Playing With History: Historiographic Gameplay and Design

• In Event: Designing, Selling and Shaping Video Games (and Gamers)

Abstract

This paper explores historical representation in video games and argues that two types perpetuate: 1) a semantic approach that engages players with the past via visual expressions; and 2) a cause and effect simulation approach that positions players in the context of historically situated possibilities. However, the expressive power of gameworlds and gameplay afford deeper potentials for historical engagements. This paper pursues a video game analysis and design approach that takes seriously representations of the past and places player inquiry at the forefront of the experience. The author concludes with a discussion of her prototype, Resurrection Man, in which players assume the role of a 19th century grave robber. The alpha and beta versions of the game concept are discussed to explain iterative design choices that demonstrate how video games function as historiographic media that invite players’ consideration of a particular micro-history.

Author

• Jessica Ethel Tompkins, Indiana University