History Essay Writing Simulator

You're you. You're also a student of history or, a history student; I(the author of this story) think they have different connotations, but you're the main character, so the choice of yours. The point of this game is to illustrate the choices we can make while writing history, so I do think it would be nice if you pretended to be interested in history. Don't worry about actually studying, as you're not getting tested. You //will// be graded, but this is a chance-based game - if you fail it isn't your fault, it's the system. [[Okay....]]

Let's get right into it. You follow a course about politics in the Netherlands during 19th century. For your final essay, you have to write an essay about a figure who lived during that period. During the course, there were two people that caught your attention: [[Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis<- Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis; one of the first Dutch socialists. As he was an important political figure, you know you'll be able to find enough sources about him. (Easy)]] [[Guillaume Eugène François Xavier Mathias Kerens de Wylré<- Guillaume Eugène François Xavier Mathias Kerens de Wylré, a landowner and a Limburg separist. It's a bit niche, but as he was a rich man, you can probably find //something//. (Risky)]]

You receive your feedback. Your essay was perfectly fine; well sourced, well argued, if a little unoriginal. [[On to the next essay!->So your last essay wasn't groundbreaking]]

You receive your feedback.... You (either: "did great! As it turns out, your lecturer is from Limburg and dreams of its liberation. Your essay reinvigorated their hope for an independent Limburg. They even offer to add you to their Limburg-facebook group. You're not sure if you're as passionate as they are, [[but you're happy that you got a good grade! ->Radical Good Essay]]", "did okay! While your argumentation was fine, if a little thin due to the lack of sources, your lecturer does not demand perfection. However, they note that if you had not used Guillaume Eugène François Xavier Mathias Kerens de Wylré's full name every time, you would not have reached the minimum word count. Oh no! [[They saw through your tricks! ->Radical Bad Essay]]")

So your last essay wasn't groundbreaking, but that does not mean you don't have potential. Maybe you need to practice your essay skills before you can really start to //write history.// Another day, another chance. And hey, maybe you don't want to write history, but just study it? Not everyone is cool enough to take matters into their own hands. [[You're the one who's made this game where you roleplay as a "student of history," and have to write essays. Do you think you're cool?->plagiarism]] (if:visits >= 2)[[My next essay we will be better!]]

You took a risk, but it didn't pay off. Hopefully, you'll be able to learn from your mistakes. Maybe your next essay we will be better? [[Because you have sold your future to the university, you do not really have a say whether or not you want to write another essay. You'll have to]]

So that last essay went really well! You really stepped outside of the box, and you were rewarded for it. Onto the next essay! [[Let's go write another essay!]]

You also follow a course on the history of Dutch philosophy. Your lecturer takes the term rather broadly though, as the Frenchman Descartes is included too. What do you write your essay about? [[Baruch de Spinoza - you're not entirely sure if you actually understand his book //Ethics// but this seems like the perfect opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of it. (Difficult)->Spinoza Good]] [[Bernard Mandeville - Another one of those Dutch philosophers where you have to ask, is he really Dutch? However, it does appear to be one of the more risky philosophical takes out there. Do you dare to write your essay on //The Fable of the Bees//?(Seems easy enough?) ->Mandeville decent]] [[Johan Huizinga; is he a philosopher or a theorist? Regardless, he has some great philosophical ideas. Plus, he's the only one on this list who actually wrote in Dutch. That must count for something?(This is a pretty safe bet) ->Huizinga Good]]

Well if you think I'm lame, this is the end of your academic carreer. Turns out that your unorginality was due to blatant plagiarism. [[Well okay I'm sorry! I actually want to continue roleplaying writing essays ->So your last essay wasn't groundbreaking]]

You also follow a course on the history of Dutch philosophy. Your lecturer takes the term rather broadly though, as the Frenchman Descartes is included too. What do you write your essay about? [[Baruch de Spinoza - you're not entirely sure if you actually understand his book //Ethics// but this seems like the perfect opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of it. (Difficult)->Spinoza decent]] [[Bernard Mandeville - Another one of those Dutch philosophers where you have to ask, is he really Dutch? However, it does appear to be one of the more risky philosophical takes out there. Do you dare to write your essay on //The Fable of the Bees//?(Seems easy enough?) ->Mandeville bad]] [[Johan Huizinga; is he a philosopher or a theorist? Regardless, he has some great philosophical ideas. Plus, he's the only one on this list who actually wrote in Dutch. That must count for something?(This is a pretty safe bet) ->Huizinga Good]]

