“A polymath is one who not only masters several disciplines, but who synthesizes them, integrates them.”—Sidney Harman
Professor Tracy Fullerton is a master weaver of multiple threads of knowledge. She is an internationally recognized experimental game designer and her research and teaching treats game design as a collaborative, integrative exercise. Her latest foray into weaving brings her game design expertise into partnership with Henry David Thoreau, yes, that Henry David Thoreau, the 19th century transcendentalist and founder of environmentalism. Through her interdisciplinary research center, THE GAME INNOVATION LAB, Professor Fullerton has been developing Walden, a game-narrative project that is an interactive experiential simulation of Thoreau’s experiment on Walden Pond. “Games,” Fullerton says, “have the possibility of being lenses that amplify our personal experiences and our narratives.” Her aim is to show the potential of gaming to communicate ever more complex, diverse, and nuanced ideas. Professor Fullerton, however, takes a step beyond integrates, she weaves narrative threads to innovate, educate, and transcend our environments. In his great work Walden Pond, Thoreau wrote “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?” Join Professor Fullerton in conversation to explore the space she is creating to do just that.
