Review by Karis and Bailey

Today in class, we played the Hajj Trail for our in-class group play. The Hajj Trail is a text-based interactive game designed to give players a broader cultural understanding of the Hajj. Through this game, students are able to understand the space and scale of the Ottoman Empire in a visually apparent manner (Dr. Tyler Kynn).

Given the Hajj Trail’s emphasis on presenting the Hajj in an interactive and educational simulation, the game seeks to immerse players in the Islamic world of the 1700s, exposing them to the dialogues and dangers that were associated with such a journey. As we progressed through our journey, we faced numerous obstacles, including: dysentery, banditry, and other tangible impacts to our character’s monetary and physical health. 

While such events were indeed commonplace in the 17th century, the incidence of such occurrences within an individual pilgrimage are much higher in the game than they were in reality. Such a difference was a consequence of a conscious decision to enhance gameplay to boost player immersion, and its utilization highlights an important distinction necessary between the historical accuracy versus the historical authenticity of the game itself. 

With the number of challenges occurring in-game, it also becomes necessary to consider the implications of our choices on the instigation of events. It is here that the Hajj Trail excels, making use of materials, health, and “The Pilgrim’s Path” (TPP) – a morality system that awards points for acting in accordance with pilgrims undertaking the Hajj – to manipulate player actions. Interestingly, TPP worked to both boost and devalue our moral decision-making depending on the characters we chose. During our in-class play session, we played as an Ottoman merchant; although we initially sought to maximize TPP, repeated delays due to dysentery resulted in a loss of TPP largely outside of our control. We were unable to recoup the moral losses due to the economic strain we experienced in attempting to fulfill our side quests, and given the fragility of TPP, we thus opted to prioritize the survival of our character and abandoned our moral code. However, neither of us opted to abandon TPP when we played as an impoverished widow, whereupon we were easily able to maintain a high level of TPP despite economic hardship.

It is the consequences of our actions, combined with the extensive insertion of historical game knowledge through setting descriptions and TPP, that promotes engagement with the Hajj Trail. The game includes visual depictions that contribute to a deeper understanding of locations and scenes in the game. For example, while visiting the well, we were sometimes shown an image of a man spitting out dirty water in front of a well. The occurrence of this image was often followed by dysentery. 

These images serve to provide players with a visual representation of daily life on the Hajj Trail and act as a visual warning and informational tool that situates players in time and space. In the game, players are able to travel to different religious sites to enhance their pilgrim experience. We played the merchant, so we were exposed to a variety of different side-quests as well as provided with detailed historical information about trade and commerce depending on the city we were in at the time.

Being provided with both general and specific historical knowledge about the Ottoman Empire and the Hajj Trail allowed us to immerse ourselves in a deeper understanding of the historical context of the game. The ability for players to take historically authentic information provided by the game and make choices that reflect their character’s morality as a pilgrim, which bears a direct cause-and-effect from each decision, thus, allowing players to connect gameplay to a historically authentic rendering of the past.