Adam Chapman

Historical themes remain amongst the most popular for videogames, with hugely successful series such as Assassin’s Creed, Red Dead Redemption and Civilization heralding the arrival of a new widespread form of popular history. In response, the nascent historical game studies field has begun to explore the use, possibilities and limitations of the videogame as a historical form. Yet there is still much work to be done if we are to fully comprehend exactly how games work as historical epresentations in comparison to other media. As such, establishing an understanding of the ludic aesthetics of historical description is an important task. Based on ideas established in Digital Games as History (Chapman 2016), this paper attempts to contribute to this line of inquiry by exploring the role of varying simulation styles in historical games. This is achieved by offering a framework organized around a spectrum bookended by two categories of simulation style: ealist and conceptual. The paper explains the differing structural and functional characteristics of these categories of simulation style in historical games as well as exploring their strengths, weaknesses and predispositions in terms of historical representation. Furthermore, the framework accounts for the epistemological implications of these simulation styles, arguing that whilst the realist simulation style has a tendency towards reconstructionist epistemological approaches, the conceptual, by comparison, tends towards constructionist epistemologies. Finally, examples of hybridised historical games that function through occupying varying points on the spectrum between these categories are explored. Ultimately, the paper seeks to offer a comprehensive framework that can account for the ludic aesthetics of historical description at play in a wide variety of historical games.

Panel discussion. Moderation: Felix Zimmermann