Simulations and Simulacra: History in Video Games

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48487/pdh.2017.n5.22580

Abstract

Historical video games are not only entertainment, but big business. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the worldwide success of fantasy games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and World of Warcraft have brought about a renewed flurry of interest in formal Medieval Studies programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Yet, despite some excellent scholarship examining the so-called ‘edutainment’ debate which questions whether games can teach history, what has been overlooked is a more important question: if so, what kind of history would that be? This article uses the concept of simulation to question the ways in which games confront history, arguing first that history is itself a model, before arguing that what is often on offer in many video games is a kind of simulation which allows for historical thinking.

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Published

2021-01-26

How to Cite

B. R. Elliott, A. (2021). Simulations and Simulacra: History in Video Games. Práticas Da História. Journal on Theory, Historiography and Uses of the Past, (5), 11–41. https://doi.org/10.48487/pdh.2017.n5.22580

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Articles