Have you ever had that feeling when you just stare into space for a minute, because there has always been an obvious solution to a problem but you just didn’t see it before? Happened to me. The problem is the representation of female leaders in 4X games: (more…)
I am very happy to announce, that I edited a volume on digital teaching and learning and it came out just a couple days ago! Way back I reported that I will give a presentation on a symposium that I organised at the University of Cologne in Germany. The publication is the outcome of that symposium, where I also wrote a chapter on the challenges of archaeological reconstruction.
I’ve recently read and reviewed Daniel Giere’s (@34e6ab0133cd4f7) “Computerspiele – Medienbildung – historisches Lernen” (computer games – media education – historical learning) in German and I think I’ll just give everyone a rough overview over his work in English, because, well, it deserves some attention. It’s as far as I know, the first published empirical study on the influence games may have on a person’s knowledge of history. (more…)
In winter 2018/19 and summer semester 2019 I taught courses on archaeogaming and concepts of the past in computer and video games. I am proud to share with you the videos my students created, in which they analyse games of their choosing. Have a look! (more…)
Now, finally: The last thesis we featured in the discussion about Concepts of the Past in Computer and Video Games, which Jan Wieners and I organised for our class on archaeogaming in January 2019 is my favourite one. How important is “accuracy” in comparison to “representation” in Computer and Video Games? (more…)
Early this year, Heaven’s Vault, a game that lets you play an archaeologist to uncover the past, will come out. We want to have a look at the information we have so far for this game.
Here I continue to describe and elaborate on our discussion about Concepts of the Past in Computer and Video Games, which Jan Wieners and I organised for our class in archaeogaming. Let’s discuss now: Are games great knowledge communicators? (more…)
This post belongs to the series discussing Jan Wieners‘ and mine course on archaeogaming. Last week, on 9th January, a special session in this course took place: We had an open-for-all discussion with experts and a poster slam! (more…)
Together with Jan Wieners (@docfnord on twitter) I teach a course on Video- & Computergames and Archaeology this semester. This may develop into a series on content and thoughts regarding this course. Pt 1: What are we aiming at? (more…)
In this series of posts, I want to test in what capacity a AAA-game in a historical setting can actually teach me – as an archaeologist – something I don’t know about history. I have studied Near Eastern Archaeology, Prehistory and Assyriology, but never Egyptology, what would be the perfect branch of study for this game. Nevertheless I still can learn and by playing Assissins Creed Orgins and researching the scientific facts behind it, I want to find out if the game is well researched and document what I learned from it. Spoilers ahead!
We did a conference!
It was really engaging and here is a wrap up of what I learned.
On the 12th and 13th of October, the Archaeological Department of the University of Cologne is hosting a two-day symposium. The preparations are in full swing and we now released a preliminary programme.
The new Assassin’s Creed game takes place in Ancient Egypt. Beside the usual gameplay, where you have to follow a story, collect items and explore the world, you can experience the game totally free from that as a kind of observer in order to learn something about Ancient Egypt. Is this concept ready for the classroom?
In this series of posts, I want to test in what capacity a AAA-game in a historical setting can actually teach me – as an aracheologist – something I don’t know about history. I have studied Near Eastern Archaeology, Prehistory and Assyriology, but never Egyptology, what would be the perfect branch of study for this game. Nevertheless I still can learn and by playing Assissins Creed Orgins and researching the scientific facts behind it, I want to find out if the game is well researched and document what I learned from it. Spoilers ahead!