Professor Erik Champion is a UNESCO Professorial Chair in Cultural Heritage & Visualization, currently teaching at Curtin University, Australia.
He has received a numerous sum of scholarships, grants and awards across Europe and America (including those from organisations such as the EU, COST and ERASMUS).
Furthermore, he has written in a fair share of books on game design and virtual heritage; including one such book which led the VR Visualization group to take interest in his work.
The book in question is 'Playing With The Past'
The book explores how the player (in a game) engages with the historical past as presented through game play. Our project is largely centered on the questions revolving around this proposed idea; how would a player interact with a re-imagining of Tiwanaku, Bolivia? Would it change their perspective on the past- giving them a new lens to view it from?
We decided to reach out to Professor Champion via email, in which he has graciously responded! He has allowed us to include him in this Project blog. Professor Champion will be providing us feedback so we may define the terms of the virtual world in order to detail how the player will interact and perceive it. His guidance will be instrumental in helping us build Tiwanaku in such a way to make the player feel involved; as if they truly were in the time period we plan to reconstruct.
