Motivation:
– Adventurous experiences create psychological arousal
– Adventure can be interpreted as negative (e.g. fear) or positive (e.g. flow)
– Adventure can become a major pursuit
– Outdoor adventurous activities are for recreation and excitement
– Adventure education uses challenging experiences for learning
Mythology and Fiction:
– Some of the oldest stories are of adventure
– The knight errant was a common adventure seeker character
– Adventure fiction features protagonists on adventurous journeys
– Popular feature films like Star Wars exhibit adventure characteristics
– Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a famous fantasized adventure story
Outdoors:
– Adventure books often feature characters facing the wilderness
– Examples include Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain
– These books focus on survival, gaining new experiences, and connecting with nature
– Less about questing, more about living off the land
– Characters become closer to the natural world through their experiences
Questing:
– Many adventures are based on the idea of a quest
– The hero overcomes obstacles to obtain a reward
– The reward can be a skill, prize, treasure, or safety of a person
– The journey involves challenges and growth for the hero
– Questing is a common theme in adventure stories
Video Games:
– Adventure games involve exploration and puzzle solving
– The genre draws heavily from literature and film
– Many adventure games are designed for single players
– Story and character development are key elements in adventure games
– Multi-player design is challenging due to the emphasis on story
Nonfiction Works:
– Travelers and explorers have written about their adventures for centuries
– Best-selling journals like Marco Polo’s The Travels of Marco Polo
– Personal journals later published, like Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s
– Books written by those not directly involved in the adventure, like The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
– Documentaries often feature themes of adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme sports. Adventures are often undertaken to create psychological arousal or in order to achieve a greater goal, such as the pursuit of knowledge that can only be obtained by such activities.
