| Description |
1 online resource (xiii, 219 pages) |
| Contents |
Historians, consumers, and the videogame industry -- The meaning and presentation of history -- Portraying historical research -- Designer preference vs. marketability -- Designer intent and consumer reception -- Theme and mechanics -- Mechanics -- Compression and focus -- The problem of hindsight bias -- Contingency and determinism -- The scholarship of counterfactual history -- Contingency and technology in civilization -- Great individuals and events -- Wars and battles: Hastings and Gettysburg -- Economics and resource-management -- Economic history -- Resource management -- Trade -- Mercantilism in games portraying the early modern era -- Laissez-faire and planned economies -- Ecology and the environment -- Environmental history and the Columbian Exchange -- Applying the Columbian Exchange in the virtual world -- Disease -- Climate change and geological events -- Culture and ethnicity -- The cultural turn in history -- Characterizing cultures in action videogames -- Characterizing cultures in strategy games -- Religion -- Gender -- Gender in the study of history -- Sexism and the female market for historical videogames -- Female characters in the virtual past -- Male characters in the virtual past -- Portraying non-heteronormative gender roles -- Violence and oppression -- Historical scholarship on violence and oppression -- Combat and the treatment of civilians -- Slavery and genocide -- The future of the virtual past |
| Summary |
Virtual History examines many of the most popular historical video games released over the last decade and explores their portrayal of history. The book looks at the motives and perspectives of game designers and marketers, as well as the societal expectations addressed, through contingency and determinism, economics, the environment, culture, ethnicity, gender, and violence. Approaching videogames as a compelling art form that can simultaneously inform and mislead, the book considers the historical accuracy of videogames, while also exploring how they depict the underlying processes of history and highlighting their strengths as tools for understanding history. The first survey of the historical content and approach of popular videogames designed with students in mind, it argues that games can depict history and engage players with it in a useful way, encouraging the reader to consider the games they play from a different perspective. Supported by examples and screenshots that contextualize the discussion, Virtual History is a useful resource for students of media and world history as well as those focusing on the portrayal of history through the medium of videogames |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
A. Martin Wainwright is Professor and History Department Chair at the University of Akron, Ohio. He has authored two books on Britain and India's interactions during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He teaches courses on global history and the portrayal of history in videogames |
|
Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on July 16, 2019) |
| Subject |
Video games -- Social aspects
|
|
Video games -- Design
|
|
History in popular culture.
|
|
HISTORY -- Historiography.
|
|
HISTORY -- World.
|
|
HISTORY -- General.
|
|
History in popular culture.
|
|
Video games -- Design.
|
|
Video games -- Social aspects.
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2019009466 |
| ISBN |
9781315157351 |
|
1315157357 |
|
9781351653374 |
|
1351653377 |
|
9781351653381 |
|
1351653385 |
|
9781351653367 |
|
1351653369 |
|
