Student Spotlight: Sheldon Myers Presents Research On Video Games, Theater

Sheldon Myers ʼ26 is a biochemistry major on the pre-med track from Downingtown who recently presented cross-disciplinary research discussing the intersectionality of video games, method acting and theater at the Mid-Atlantic Popular American Culture Association (MAPACA) Conference. The conference was held in November in Philadelphia.

Myers' presentation represents a special interest of his, stemming from a class he took on drama in the United States with Hank Willenbrink, Ph.D., professor of English and theatre at The University of Scranton. Although Myers' presentation at MAPACA in Philadelphia was not a complete research project, it gave him feedback and inspiration for future projects.

Myers is also involved in organic chemistry research and plays various intramural sports at Scranton.

He recently sat down with Royal News student correspondent Marcus Smith '27 to discuss his research and the video game industry.

Q: The research you presented actually came from a final project for a drama class. What did you put together for that final project?

A: I had a final for Dr. Willenbrink's class where there were two or three prompts you could choose from. I suggested this project where I looked at the intersections among video games, theatricality and method acting. Concisely, I'd say the project suggests that video games are a new kind of medium that, through their interactive aspect, are uniquely suited to convey a type of narrative empathy that all forms of media like literature and theater serve to communicate. Because of the interactive aspect of video games where the player ideally feels that they're the ones making the decisions, or at least that they agree with the decisions that they're kind of pushed to make by that agency, the narrative empathy that they experience is deepened.

Q: How did you end up bringing this class project to the MAPACA?

A: I finished it for the final and I didn't really feel like I was quite done with it. And particularly, I noticed that people had only really discussed this topic tangentially, which is exciting because I have the opportunity to break the ice on it. There's some work discussing whether video games can be a form of art, especially in the 2010s when they were much newer, and discussing their place in society’s conception of art, but there really isn't much looking into this aspect of them. So with this interest, Dr. Willenbrink suggested I get some feedback at that conference, so I presented and heard people’s feedback about it.

Q: What was that experience like: Having a project that you're working on get accepted to be presented at the conference, and then putting it out there in the world?

A: Despite the work I've done here with chemistry, I haven't presented at a conference before. So, I wasn't sure what to expect, especially because the only work that I presented previously was a poster presentation. This was a speech I gave to a group, so the format was certainly different and something that I had to prepare for, but it was interesting. I got a lot of good feedback from people much more knowledgeable on the field than I was who could point me toward some good resources.

Q: Was there any particular feedback that stood out to you?

A: One person gave me a bunch of good resources to read for my own project, which was very helpful since he had a similar interest. I haven’t gotten through reading all of them, so I'm not sure I can pick out one particular piece. But their feedback was helpful to ground my ideas in the current climate of the field, and I enjoyed listening to all the other people's presentations in that section.

Q: What did the development of this project look like from those early stages in class, to where it is now?

A: A lot of trimming it down. That was definitely the hardest part for me. I have a tendency as a writer to try to put it all out there and see what sticks, but that's not great when you have to give a speech in a time limit. There were a lot of aspects that I would have liked to present about, but just didn't have the time. I also had to figure out how to condense more complex ideas that I might have one or two pages of explanation for into a couple sentences to quickly get that point across.

Q: Where do you see this going in the future, and how are you planning to achieve that if you have any plans at this moment in time?

A: Most of the work that I've written so far is defending the position that some types of video games are this kind of interactive theatrical experience and that deepens narrative empathy. From what I can tell, people largely agree. I'd like to move on to talking about or trying to look into how we might be able to write or direct video games, what aspects of them we should focus on in order to catalyze the maturation of the form from what it is now into a more narrative-driven medium. In similar ways, we've seen past forms of media go from kind of “lower” forms of media, to “higher” forms of media. In the U.S., theater went from a hedonic pleasure in vaudeville-era theater to a more introspective, “higher media” with the trend toward realism. I would love to play a part in catalyzing a similar trajectory with video games.

Q: What do you think are some of the biggest struggles that we might have in reaching this point of creating video games that are genuine art? How would you overcome them?

A: A significant barrier is the amount of labor that's required to make something that big. In the digital stage of a video game, it's such an enormous world that creating something that's able to deterministically or otherwise guide a player through a narrative is so labor-intensive. Certainly some games seem to have been able to do that, such as the first "Portal" game or "Subnautica."

Q: How has the University helped with this project?

A: I've worked a lot with Dr. Willenbrink, who's been very helpful in the project. I think the class that I took with Dr. Willenbrink helped me learn to unpack the narratives in the pieces we read. I gained a lot of writing skills from my other classes, as well.

Q: Is there any advice you'd like to give to anybody who might be reading this, students or otherwise?

A: Research doesn't have to be focused on exploring a state-of-the-art procedure, reaction or phenomenon; it only needs to be a novel topic you're interested in exploring. It's often those topics that yield more productive results than those driven just by the allure of working on the cutting edge. So, if there's a topic you're interested in exploring, even if it seems to be out of your wheelhouse, consider turning that interest and thought into a more productive pursuit by creating something that can be shared and published to add to the discussion you're interested in.