What's going on everyone?
I just finished playing through The Stanley Parable. Oh boy was this game just an absolute delight. It's a shame I had never gotten around to playing it earlier. I know breaking the 4th wall is a common used trope these days, but it must have still been pretty unique when the game came out six years ago, before all of the Deadpool hype.
I have a lesson plan all laid for using The Stanley Parable which you can check out here. The lesson is about the decision making process and the importance of making choices. Making choices is the entire crux of the game. There are no puzzles, fights, or even people to talk to. Just walking around and making choices. It can be a fun way to get our students to think about when they make choices and the thought process that goes into making these decisions.
The game isn't even just about making your own decisions. You have to choose whether or not to listen to the narrator of the game who tells you what to do next. In one of the very first rooms the narrator tells you to go through the door on the left. You can listen to the narrator's advice or you can forge your own path.
This can get our students to only think about the choices they make every day, but also about when the should head the advice of authority figures. And every single decision made in this game will lead to a fun and unique ending, all of which can be accomplished in under ten minutes. If you have the time to let each student in your class play, they can each end up with different story based on the choices they alone chose.
Here the narrator tells you to go to the Mind Control Facility, but how can you ignore "Escape" written in big red letters?
I plan teaching this in my Advisory class, which is kind of like a Homeroom for anyone unfamiliar. I'm not exactly sure when I'll have time to teach this as I have students who need to finish some graduation requirements, but once I do I'll post back here detailing how the lesson went. If you have any questions, or feedback, please let me know.
- Zack