You also follow a course on the history of Dutch philosophy. Your lecturer takes the term rather broadly though, as the Frenchman Descartes is included too. What do you write your essay about? [[Baruch de Spinoza - you're not entirely sure if you actually understand his book //Ethics// but this seems like the perfect opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of it. (Difficult)->Spinoza decent]] [[Bernard Mandeville - Another one of those Dutch philosophers where you have to ask, is he really Dutch? However, it does appear to be one of the more risky philosophical takes out there. Do you dare to write your essay on //The Fable of the Bees//?(Seems easy enough?) ->Mandeville decent]] [[Johan Huizinga; is he a philosopher or a theorist? Regardless, he has some great philosophical ideas. Plus, he's the only one on this list who actually wrote in Dutch. That must count for something?(This is a pretty safe bet) ->Huizinga decent]]

Spinoza is a very difficult philosopher - and your lecturer understands. You didn't need to reinvent the wheel, so you didn't. While you got the historical context right, your essay felt like it was mimicking better essays. Perhaps you don't //understand// Spinoza, but you think you understand him more than before? [[On to the next adventure->Mediocre]]

Unfortunately, this essay was kind of bad. Your essay reads as if you've not actually read the book, just the wikipedia page. Your lecturer asked if you listened to the //In our Time// podcast episode about the book. You remain silent. [[There is always another day, another essay! ->Bad]]

You wrote a great essay on Huizinga's //In the Shadow of Tomorrow.// You even visited the Huizinga Archives, which gave you some bonus points. Your lecturer thought you made some great parallels with Huizinga's critique on the printing press and social media. [[You are filled with pride because of your great essay ->Great]]

You came, you saw, you conquered. Not only did you give a great analysis of Spinoza's influences, and how he transformed Descartes's philosophy, you actually created your own interpretation of Spinoza. Your essay demonstrated a clear understanding of the historical contex //and// your ability to make a text your own. [[Well thank you :)->Great]]

While you are able to demonstrate the philosophical impact of Mandeville's work, your essay was kind of boring. When you get your essay back, you see that your lecturer drew some bees on it. [[Mediocre]]

The essay you wrote was okay. Your lecturer criticized you for your milquetoast take comparing the printing press in the 30s to social media today. Obviously there are some parallels between Huizinga's remarks in //The Shadow of Tomorrow// and contemporary society; but at a certain moment, those parallels are like saying that water is wet. People have always criticized media. [[Nevertheless, this essay was decent! ->Mediocre]]

So your last few essays were okay. Maybe essay writing is not your passion, but it won't be your undoing either. You get invited to a party. Do you go? [[No, I've got to study to become better at writing essays!!]] [[Yes, I'm not a nerd]]

You can say - with confidence - that you're a good student. Maybe you're kind of suffering from an imposter syndrom, but who doesn't? [[Let's write your next essay]]

Maybe you're not the next Montesquieu, but you know, I'm assuming you have other talents! They're just not dependent on chance. Like most skill should be. However, in this universe, you're a //bad student.// [[Why do you want me to roleplay as a bad student. Isn't this a fantasy. Why are you making a depressing fantasy? ->BadB]]

While your friends are going out, you're at home reading books. Slowly, more connections reveal themselves. You think you're getting a grasp of this whole history thing. [[You belief yourself to be a good student of history now ->Remember]]

(either: "At the party, you meet a //good// student. She enlightens you in your way, and you feel like you've transcended to another intellectual plane. [[Let's hope you remember this after you sober up.->Remember]]", "At the party, you meet a //good// student. She enlightens you in your way, and you feel like you've transcended to another intellectual plane.[[ Let's hope you remember this after you sober up. ->No Remember]]", "you pretend your like mediocrity is okay, when in fact, it's not. You feel like a dissapointment towards your family. [[You drink to forget, but you do have a great time!->No Remember]]")

You go to a party and you have fun. After taking some drugs, you think you start to understand the universe. You try and explain this to a fellow student of history. You don't think you're going to remember your wisdom, but they might? [[You drink a lot that night ->No Remember]]

