Playful Presenting

Amy Hondsmerk

doi:10.31273/eirj.v7i3.644

Abstract

The Present and Future of History and Games symposium took place at the University of Warwick on the 28th February 2020. This article provides some critical reflections on the symposium and its open theme of the study of history and games, which invited papers from a broad selection of scholars and professionals working in an interdisciplinary fashion at the intersection of these two fields. Papers brought into focus questions around particularly important or difficult topics encountered at this meeting of sectors, such as authenticity, accuracy, ownership, context, barriers, ethics and audience/player perceptions. The symposium explored how current research across various disciplines is intertwined and connected with other projects and subsequently encouraged speakers and attendees alike to consider how their work might develop and shape the future of study at the convergence of history, heritage, and gaming.

Highlights

Whilst my research lies mainly in exploring the relationship between video games and the ways museums use them to present and explore history, the breadth of the symposium meant that there was space for exploring this too
Drawing upon Munslow’s ideas of deconstructionism (1997, 2006) the aim of Time Historians was to explore how we construct our knowledge of history and to encourage players to consider and call into question historical narrative
There were a number of key takeaways from Grufstedt’s research, the importance of exploring the developer’s perspectives and considering how this impacts our understanding the game in the larger academic context

Summary

Introduction

Whilst my research lies mainly in exploring the relationship between video games and the ways museums use them to present and explore history, the breadth of the symposium meant that there was space for exploring this too. The resulting program provided a day of fascinating papers from a number of unique perspectives which contributed to a larger discussion on how research into the intersection of history and games might develop and progress in the future.

Results

Conclusion