Skyrim - Rice University Offers Course on Skyrim

[Zloth]

“We have no historical relationship to the British mediaeval past, and, even further afield than that, we’ve got no cultural kinship with Scandinavia"

You really need to get out of Texas, Doc. http://www.svenskhyllningsfest.org/

 

[Humanity has risen!]

“[Skyrim] comes in a world post-9/11. [This] was a moment in which the US started to realise it was an empire on the rocks and its popularity through the beginning of the 2000s very much corresponded both to its insecurities as a nation and as an empire that recognised itself as no longer the tour de force that it thought it was,” said Ellard.

I translate this as Ellard taking Skyrim (simply a game) and using it as a platform to impose her belief systems through the school system. Skyrim is simply a game and to use it to indoctrinate students is flat out wrong.

The scary part is much of the US educational system is funded by taxpayers. I am certain there is something of far more use to students educationally at Rice University than wasting money to be brainwashed by Ellard.

Here are the fees to go to Rice University:
Entering Fall 14 & Continuing
$1,662.00 hour
$19,940.00 semester
$39,880.00 annual

Do you really want to spend that on a "Skyrim Course"?

Here's the truly sad part: I am enrolled in University of Houston and they charge about $246 dollars per credit hour lol. Same town same education hell of a lot cheaper.

Triple knock out! Academia is home to so many utter nut cases, this is like you said just one more, only one very unsubtly using a popular video game as bait to lure in unsuspecting students to tell them how evil they are and only extreme leftism can redeem them. If anyone is interested in this I recommend the documentary Indoctrinate U on YouTube.

The most flat out hilarious is that it is assuming that Todd Howard and his crew of Do the Dew developers have the knack and the will to insert deep commentary against American exceptionalism in their games.

However when you realize that such people have cushy jobs subsidized by our governments and paid for by our taxes it stops being funny and becomes outrageous.

 

[Saxon1974]

Wow, really pathetic. Just further proof I need to keep my kids out of public schools and mainstream universities.

On Another topic, I'm so glad this forum is becoming a political platform.

 

[ChienAboyeur]

“We have no historical relationship to the British mediaeval past, and, even further afield than that, we’ve got no cultural kinship with Scandinavia"

You really need to get out of Texas, Doc. http://www.svenskhyllningsfest.org/

The second part in the sentence follows the first part. It could be more demanding than people staging a dancing event.

 

[Dean]

The most flat out hilarious is that it is assuming that Todd Howard and his crew of Do the Dew developers have the knack and the will to insert deep commentary against American exceptionalism in their games.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Especially after hearing about the ending of FO3.

 

[daveyd]

I looked up Donna Ellard on Rice's website . It should be noted that she is an English professor, specializing in medieval literature and Old English; She is not in the field of psychology, nor sociology or political science for that matter.

I was a psychology major and can tell you that by and large most modern psychologists think of a Freud as a big joke. Most of his theories have not been supported by empirical evidence and quite a few have plenty evidence that contradicts them. Unfortunately they still teach about Freud in most intro psychology courses, because of the belief that everyone should know it since he was so influential on the development of psychotherapy. In my opinion, this would be akin to them teaching alchemy in an intro chemistry course or astrology in an astronomy / astrophysics course… I think they should save Freud for a history of psychology course so that all the students who only take one intro psych course aren't exposed to that nonsense.

Of course there are still psychoanalysts who believe in Freud's theories as if they were an infallible religious doctrine. I (unfortunately) took a psychoanalysis class where the prof would say things like "A lot of psychology professors are too hung up on numbers and statistics… If something works, you can just tell it works". He claimed that while Freud / psychoanalysis is nearly dead in academia, it was still very popular in the realm of therapy. However, he didn't provide any statistics to back this up…

Anyway, I am curious why some of you are so convinced that Prof. Ellard is advancing a leftist political viewpoint in this class. Is this mostly based on the presumption that "all university professors are liberals".? From the article here we only have one statement from her:

"[Skyrim] comes in a world post-9/11. [This] was a moment in which the US started to realise it was an empire on the rocks and its popularity through the beginning of the 2000s very much corresponded both to its insecurities as a nation and as an empire that recognised itself as no longer the tour de force that it thought it was,” said Ellard.

