Gaming the Past

I am happy to provide copies of all articles and chapters if they are not linked here.

Books, Articles, and Chapters on Video Games and History

Gaming the Past: Using Video Games to Teach Secondary History. Second Edition. Routledge 2022.

“Agents, Goals, and Action-Choices: Analyzing the Game Histories of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece with the Historical Problem Space Framework” Thersites 18 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol18.238 ; https://thersites-journal.de/index.php/thr/article/view/238/415.

“Europa Universalis Educator’s Guide” Paradox Interactive AB 2024 https://tinyurl.com/y5veukpz

“History Games.” The Encyclopedia of ludic Terms https://eolt.org/articles/history-games 2022

“Teaching History with Digital Historical Games: An Introduction to the Field and Best Practices,” Simulation and Gaming 2016 (Online at SAGE)

“Navigating the Problem Space: The Medium of Simulation Games in the Teaching of History,” The History Teacher 2012

“Historical Simulations as Problem Spaces: Criticism and Classroom Use,” Journal of Digital Humanities 2012 (original at the Journal of Digital Humanities)

“Simulation Games and the Study of the Past: Classroom Guidelines,” in PastPlay: Teaching and Learning History With Technology 2014

“Using Games in the Classroom,” by Jennifer Groff, Jeremiah McCall, Paul Darvasi, and Zack Gilbert in Learning, Education and Games Volume Two: Bringing Games into Educational Contexts 2016

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Video and Podcasts: Interviews and Talks

“Peasant Farmers: Murder Victims or Crop Producers” with Jeremiah McCall. Hitpoints and History Conference 3.10.24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7WI58HlOZM

“Gaming the Past Teaching and Learning History through Videogame Analysis and Critique” Hitpoints and History Conference 3.10.24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atcDhFcs35E

Studying Pixels Episode 54 (October 23, 2022) Games as Historical Problem Spaces (with Jeremiah McCall) https://studyingpixels.com/games-as-historical-problem-spaces-with-jeremiah-mccall/

Distillations Podcast (Science History Institute) Episode 282 | August 10, 2021 Interview https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/podcast/interview-with-jeremiah-mccall

“Agents and Obstacles: Videogames as Historical Problem Spaces” (May 2021) Historical Problem Space Talk in Helsinki 5/19/21 – YouTube

“USP Arise Project Interview: Historical Game Studies and Games in History Education” (March 2021) (ARISE – Entrevista – Jeremiah McCall – YouTube)

“Civilization IV and V as Gamic Histories” (April 2020) (Jeremiah McCall – Civilization IV and V as Gamic Histories – YouTube)

Playing with the Past: History and Video Games (CCDS Speaks 2019) News Posts – Cincinnati Country Day

Crafting Interactive Histories: Twine and Choice-Based Interactive Historical Texts (Sept. 2017) Crafting Interactive Histories: Twine and Choice-Based Interactive Historical Texts – YouTube

“Video Games as Public History and in the History Class” (April 2018) (Video Games as Public History and in the History Class – YouTube)

-Game Design Roundtable ep. 189: Gaming the Past with Jeremiah McCall (Feb. 2018) https://tgdrt.libsyn.com/2018/02

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Gaming the Past Designer Talks Podcast

A series of conversations with designers of historical games about how they approach history and developing historical games.

Episodes 1-6 are out (Soren Johnson of Civilization IV and 10 Crowns; Jon Shafer of Civilization V and At the Gates; Philippe Malacher of Field of Glory Empires; Richard Bodley Scott of Field of Glory 2; Owen Gottlieb of Lost and Found; and Henrik Fahraeus of Crusader Kings 2 and 3)

Spotify; Google Play; Apple Podcasts

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PlaythePast Essays

“Through the Darkest of Time’s Historical Problem Space: Part 1”(Playthepast.org)

“Through the Darkest of Time’s Historical Problem Space: Part 2”(Playthepast.org)

“An Introduction to Historical Problem Spaces” (Playthepast.org)

“Twine Teacher Diary” 2016 (here, Playthepast.org)

“Meaningful Choices (Twine Developer Diary),” 2016 (here, Playthepast.org)

“A Teacher’s Design Notes: Using Civilization IV to Teach about Agrarian Societies,” (here, Playthepast.org)

“Twine, Inform, and Designing Interactive History Text” (here, Playthepast.org )

“Historical Simulations as Problem Spaces: Some Guidelines for Criticism, ” 2012 (here,  Playthepast.org  )

“Problem Spaces Part 2: The History Class (here, Playthepast.org)

“Hegemony: Philip of Macedon and the Inspiration of Simulation Games,” 2012 (here, Playthepast.org)

“The Unexamined Game is Not Worth Playing?” 2010 (here, Playthepast.org)

“The Happiness Metric in CivCity Rome and the Critique of Simulation Games,” 2010  (here, Playthepast.org)

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Books and Articles on Ancient History

Rivalries that Destroyed the Roman Republic. Pen and Sword, 2022 (Amazon Link)

The Manipular Army System and Command Decisions in the Second Century BCE, “ in M. Fronda and J. Armstrong. eds. Romans at War, Routledge, 2020.

The Cavalry of the Roman Republic: Cavalry Combat and Elite Reputations in the Middle and Late Republic. Routledge, 2002. (Amazon Link)

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Gaming the Past Essays

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Teachinghistory.org Essays on Practical Implementation

Using Simulation Games in the History Classroom (pt. 1)

Evaluating Simulation Games for Classroom Use (pt. 2)

Structuring Lesson Plans Using Simulation Games (pt. 3)

Activities and Assessments for Simulation Games  (pt. 4)

Evaluative Activities and Assessments for Simulation Games (pt. 5)

Historical Problem Spaces (pt. 6)

Review of Mission US: For Crown or Colony