Know Thyself - On the Oregon Trail

Just in case you have no idea what the Oregon Trail is, I shall explain. The player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding a party of settlers from Missouri to Oregon in 1848. This was a computer game produced in 1974 that was designed to teach school children about the realities of 19th-century pioneer life on the Oregon Trail.

Oh but, the Oregon Trail is much much more than just a game about pioneering life. It is a personality test, a seer that can look into the heart and the mind. The game knows all. Who do you really care about? Are you a risk taker? Hunting? Ammo? Meat? Disease?!

As you start off, you are allowed to choose what kind of person you are (not a trivial question) - a banker, a carpenter, etc? Buy supplies - what is important to bring?

You select who will come with you. You must choose their names. Will it be your best friend? That girl you like? Who will you not take with you...?

As you journey along, you are asked to make decisions that could put your companions at risk - and through these decisions your companions might fall sick or die. Will you hunt for food? Will you risk fording the river to save time, risking drowning and losing supplies?

These selections and decisions are what constitutes the strategy behind the game and make up the personal analysis of the one playing.

Forget personality tests and the science of introspection, this all you need to know about someone. How do they traverse the Oregon Trail. How would you?

That you guy you liked made it but alas, you did not. It is the Oregon Trail, after all.

If you'd like to give it a try - and find out who you really are - please, hitch your wagon here.