> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Video Games on Smallpox and Thoreau's Walden Get Government Funding
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/video-games-on-smallpox-and-thoreaus-walden-get-government-funding/
- Published: 2014-12-12T02:02:56.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:16:15.000Z
- Description: A 19th-century Philadelphia smallpox epidemic and Henry David Thoreau's transcendental retreat into the woods are the subjects of two video games awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) this Monday.
- Author: Allison Meier
- Tags: News, gaming, National Endowment for the Humanities, Video Games, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2)

!["Smallpox: Keep out of This House" (1910) (via National Library of Medicine)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/12/smallpoxsign.jpg)

“Smallpox: Keep out of This House” (1910) (image via National Library of Medicine)

A 19th-century Philadelphia smallpox epidemic and Henry David Thoreau’s transcendental retreat into the woods are the subjects of two video games awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) [this Monday](http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2014-12-08?ref=hyperallergic.com).

As [the *Los Angeles Times* reported](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-online-gaming-world-warcraft-neh-federal-grants-20141208-story.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), the $200,000 in grants came through the NEH’s new [Digital Projects for the Public](http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/digital-projects-the-public?ref=hyperallergic.com) initiative, launched this year and [aimed at](http://www.neh.gov/grants/public/digital-projects-the-public?ref=hyperallergic.com) games, websites, apps, and virtual environments that “significantly contribute to the public’s engagement with humanities ideas.” Split between *Pox in the City,* in development at New Jersey’s Richard Stockton College, and [*Walden*](http://www.waldengame.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* at the USC Game Innovation Lab, the funding is a significant show of federal support for the use of gaming in the humanities. Along with the games is funding for a digital application for the AIDS Memorial Quilt from the New School, a “Slavery in the North” website from Historic Hudson Valley, a website for Civil Rights Movement radio broadcasts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and online and on-site exhibitions on the environmental history of the Americas from Brown University.

![Screenshot of a walkthrough the "Walden" game from USC's Game Innovation Lab (screenshot by the author via YouTube)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/12/waldenpond1.jpg)

Screenshot of a walkthrough of the “Walden” game from USC’s Game Innovation Lab (screenshot via YouTube) (click to enlarge)

Both of the 19th-century American history games are structured to transport users into the often unpleasant past, one where you’re a doctor combatting a deadly epidemic, the other where you step into the shoes of Thoreau where survival is as much a concern as contemplation. *Pox in the City* follows [a web-based game](http://poxandthecity.blogspot.com/2013/06/pox-and-city-game.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) released by Richard Stockton College last year, that centered on a smallpox epidemic in Edinburgh, which [also got NEH funding](http://poxandthecity.blogspot.com/2011%5F11%5F01%5Farchive.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). [*Walden*](http://www.waldengame.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com)also got early support [through the NEA](http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/henry-david-thoreau-video-game-gets-40000-nea-grant%5Fb50707?ref=hyperallergic.com), and has had some prototypes of strolling the replicated topography of Walden Pond, while keeping yourself alive (here’s [a video walkthrough](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7L7fgZoW4k&ref=hyperallergic.com) of the most recent version).

Now, a digital recreation of the secluded forest life of Thoreau — who wrote in *Walden*, “I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude,” —might not sound like the most riveting gameplay. Likewise, watching smallpox feverishly spread its scarring blisters as you try to decide who to treat, and how, is rather grim. However, USC Game Innovation Lab has already demonstrated the potential for meditative gaming with previous projects like[ *The Night Journey*](http://www.thenightjourney.com/statement.htm?ref=hyperallergic.com) incorporating visuals from Bill Viola and a narrative of seeking enlightenment. And with medical history involving so much trial and error, video games seem a promising medium for it. Just this month, the Wellcome Collection released [*Mindcraft*](http://digitalstories.wellcomecollection.org/pathways/1-mindcraft/index.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), an interactive digital story using their archives on mental health and the use of mind control. Maybe stopping the horrifying progression of a gruesome disease and living through the seasons in nature alone can likewise make these historic moments into personal gaming experiences.