Video Games in the Classroom – Assassin’s Creed

This is the third part of my series on how video games can be successfully used in the classroom to promote student interest in various subjects, as well as helping them understand concepts which may be difficult to understand conceptually.

History is often labeled by kids as one of the “boring” subjects, laying somewhere on the Lame scale between “Poetry” and “Memorizing all the State Capitols.” And generally, I would agree. The way History is taught makes it a dry subject, an endless stream of names and dates which is scientifically proven to not stick to brain cells. But what if we could somehow engage the students by introducing what they enjoy hearing about? Sex, murder, intrigue, corruption; these are interesting things for students. The Assassin’s Creed series is one video game full of such things, and can be used to help increase participation.

First thing first: The Assassin’s Creed games are rated Mature by the ESRB, which means if it were used in the classroom, it would need to be heavily monitored or cut for content. Obviously much of the game is about killing scores of people (sometimes for no good reason), but the core of its good comes from the effort the developers used in crafting a story which heavily referenced real life history.

Assassin’s Creed 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood take place in classic Italy during the Renaissance, a time of great art and great conspiracies. The basic premise of these games is that a secret society of Assassins is pitted against the Templar secret society, which is attempting to control the world. The Player takes on the role of Ezio, a man who watches his family murdered and vows revenge on those responsible. But we’re not here for what the developers wrote into history, we’re here to see where they borrowed from.

If you take any time to look at the story, you can see that they’ve managed to weave their fantasy story into real life events, and sometimes it is difficult to tell the two apart. The Borgia family, Leonardo Da Vinci , and even Machiavelli make appearances, along with lengthy descriptions of many of the places, people, and events that the player may happen to run across. Not only can the player read about Colosseum in Rome, but they can take a climb on the structure in a virtual Roman reconstruction. Little touches, such as the plague masks the doctors wear around town, add depth and information that will hopefully spur the kids to do their own investigation into the time period. Ezio, in his free time, can also become an art collector, buying up many of the famous works of the time for personal display.

Of course, a knowledgeable teacher would need to always be in charge, tasked with removing the fiction and retaining the truth wherever possible. Though hilarious, I don’t think future professors would like it if their students came into class thinking Rodrigo Borgia was killed over a golden apple forged by alien ancestors.

As always, my point is fairly clear: Engaging students in interesting discussions and situations is the best way to get them to become interested in learning, and if nothing else, it will keep them occupied for another 5 minutes. Hopefully, one day, when enough quality games have been made, and an opportunity appears, we can fully integrate video games into the classroom.