are strangely expensive compared to the printed editions. As for the book market, it's in a terrible state given decreasing interest in reading. Second biggest bookshop brand went bankrupt not so long ago and nobody has been able to fill the void. Luckily, there are many small and great bookshops out there. I highly recommend Kurant (music-related) or Revolutionibus (more general) in Kra…

Ah man, I've just been to Krakow too last week. Too bad but I was still able to snatch a few books here and there.

Next time you visit, check those places: - https://austeria.pl/en/ - for Jewish literature/culture - https://derevolutionibus.pl/en/front-page/ - more general place, has also nice choice of popular science/physics/evolution/math books. Also very nice coffee place! PS they have good Polish books in nice editions translated in English. - https://goo.gl/maps/eJ6KJHxCiTNkfes6A - best music cd/book shop in Poland IMHO. Also good coffee place ;) - https://g.page/glowna_ksiegarnia_naukowa_krk?share - arguably the best choice of books in Krakow. Both scientific and popular stuff.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#117

Post by ceceron »

michaelmrose wrote: post #96
Minor49er wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bible, Homer's Iliad, and Shakespeare's works are some of the most important ones in Western culture. I wouldn't say they're unapproachable at all. They may be more difficult to read than a modern teen fiction novel, but they contain archetypes and language patterns that were foundational for works that came afterward. Thinking about it now, Beowulf should be added to this list. That's another great way to teach…

Are you sure the inclusion of "The Bible" of which there are actually several has nothing to do with your own personal faith? How do you even go about that without dealing with issues of church and state? Whichever holy book you choose at least 50% of constituents will believe you chose the wrong one. If you teach it as history you will be doing a poor job of history without substantially more sources and discussing…

You can always analyze Bible as any other book. In Poland (which is mainly catholic) I've read Bible in school only: 1) to compare the description of biblical creation with the greek mythology (just comparative analysis, without implying the creationism, rather otherwise) 2) next to some famous poem based on the biblical story to understand what is the poem about.

I'm always surprised that any school would teach creationism. Even catholic priests don't preach creationism as an alternative to current scientific theories. USA has to be a strange place :D

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#118

Post by TheNorthman »

neiman wrote: post #72

Respecting video games is great, but like you don't respect a movie as "the best meal I ever had", you also don't respect a game by putting it in a "recommended reading list".

It's certainly a valid position to interpret games as text to be interpreted. In fact, if structuralism and semiotics have taught us anything it is precisely this.

In danish education we have the concept of an "udvidet tekstbegreb" that means any references to texts can also refer to any other kind of cultural medium.

If we look outside Denmark, the European institutions also have this view. If we, for example, look at the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), they give us this exact definition of text [0]:

> Text is any sequence or discourse (spoken and/or written) related to a specific domain and which in the course of carrying out a task becomes the occasion of a language activity, whether as a support or as a goal, as product or process.

[0]: https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97, pp. 10.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#119

Post by cprecioso »

RangerScience wrote: post #67

This is amazing. There are other games of this quality and artistry, but IMO no other games with the kind of impact TWOM has. There's something special that happens when you play TWOM that isn't possible in other mediums. It manages to actually create circumstances where you feel like you're making hard choices. IMO, only two other games accomplish something comparable. Portal (as a masterpiece of gaming in every res…

I’d definitely add The Beginner’s Guide, as a game with a message that would not be possible in any other medium. It’s from the same people as The Stanley Parable.

Re: Poland puts computer game “This War of Mine” on school reading list

#120

Post by p_l »

q3k wrote: post #36
ceceron wrote: post #10

Interesting move. Sadly kids nowadays (at least in Poland, where I live) don't like reading books and tend to skip even very important titles. This may be a good way to bring some interest in the history via a genuinely entertaining medium.

> don't like reading books and tend to skip even very important titles That's because the list of mandatory [1] reading in Poland is 90% haphazardly thrown together nationalistic martyrdom bullshit with terrible state-mandated interpretation. I used to _hate_ literary analysis, partly because of the works we were studying and how we were forced to interpret them. Then, years after leaving school I've discovered that…

Fortunately not every teacher is like that, but having been exposed to a famously great literature teacher, finding out that a lot of "standard analysis" is not even state-mandated but essentially a bunch of shitty memes driven by people who need to cast shit in bronze... that was bit soul crushing.
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