The Oregon Trail

Julia WoodFSEM: Videogame Canon

March 10, 2011

Technical Terms

Developer:-MECC

Publishers:-Brøderbund-The Learning Company

Genre:-Simulation

Information: http://pc.ign.com/objects/835/835355.htmlPicture: http://www.zug.com/daily/journal/graphics/062904_oregon01.gif

Various Versions &Their Platforms

The Oregon Trail-1981 to 1985 The Oregon Trail (Apple II)-1992 The Oregon Trail Deluxe (MS-DOS)-1993-96 The Oregon Trail Ver 1.2 (Windows)-1996 The Oregon Trail II (Windows)-1997 The Oregon Trail 3rd Edition (Windows)-1999 The Oregon Trail 4th Edition (Windows)-2001 The Oregon Trail 5th Edition (Windows)From http://pc.ign.com/objects/142/14216607.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_(video_game)

Gameplay

http://www.singlehop.com/blogimages/OT/screen1.png

Story Synopsis

http://eatabrick.org/oregon.png

Hunting and Survival

http://www.insidesocialgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/trail1-300x218.jpg

Scoring

http://k2xl.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/030209-1815-scoresinthe3.png

Educational Effects

• Popular among elementary students in the 1980s and 1990s

• Most elementary school computer labs provided a copy of the game

• Taught children about what life was like in the West and on the journey over

• Made learning about the historical background of this time period interesting and fun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_(video_game)

Legacy

• Inspired similar games such as The Yukon Trail and The Amazon Trail

• Updated editions of the game for different platforms

• Popularity of the phrase “You have died of dysentery”

• Now available for mobile phones• Facebook version came out on February 2,

2011http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_(video_game)

So what?

• Why should The Oregon Trail be added to our Videogame Canon?

http://netninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/oregon_trail.png

Effect on Culture

http://oregontrail.org/classic-died-of-dysentery-oregon-trail-tee.jpg