"Neverwinter Nights" in Alberta: Conceptions of Narrativity through Fantasy Role-Playing Games in a Graduate Classroom

Most humanities courses rarely require students to create the kinds of work they are studying. Sean Gouglas, Stefan Sinclair, Olaf Ellefson, and Scott Sharplin outline the value of this rare experience by describing an assignment in their graduate humanities computing course in which students examined hypermedia narratives by authoring a "Neverwinter Nights" game module, a 10-minute unedited digital video, and a Web-based Flash assignment. Their first-hand experience sparked connections to narrative theory, examinations of software limitations, and the suitability of types of narrative to each formate. The range of narratives--and critical perspectives about those narratives--is, the authors feel, an indication that the assignment provided deep insights into the place of narrative in new media. (Contains 5 exhibits and 4 figures.)