Video Games and History: Research and Pedagogy

One of the reasons why I became a historian was due to my interaction with historical video games. Games allowed me to explore and experience the past in ways that no other media allows for. According to authors like Robert Houghton (2016), there seem to be indications that modern video games play a role in the way in which younger generations build their historical consciousness. 

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The growing popularity of video games demands that we research how they mediate the past and how this impacts the way in which we approach history. My research focuses on how video games, through the combination of narrative and gameplay mechanics (ludonarrative) portray history in general and the Crusades in particular. 

This research is born out of a deep concern with the pedagogy of history. It is undeniable that media has a larger reach than academia, and much of what the general public learns about the past is done through films and games. This is not necessarily something bad, since media is another way of making history (Elliot & Kapell, 2013). However, when not approached carefully, history can be misappropriated to feed into dangerous political ideologies.

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I believe deeply in the power of games to approach the past. As authors like Lewis (2020) have highlighted, games allow for a fun and experiential approach to the past, while embodying in themselves the very exercise of writing history and the challenges it poses. The experiences that games offer can help provide an emotional type of learning difficult to replicate through other means when exploring history. Therefore, for me to research this topic is more than an academic concern, is also a fundamental part of my pedagogical development so that through the teaching and learning of history we can build more open and tolerant societies.