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RATCATCHER – PAST SIMULATIONS
[THE TRIAL OF SAAVEDRO, SPRING 2006]
ESSENTIALS
WISE WORDS
"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire; you will what you imagine; and at last you create what you will."
--George Bernard Shaw
READINGS
CURRENT WORK
PAST
SIMULATIONS
THE TRIAL OF SAAVEDRO
Spring 2006
The Trial of Saavedro began, not as an experiential learning simulation at all, but as a fairly conventional graduate seminar. Saavedro is a character in the video game Myst III: Exile, one of the very popular Myst adventure games. His activities in that game amount to a campaign of vengeance against Atrus, the man who inherited an obscure art whereby one could write books that, when touched, permit one to travel to other "Ages" whose details are somehow written into the books. But the sons of Atrus, Sirrus and Achenar, individuals largely devoid of Atrus's humanity, use the power of the books to wreak havoc in some of the Ages, with one result that Saavedro's family may be stranded in an Age or possibly even dead.
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Because it was uncertain whether Saavedro was a true agent of justice or a vigilante whose imprisonment in one of the teaching ages of Atrus's father caused him to lose his sanity, the class decided to put his character (superbly acted in the game by Brad Dourif; that's his picture at the top of the page, looking wonderfully weird, as only Brad can!) on trial, with half of the class serving as the prosecution and half as the defense. Because it emerged almost by accident, The Trial of Saavedro became both the first and last simulation to evolve primarily in spontaneous fashion. The other simulations have been extensively planned in advance by the instructor.
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Fun Facts and Trivia
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--The video projection of Saavedro's spoken parts were animated by superimposing a video of a moving pair of lips on a still photo (in a manner similar to that used in Conan O'Brien's "interviews," or predating that [considerably!], the 1950s/60s surprise cartoon hit, "Clutch Cargo").
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-- One night the class arrived to find no instructor, but merely a message (from a shadowy figure from the future, named "Reech the Elder") projected on the classroom screen to warn about Saavedro and to specify that a jury would be heard in class concerning Saavedro's guilt or innocence on a number of charges, together with an example of "archaic" media (namely, a DVD containing the game Myst III: Exile ).
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-- Class member Phil Fagan's wife made a surprise appearance at the final performance as a protester beating a drum and demanding that the authorities "Free Saavedro!"
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