Digital Storytelling within Virtual Environments: “The Battle of Thermopylae”

Until recently virtual environments and videogame applications rarely incorporated any deep cultural or educational principles. Current research in the area of virtual reality applications, clearly indentify that they are extremely motivating for learners and therefore can be employed as an innovative, more accessible framework to deliver education while at the same time entertain the public. On the other hand, recent advances in videogame applications and human computer interfaces, demonstrate that a combination of game applications with effective learning principles and intuitive human computer interfaces could potentially transform virtual environments to a significant educational tool that could significantly facilitate the learning process. This paper describes an interactive virtual reality application that we developed for the museum of Thermopylae located at the site of the original battle, near the city of Lamia in Greece. We utilized storytelling techniques and principles of modern videogames to disseminate historical knowledge about the battle and the associated legends. We present the hardware and software components comprising the proposed installation, while we elaborate over the educational techniques designed to reinforce the strength of virtual reality technology as a mean of designing educational experiences in the context of cultural heritage related information.