Historical simulation games, the good and the not-so-good
Are they an underutilized teaching tool, or do their underlying assumptions result in misunderstandings?
If you ask most people who know me to list one fact about me, I’d wager the first thing that’d come to their mind would be, “he’s a huge history nerd.” History has been a lifelong passion and, unlike most interests, I can trace it back to a single event: playing the video game Civilization III as a child. The mythic characters that stood as synecdoches for civilizations captivated my little eight-year-old self. Ever since playing that game, I’ve indulged in untold hours of reading academic books, parsing through primary documents, and even contemplating getting a Ph.D. in medieval Roman (Byzantine) history.
That’s what most parents want for their kids, right? To find some passion in school, to excel in a particular subject? Yet, I remember most of my high school peers’ eyes glazed over the moment they walked through the doors of the history classroom. Perhaps if they’d been exposed to historical simulation grand strategy games as teaching tools, some of them would have grown to love the subject as much as I did.
The Good
Gamifying a subject is a popular strategy for learning — well, anything. Look at products like DuoLingo that eschew the classroom environment in favor of teaching languages like a game.
Historical simulation games follow the same formula. A person completely disinterested in history might purchase a copy of Civilization or Age of Empires and play for the strategy component or to compete with their friends online, all while passively consuming real-world history. I distinctly remember learning about the Celts and the Daimyo from the aforementioned Civilization III.
Playing historical simulations can also open a person’s eyes to diversity — different cultures around the world — particularly role-playing games where the player embodies a character or state. In the 2020 grand strategy game Crusader Kings III, players can select a historical ruler from across Africa (above the Congo) and Europe, all the way to Tibet, and steer their dynasty’s fortunes. One of the first games I played was as Magajiya Daurama, a Hausa ruler in what is now northern Nigeria. I had never heard of her before playing the game, but learned that she was the last female ruler of the Hausa people before the matriarchal royal system was abolished. It was also the first time I’d heard of her Bori faith, which still exists today. I’d likely have never learned these stories about human history were it not for the game; other than covering its colonial exploitation and slavery, West African history was extremely lacking in my curriculum.
The Not-So-Good
While games can incorporate many nuances and stimulate creativity, I think a shortcoming of relying on video games for knowledge without additional research is that a player can internalize assumptions baked into the structure of the game.
Video games are obviously intended to be fun; additionally, developers face consumer pressure to create historical simulation games that produce an “authentic” feel. But, let’s take the video game Europa Universalis III. This game allows the player to lead any state in the world between 1399 to 1821, with an ample number of recommended scenarios (e.g., the War of the Austrian Succession). As much as I loved this game, I began to notice critiques of it pop up online throughout its decade of run-time, one being that its “tech tree” game mechanic, which simulated development and changes over time, inevitably resulted in games dominated by Western European powers, or states in their proximity (e.g., Russia or the Ottoman Empire). This was because states not tagged with “Western tech trees” faced penalties in acquiring new technologies, and thus “fell behind” over time unless they “Westernized.” While this meant that the simulations more often than not reflected our world’s historical developments, it hard-coded the notion that “Western” is objectively superior to non-Western.
To be fair to Paradox Interactive (the game’s developer, whose work I stan), they removed this dynamic from their sequel, Europa Universalis IV; however, gameplay mechanics and assumptions can reinforce antiquated or dangerous ideas, and therefore should be considered carefully.
Conclusion
If my own experiences with historical simulation games have taught me anything, it’s that they’re an accessible way to instill an early love of history and learning. If you’re a history buff parent of a young child, seriously — go pick up a copy of Civilization. You’ll not regret it.