Exactly what about that statement is necessarily leftist? Is simply referring to the USA as an empire automatically make her a "leftwing nutjob" in your eyes? Or are you suggesting that anyone who is politically moderate or conservative is so delusional that they still believe the US (more specifically the United States government and military) is an unstoppable superpower that can do no wrong? And here I thought conservatives didn't like / trust the federal government.

I will grant you that it seems unlikely that a right-wing war monger would make such a statement, but I don't see why a Libertarian or political moderate (i.e., anyone who believes in an Isolationist foreign policy) would take issue with it.

 

[TheMadGamer]

Did you all hear that? That was the sound of the American higher-education system hitting new depths. And here I thought degrees in public relations were ridiculous…

Here in Oregon many colleges have classes in vampire studies. Yes, that's right, VAMPIRE studies. Meanwhile, kids in China have mastered calculus by the 8th grade and possess expertise in martial arts.

 

[daveyd]

Here in Oregon many colleges have classes in vampire studies. Yes, that's right, VAMPIRE studies. Meanwhile, kids in China have mastered calculus by the 8th grade and possess expertise in martial arts.

So? You make it sound as if everyone who attends these colleges is required to study vampires. I assume these courses are purely electives or perhaps fulfill a Gen. Ed. requirement for Literature, Film, or Art depending on the focus…

I will say that the fact that nearly 2 of the 4 years of University for most majors is "General Education" (i.e., stuff you should have learned in high school) and / or electives (i.e., stuff you take for fun / out of curiosity) is one of the biggest issues I have with college. I know there's a lot of college graduates who are in a similar situation to me (majored in something that didn't really prepare us for any career, only more school; so I am still working the same job I was when I was still in college). I do regret going to college for that reason and wish I would've just gotten a 2 year Associate's degree instead; which are almost entirely focused on a career skills at least..But my parents pressured me to go to a 4 year college, thinking that it would result in me making more money. And unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to choose one of the few college majors that might actually prepare me for a career, rather than just majoring in something I found interesting. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. One of my professors did warn me that my major would provide few career choices but by then I was already pretty committed to it.

But anyway, I don't see any inherent problem with colleges offering courses on pop culture topics that students will find fun or interesting. The real problem is that college as a whole isn't focused on preparing students for a career, they're just driven by the the desire to make the college money, which means REQUIRING 2 years of studying stuff that isn't even relevant to your chosen field…

 

[Zephyr]

I was born in and live in Minnesota and my mother was born in and is from Wisconsin. The mid-west has a huge German and Scandinavian population and heritage. That influence runs through much of the region's history and lore. The Viking lore is tied up with Minnesota going back a long way. Look up 'Kensington Runestone' and you'll get some idea.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Academia consists basically only of leftists who want to indoctrinate their students, I remember a chart about this and my own experiences confirm it along with numerous other students I talked to. I had to follow a children's literature course in college and an historical literature class to fill some gaps... and once there, I saw they both really were about how oppressive the patriarchy and western civilization were. We had to write it in our homework and exams. I was really frustrated and went to the department to complain about the content after they were over, but I quickly realized that unionized teachers are untouchable.

Also the documentary Indoctrinate U I mentioned explained how they band together to run off any Conservative. It's really worth a watch.

I do have a problem with pop-culture topics or wild humanities degrees or other courses hijacked by humanities, or any such thing: I pay taxes so the students learn something useful which can translate into real-life skills, and teachers are supposed to remain neutral which they clearly don't. They abuse their power to brainwash impressionable students and know exactly what they are doing. This documentary is extremely eye opening.

