IMC 2021: Sessions

Session 1212: The Middle Ages in Modern Games, III: Modern Narratives and Medieval Worlds

Wednesday 7 July 2021, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:	The Public Medievalist / Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Research, University of Winchester
Organiser:	Robert Houghton, Department of History, University of Winchester
Moderator/Chair:	Robert Houghton, Department of History, University of Winchester
Paper 1212-a	Weather Mechanics in Northgard: The Arduous Lives of Vikings in a Strategy Game (Language: English) Lysiane Lasausse, Department of History University of Helsinki Index terms: Computing in Medieval Studies, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 1212-b	Social Climate and Collective Entities at War in Age of Empires II (Language: English) Matthew Horrigan, School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia Dana Carter, Department of History, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia Index terms: Computing in Medieval Studies, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 1212-c	Modern Games and Their Imagination of Byzantium (Language: English) Cahit Mete Oguz, Department of History Simon Fraser University British Columbia Index terms: Computing in Medieval Studies, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Abstract	The construction and interpretation of popular (and academic) accounts of the Middle Ages are inevitably influenced by contemporary narratives. This is perhaps particularly true of games which address the era. The interaction between creator, game, and player is complex and influenced by shifting understandings of the medieval period, by alternative interpretations of inevitably ambiguous aspects of the game, and by the substantial role of player agency in ensuring that every players' experience of a game must be essentially different. The papers within this session address the impact of modern narratives on ludic representations of medieval worlds.