Emily is away

Short description

Emily is Away is a chat based narrative video game that brings the player back to a time when AIM and MSN Messenger were popular. The pupils’ task is to explore their relationship with their fellow high school student, Emily, through the use of chat software. 

The story spans five years, and branches out depending on the choices the player makes. The game itself is free to play on Steam, and only requires around 14MB of disk space. To complete the game, students will spend around 45 minutes of active play time.

Core Elements

Reading English language texts
Language learning happens in contact with English language texts. The concept of text is used broadly in LK20: oral and written, printed and digital, graphical and artistic, formal and informal, literary and factual, from the present and the past. Texts may contain writing, images, audio, drawings, graphs, numbers, and other forms of expression that are combined to emphasize and convey a message. 

Working with English-language texts helps to provide students with knowledge of and experience with linguistic and cultural diversity. By reflecting on, interpreting, and critically evaluating various types of English language texts, students will acquire language and knowledge about culture and society. Students will have a foundation for seeing their own and others' identity in a multilingual and multicultural context. Emily is Away places students in at times difficult interpersonal dilemmas that require actively investing students’ empathy in the choices made.

Interdisciplinary Topics

Health and life skills
In English, the interdisciplinary theme of Health and life skills aims to develop students' ability to express themselves in writing and speaking in English. This lays the foundation for being able to express one's own feelings, thoughts, experiences, and opinions. Learning English can provide new perspectives on different ways of thinking and communication patterns, as well as one's own and others' lifestyles and life situations. Handling situations that require language and cultural competence can give students a sense of mastery and contribute to the development of a positive self-image and identity.

Basic Skills

Reading English
Even though Emily is Away is a digital narrative text, it is readily accessible for anyone with basic digital literacy skills. The game requires students to navigate social interactions and ethical dilemmas through visual and written communication. As such, Emily is Away can be used to practice digital reading skills, in addition to treating the game as a literary text.

Games as texts require students to make choices to progress the story. Players, or students, need to actively engage with the story to make something happen, or move the story along. This makes for a different type of reading compared with traditional texts. We encourage teachers to explore these differences when assessing students’ digital and reading competences after playing the game.  

Competence aims LK20

10th grade

• explore and present the content of cultural forms of expression from various media in the English-speaking world that are related to one's own interests.

VG1 GS/vocational 

• Discuss and reflect on form, content and language features and literary devices in different cultural forms of expression for different media in the English language world, including music, film, and gaming.  
• Read, analyze and interpret fictional texts in English

Learning Objectives

Students shall be able to:

• talk about prose fiction, specifically how a digital narrative text changes how we read stories 
• analyze a narrative text
• discuss central themes in the story

Resources

• Emily is Away on Steam
• Short stories by Oscar Wilde
• Chat Software (YouTube)

Teacher preparations

1. Download Steam to a set of computers. Log in or create a Steam user.
2. On the PCs, install Emily is Away from Steam (the game is free)
3. Prepare students by reading a traditional prose fiction text. The short story Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wild might fit (see resources), and talk about common literary devices. Discuss how these might be different when dealing with digital narrative texts.

Plan for lessons

1. Start the game and show students the initial interface. Talk about how chat software was designed around the turn of the millennium, and how it was used in synchronous communication. A suggestion might be using the YouTube video as a starting point, and then have students research the old AIM/MSN interface, before comparing it to today’s tools (30 mins).
2. Have students play through each chapter, logging their experiences as they go along (Here, Padlet or Google/MS Forms are useful resources). A central part of Emily is Away is understanding the relationship between your character and that of Emily. Make sure your students note the choices they make that affect this relationship. These choices - for instance choosing a future education - are followed by a brief notification saying “Emily will remember this choice”. (45-60 mins)
3. After playing through the game, have your students discuss the nature of the relationship between the main character and Emily, and reflect upon what kind of story they ended up telling/making. You may also compile any questions students may have identified during active playing time, preferably “why”-questions, and use these as discussion starters (30 mins).

Reflection and assessment

Having played through Emily is Away, students may show their reading and discussion competence in terms of either describing their experiences with the game or analyzing the story as a piece of prose fiction. Some suggestions are:

• Write an analysis of the game, focusing on form, interactivity and choices you made.
• Write a reflection on how stories are told and experienced through games, focusing on making choices to move the story along.
• In groups, discuss the game and the choices you made Describe your experiences playing, focusing on the relationship you developed with Emily.
• Organize a class talk on the game in which students reflect on themes such as friendship and digital communication (and how it differs from communication in real life).

Comments and follow-up that may lead to deeper learning

It is vital that the teacher plays through Emily is Away before using the game in a classroom setting. Please ensure to install Steam on your computer beforehand.

Idea developed by

Halvor Østerman Thengs, Husabø ungdomsskole © Fremmedspråksenteret