 

[Deleted User]

I thought as RPG and video game fans in general we should support things like this?? It's very saddening to me to see so-called RPG lovers scoff at a Skyrim class. It's almost funny in a sad, ironic sort of way…

 

[ChienAboyeur]

Here in Oregon many colleges have classes in vampire studies. Yes, that's right, VAMPIRE studies. Meanwhile, kids in China have mastered calculus by the 8th grade and possess expertise in martial arts.

The offer in education is large, it follows that offerers must dress their offer differently to get it pop out.

Vampires studies could be a pretext to teach calculus and martial arts.

Same for the current offer: Skyrim makes it look different from others but for the rest?

 

[Soulbane]

As former English major who learned a lot of English and American history and literature and as a person who also played Skyrim I find this theory totally laughable.

 

[ChienAboyeur]

As a PhD holder, the person offering that course probably thinks otherwise.

 

[daveyd]

I thought as RPG and video game fans in general we should support things like this?? It's very saddening to me to see so-called RPG lovers scoff at a Skyrim class. It's almost funny in a sad, ironic sort of way…

Classes about RPGs could in theory be great; particularly if they educate potential future RPG developers about what makes for a good RPG; or perhaps if they get students who previously had little experience with RPGs or video games interested in the genre.

However, the focus of this class seems to be examining what made Skyrim popular. The professor seems to think it has much to do with the setting / story. The thing is, even among people who love Skyrim, it generally isn't a game lauded for it's story. And while people may find the Viking flavored aesthetic cool, it is for the most part a generic medieval fantasy game… Which is what 90% of mainstream RPGs are. What I've gathered from people who love Skyrim is that they love the open world aspect, the sheer size of the game's world, the freedom to go where you want / build your character as you want*… It's not that the setting is anything particularly special.

I think the best explanation for Skyrim's popularity is because Bethesda ran a very successful marketing campaign (and they probably spent more on marketing than the game's actual development). They showed off the game's graphics, it's excellent soundtrack, and emphasized how big and open the game is… And people bought it. So honestly it would make far more sense for a marketing professor to teach a course about why Skyrim is popular, than by trying to explain it with medieval literature and Freudian psychoanalysis.

*Personally I think Skyrim is extremely overrated, monotonous, and a piss poor example of the RPG genre, but I know a lot of people are able to look past it's many flaws and shortcomings and enjoy it for what it is.

I would be very much in favor of a course devoted to the history of CRPGs or something like that. Making a course about one particular popular game, just seems to be a gimmick to get students to take a humanities course they don't actually need.

 

[daveyd]

Academia consists basically only of leftists who want to indoctrinate their students, I remember a chart about this and my own experiences confirm it along with numerous other students I talked to.

I think it depends very much on what field of study you're talking about; and probably the political climate of the region as well. From my own experience, I had a mix of liberal and conservative instructors; and a quite a few who never brought up their political view at all; in mathematics and natural science courses, for instance (unless you're so far right that you consider supporting the theory of evolution as leftist). Professors of certain subjects like Women's Studies, Sociology, Environmental Science are obviously going to tend to be liberal. However, professors of subjects like Economics, Bussiness, and Criminal Justice will tend to be conservative. In my own major, Psychology, I had a mix of liberal and conservative instructors, and several who honestly never expressed their personal political views.

If there's a liberal bias in academia, I think it has far more to the anti-intellectualism that certain segments of the right subscribe to, and the incompatibly of modern science with the dogma of the religious right, than any sort of vast liberal conspiracy to indoctrinate college students. Sorry, but an extremely biased, alarmist documentary does not give a conspiracy theory more weight.

However, I do share your concern that college is far too often not geared enough towards giving students the skills they need to start a career. That is a rip off, to the students, the parents who help their kids pay tuition, and in the case of public universities to the tax payers who help fund it. But it should be noted that Rice University is a private college, so the taxpayer concern isn't relevant in this case.