Past/Present 1906: An Immersive History Game for the Internet

FAIN: TR-50180-10

Center for New American Media, Inc. (New York, NY 10018-3005)
Louis Alvarez (Project Director: January 2010 to April 2014)

Production of a computer game and an accompanying website about life in a New England mill town in 1906.

The Past/Present 1906 Game is a fully realized immersive 3-D "virtual world" in which a player can "become" a fictional character (called an avatar) who is caught up in the big issues of his or her time as experienced over a span of three "days" in their lives. We have conceived of this project with the twin purposes of increasing public awareness of a key moment in American history as well as helping to enhance popular understanding of the complex nature of historical inquiry.