Controversies: Historicising the Computer Game

Games which involve historical topics have always been a
staple of digital games, but at the same time they have often
caused controversy and debate. This paper traces some of
the pitfalls inherent to the creation of historical games, as
well as trying to reach an understanding of how a history
game can be defined. Throughout the paper, we investigate
how some aspects of history can be problematic, and how
others have been made more difficult by a lack of definition
or an expectation that all historical games operate on the
same intellectual level. We also examine how controversial
games have coped with difficult subjects, and relate this to
the development of complexity and scope within gaming.

Citation:
MacCallum-Stewart, E. and Parsler, J. (2007) ‘Controversies: Historicising the Computer Game’ Situated Play, Proceedings of DiGRA 2007 Conference Tokyo: The University of Tokyo, September, 2007 Pages: 203-210.