Over the last decades, video games have become a pervasive part of society and one of the biggest sectors in the entertainment industry. Moreover, in the last years, they have proven to have a clear potential to support the experiencing of cultural heritage by the large public, complementing the current tools and practices based on tangible goods such as museums, exhibitions, archaeological sites. Serious games – video games designed for educational objectives – appear as a new tool to learn cultural content in an engaging way, to attract new publics and to enhance knowledge, awareness, and cultural tourism. In this paper, I will illustrate an ongoing project concerning the presentation of the Archaeological and Technological Park and Fortress of Poggio Imperiale in Poggibonsi (Siena, Italy) and underline how and why the design of a serious game for this specific site – and in this specific time of global pandemic - is to be considered as the last fragment of a very long and precise project aiming at enforcing a multi-level public outreach and heritage enhancement strategy on the site. The CAPI project, within which the serious game will be developed, fits perfectly in the previous outreach activities since it comes after more than 20 years of archaeological research, technological experimentation, public engagement, and successful outcomes tested on the site. It represents the last step of a very long journey in which the scientific rigour of the archaeological data together with the application of innovative tools, technologies, and new dissemination “languages” has been the essential core of every action, from the creation of the archaeological park to the building of the open-air museum called Archeodromo which pursues an in-progress full-scale reconstruction of the 17 structures found during the excavation of the Carolingian Age village. The CAPI project proposes additional experimentation in which immersive technologies such as virtual environments and augmented reality, but also video games, begin to be implemented in public outreach strategies. Translating the archaeological materiality into digital and immersive applications, test a promising new tool in a context such as Poggibonsi where data are rigorous and, at the same time, there is always space for experimenting, represents both a challenge and a great opportunity. In this paper, the choices linked to the design of the serious games in terms of users identification and content translation for the selected public will be stressed along with the long-lasting archaeological project and public outreach.
From archaeological to digital data: a holistic reflection on the design of a serious game for users’ engagement
Samanta Mariotti
2021-01-01
Abstract
Over the last decades, video games have become a pervasive part of society and one of the biggest sectors in the entertainment industry. Moreover, in the last years, they have proven to have a clear potential to support the experiencing of cultural heritage by the large public, complementing the current tools and practices based on tangible goods such as museums, exhibitions, archaeological sites. Serious games – video games designed for educational objectives – appear as a new tool to learn cultural content in an engaging way, to attract new publics and to enhance knowledge, awareness, and cultural tourism. In this paper, I will illustrate an ongoing project concerning the presentation of the Archaeological and Technological Park and Fortress of Poggio Imperiale in Poggibonsi (Siena, Italy) and underline how and why the design of a serious game for this specific site – and in this specific time of global pandemic - is to be considered as the last fragment of a very long and precise project aiming at enforcing a multi-level public outreach and heritage enhancement strategy on the site. The CAPI project, within which the serious game will be developed, fits perfectly in the previous outreach activities since it comes after more than 20 years of archaeological research, technological experimentation, public engagement, and successful outcomes tested on the site. It represents the last step of a very long journey in which the scientific rigour of the archaeological data together with the application of innovative tools, technologies, and new dissemination “languages” has been the essential core of every action, from the creation of the archaeological park to the building of the open-air museum called Archeodromo which pursues an in-progress full-scale reconstruction of the 17 structures found during the excavation of the Carolingian Age village. The CAPI project proposes additional experimentation in which immersive technologies such as virtual environments and augmented reality, but also video games, begin to be implemented in public outreach strategies. Translating the archaeological materiality into digital and immersive applications, test a promising new tool in a context such as Poggibonsi where data are rigorous and, at the same time, there is always space for experimenting, represents both a challenge and a great opportunity. In this paper, the choices linked to the design of the serious games in terms of users identification and content translation for the selected public will be stressed along with the long-lasting archaeological project and public outreach.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
