It’s about time EA started working on a video game version of Walden. I haven’t had any contact with the literary work since 2003, where I spent weeks translating it into normal terms for my college roommate. Certainly, it’s time to revisit the pond.
If you’ve never read Walden, it’s a book about philosophy. Not Bioshock’s kill or don’t kill, man vs. God philosophy, but you know, the real stuff. Philosophy class stuff. As Thoreau once said, “Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.” Apparently, he’s good for a game.
In 1854, Henry David Thoreau went into the woods at Walden pond in Concord Massachusetts to live the simple life, alone, with hardly any necessities. He fended for himself, built the tools he needed to acquire the food he required and removed himself from the populous to think, life, and write. You can actually read the whole book for free online. The book is a bible in philosophy classes across the country and the work has turned into a staple of American literature.
It’s also not exactly something that would bash you over the head as making a great video game. Despite that, USC associate professor and video game educator/designer Tracy Fullerton (below) revealed that she is on a quest to bring the piece to consoles. Thoreau will remain unaware, as that was not one of the tools he took with him to the woods. The announcement was made at the Games for Change festival in New York.
Here is what she had to say about the team’s ambition to make the game:
“We were attempting to recreate the tenets of the philosophy. Within the mechanics of the game, we want to have the player re-enact the experiment of living that Thoreau took on when he went to live at Walden Pond.”
The project will attempt to recreate some of what went on while Thoreau lived on the pond. The project is still in its super early stages, though Fullerton has been discussing and planning the project with a little team of people for over a year. The title has no release date, and not even an ETA, as they are still figuring out things like player expectation, how to incorporate achievements (which would be in opposition to Thoreau’s message), and how to break player expectations. Basically, they need to create a game that will reflect the goals and teachings of Thoreau’s experiment and to which players will still respond.
It could work, given the appropriate care. Fullerton loves the idea of bringing this work to video game form, and her history and dedication could make it a success.
“Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.”
-Henry David Thoreau
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