This article talks about a recent study that found out players who like history games are likelier to develop an interest in learning history outside of videogames. As developers of a historical strategy videogame we believe in their potential to impact people, and we're really proud to contribute to this and potentially spark an interest in history in our players!
What do you think about this? Have any of you ever become interested in history or a particular historical event or period thanks to a videogame? Which one?
28 Comments
Pretty cool, Assassin Creed always gets me interested in their setting, especially the Notre Dame
AC Shadows is certainly an interesting example of a game “using historians to get their facts right.”
I’m certainly all for teaching and developing interest in all sorts of subjects with games, but let’s make sure to distinguish history from fiction.
Edit: I’m saying the title sucks. It would have been more accurate to just say “Study shows games fostering an interest in history.”
Games are one the best mediums to explore history with, there are so many historical events/periods that I wish games would give life to.
History is dope. Never cared much about it til i started learning deeply about very specific events. I feel like history curriculum in school was too fast and glazed over a lot of the really cool and fascinating stuff about history. I’ve been watching these mountaineering and exploration videos from Scary Interesting on youtube recently and it opens up your idea of what life was really like during that time period and gives it a sense of reality and humanity
Historical games like Assassin’s Creed and prince of Persia are really fun to play. I’d love to see a game based on Indian history something set during the Mughal Empire or similar eras. If there’s anything like that already out there, please let me know I’d definitely want to play it!
Nothing I’ve seen in school thaught me and captured my attention on the topic of ancient Greece as much as AC: Odyssey
Yeah I definitely agree it can get people more interested in history. Also, there’s soooo little media that actually gets history exactly right because there’s no real reason to. Even biopics don’t tell accurate stories most of the time.
Games have been doing this for a long time, this isn’t something new.
What is new is the slew of people who see a slight inaccuracy in a video game and then flock to the internet to complain about what most likely isn’t important or a creative decision.
I’m very thankful for the games that have stoked mine and many others interests in history, as many stories are not available to you at the same time game exposure would be.
Oh absolutely. Now I’ve always had an interest in history but playing games that have historical realism in them drives me to investigate topics I never would have or just didn’t know about so I have a leg up on the competition there but this doesn’t surprise me at all.
There are cool stories to be told in historical video games and the more often you get them right and don’t mythologize them to tell an epic story that isn’t real The more people are going to be interested in the actual facts.
Great but assassin’s creed shadows is nowhere near historically accurate
Yes, I was always interested in history in general, but started delving in military history pretty deeply after first playing Total War games back in the day. Paradox games were also a big motivator. Also, Sudden Strike and Blitzkrieg games for WWII.
Ironically enough, professional historians look down on these games a lot (well, maybe not Paradox games so much, but definitely the rest)…not without reason, but without realizing that, despite their inaccuracies, they are a very effective “gateway drug” into proper study of history.
KCD 1&2 is another great example
historical accuracy is difficult to achieve for narrative purposes, but historical authenticity is something that every game that tries to use a historical setting should attempt.
its why i absolutely detest ac odyssey. world in terms of narrative and writing was terrible. shit felt like a world with the appearance of ancient greece but characters, dialogue, religious beliefs, etc clearly written by people with close to no knowledge of that time period. a genuine waste of a setting.
black flag and origins were great.
Saving Private Ryan plus the first Medal of Honor got me into WWII.
Paradox games sure are contributing a lot
My son is 10 and has a HUGE interest in history thanks to games like Age of Empire and Civilization. I love exploring his questions together when we look things up based on his interests
me using steel division to Research army composition for my bolt action army
Age of Empires and Europa Universalis had major impacts on me
The Pharaoh city builder from way back when got me through the Egyptian part of history high school class with exceptional marks, just from remembering the lore bits.
Those many years of watching people Play Hearts of Iron 4, EU4, and CK3. Coupled with me playing Ck3 and EU4 and dabbling in Hearts of Iron 4 do really cement my interest in history
Age of Empires 2 was an intro to a lot of history for me. I was in middle school and we hadn’t touched several of these topics yet, if we even did at all.
It’s the first place I learned of Saladin, Barbarossa, The Golden Horde and William Wallace.
Definitely was for me. I loved age of empires as a kid and was my introduction to various historical characters via the campaigns. Ended up with a major in history many years later
Bold to have AC Shadows as the picture lol
AC Shadows definitely made more people interested in history, by making shit up and having people look for the truth, so I guess it counts?
* Games are using historians to get their facts right
* Slaps a screenshot from AC Shadows
Somethin’ ain’t right. 😂
Thank you Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries in the UK which houses a collection of thousands of iconic weapons from throughout history.
The irony of that article image…
Using an image of AC Shadows which completely butchered history is definitely ironic.