Teaching the Middle Ages through Modern Games: Using, Modding and Creating Games for Education and Impact

Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2022

Teaching the Middle Ages through Modern Games

Using, Modding and Creating Games for Education and Impact

Edited by: Robert Houghton

Volume 11 in the series Video Games and the Humanities

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110712032

Overview
Contents

About this book

Games can act as invaluable tools for the teaching of the Middle Ages. The learning potential of physical and digital games is increasingly undeniable at every level of historical study. These games can provide a foundation of information through their stories and worlds. They can foster understanding of complex systems through their mechanics and rules. Their very nature requires the player to learn to progress.

The educational power of games is particularly potent within the study of the Middle Ages. These games act as the first or most substantial introduction to the period for many students and can strongly influence their understanding of the era. Within the classroom, they can be deployed to introduce new and alien themes to students typically unfamiliar with the subject matter swiftly and effectively. They can foster an interest in and understanding of the medieval world through various innovative means and hence act as a key educational tool.

This volume presents a series of essays addressing the practical use of games of all varieties as teaching tools within Medieval Studies and related fields. In doing so it provides examples of the use of games at pre-university, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels of study, and considers the application of commercial games, development of bespoke historical games, use of game design as a learning process, and use of games outside the classroom. As such, the book is a flexible and diverse pedagogical resource and its methods may be readily adapted to the teaching of different medieval themes or other periods of history.

Author / Editor information

Robert Houghton, University of Winchester.

Reviews

"Die Aufsätze sind allesamt sehr praxisorientiert aufgebaut, positiv hervorzuheben ist auch, dass einige Autor:innen von unerwarteten Schwierigkeiten schreiben und wie sie ihnen in der Lehrpraxis begegnet sind. Der Band bietet eine insgesamt hilfreiche Sammlung von Beispielen für den Einsatz von Spielen mit Mittelalterbezug in der Lehre. Insbesondere da im deutschsprachigen Raum momentan etwas umfangreicher über den Einsatz von Spielen in der Schule gesprochen wird, stellt dieser Band mit Fokus auf die Hochschulpraxis und aus internationaler Perspektive eine sehr lesenswerte Ergänzung an Lehrbeispielen dar." Joana Hansen in: H-Soz-Kult, 13.09.2023, www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-130469 (02.10.2023)

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
1 Introduction: Teaching the Middle Ages through Modern Games Robert Houghton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I: The Educational Impact of Games
2 Learning About the Past Through Digital Play: History Students and Video Games Eve Stirling and Jamie Wood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
Part II: Teaching through Commercial Games
3 Historicising Assassin’s Creed (2007): Crusader Medievalism, Historiography, and Digital Games for the Classroom Mike Horswell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
4 Declaiming Dragons: Empathy Learning and The Elder Scrolls in Teaching Medieval Rhetorical Schemes David DeVine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
5 “What if you are a Medieval Monarch?”: A Crusader Kings III Experience to Learn Medieval History Ahmet Erdem Tozoğlu and Mehmet Şükrü Kuran Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Part III: Creating Educational Games
6 A Video Game for Byzantine History – Akritas: Playing at the Byzantine Borders Klio Stamou, Anna Sotiropoulou, Phivos Mylonas and Yorghos Voutos Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
7 Collaborative Constructions: Designing High School History Curriculum with the Lost & Found Game Series Owen Gottlieb and Shawn Clybor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
8 The Renaissance Marriage Game: A Simulation Game for Large Classes Courtnay Konshuh and Frank Klaassen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
Part IV: User Modification as Learning Practice
9 Alchemy and Archives, Swords, Spells, and Castles: Medieval-modding Skyrim Erik Champion, Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller and Katrina Grant Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
10 Playing the Investiture Contest: Modding as Historical Debate in the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Classroom Robert Houghton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
11 Game Development in a Senior Seminar Frank Klaassen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Part V: Games beyond the Classroom
12 The Soundscapes of the York Mystery Plays: Playing with Medieval Sonic Histories Mariana López, Marques Hardin and Wenqi Wan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
13 Beyond Education and Impact: Games as Research Tools and Outputs Robert Houghton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	299
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
Pages
- Front matter: 7
- Main content: 306
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 20
Keywords: education; educational games; video games

eBook

Published: October 24, 2022
ISBN: 9783110712032

Hardcover

Published: October 24, 2022
ISBN: 9783110711967

Paperback

Planned Publication: June 17, 2024
ISBN: 9783111521374