You have gained new insight into the study of history. It's still not perfect - but perfection is an illusion anyways. [[Let's write your next essay]]

You definitely killed some braincells last night. Too many, in fact. This will have consequences on your academic performance. [[I have accepted the consequences ->Another day, another essay]]

At the time this Twine is being made, it's International Women's History Month. In honour of this, you decide to write an about that special woman. Who is she? [[Femme1 <- Your grandmother. She was a GP back in the 50s, when it was rare for a woman to hold such a position. She paved the way for many more female doctors. She fought to exist in a men's world, and that ought to be celebrated.]] [[Femme2 <- Your grandmother (on your father's side.) She never actually finished school, even though she was fairly intelligent. Instead, she was destined to be a stay-at-home mother. While her life has not been as "noteworthy" as your other grandmother's, she still had her own set of unique experiences.]]

You submit your essay to the zine your fellow students are making, and it's well received. Your friends applaud your grandmother for being a feminist icon. You also show the essay to your mum (i.e. your grandmother's child.) While she thinks it's a fine essay, she knows it's not the full story. She tells you that her grandmother had to give certain things up in order to belong to the men's world - and that she sometimes resents her mother for it. However, you don't think the piece on your grandmother is that different from other pieces glorifying women defying the patriarchy - and your friends liked it. You'll probably keep it like this. [[Let's go on!]]

The piece on your grandmother is nuanced. You try to elevate values traditionally deemed "feminine" by describing the complex character that your grandmother was. She, like so many other woman, was denied the chance to become anything more than just a housewife. Nevertheless, she persevered, and tried to make the existence that was forced upon her, her own. Your friends from who are making a zine are... moderately impressed with your essay. It doesn't really compare to your friend's story, about her mother who was the first woman from Texel to climb Mount Everest, but they'll still publish the story. [[Let's go on]]

At the time this Twine is being made, it's International Women's History Month. In honour of this, you decide to write an about that special woman. Who is she? [[Femme3 <- Your grandmother. She was a GP back in the 50s, when it was rare for a woman to hold such a position. She paved the way for many more female doctors. She fought to exist in a men's world, and that ought to be celebrated.]] [[Femme4 <- Your grandmother (on your father's side.) She never actually finished school, even though she was fairly intelligent. Instead, she was destined to be a stay-at-home mother. While her life has not been as "noteworthy" as your other grandmother's, she still had her own set of unique experiences.]]

Your friends have to correct some of your grammar, but they think the story is interesting enough to place it in their zine for Women's History Month. You're not particulary proud of the story either, so you're not going to ask your mother to fact-check it. [[Let's go write another essay]]

The story ends up being rather boring... Your friends are making a zine for Women's History Month, but they reject your story and propose you submit to a catholic journal. You can see through their sarcasm, but you have no witty response. You feel pretty demotivated; you though you had a cool, subvertive take when in fact you were so subvertive you went back to being conservative. [[Okay]]

You're pretty used to writing essays by now. You're just a cog in the essay writing machine. Reading goes in, writing comes out. You're not writing any revolutionary reinterpretations of history, but you enjoy what you're doing. Not everyone has the potential to write the perfect essay. But maybe you want to try again? [[No ->First page]]

You're old. You've become a pretty succesfull student of history and essayist, if you say so yourself. In order to celebrate yourself, you've decided to write an autobiography. You look back at your old essays. They used to be so... creative. You were not yet comfortable, you did not know the rules. As you got better at writing essays, a part of you had to be tamed, and with that, unbridled creativity was lost. You were so used to all of this historic thinking, there was always reason why x,y, or z happened. But does it have to be that way? Didn't you have a choice at some point? [[Do you want to go back to the start? ->First page]]

So your friend did not want to publish your story, that's not the end of the world. To distract yourself from the social rejection, you decide to write another essay. (either: "[[Well?->well?]]", "[[Well? ->at least you tried]]")

The essay you write is.... brilliant. Not only do you totally take down your opponent's view of history, the new concept you propose bridges that gap between history, and how we see history. While you ruffled some feathers by saying that toppling statues is good, actually, your essay was widely applauded by the community of students of history. You've done it. You've written the perfect essay.

You try, but you cannot find the inspiration. Perhaps pen and paper are not your way. Have you tried this thing called twine?