About the Book
Video games, even though they are one of the present's quintessential media and cultural forms, also have a surprising and many-sided relation with the past. From seminal series like Sid Meier's Civilization or Assassin's Creed to innovative indies like Never Alone and Herald, games have integrated heritages and histories as key components of their design, narrative, and play. This has allowed hundreds of millions of people to experience humanity's diverse heritage through the thrill of interactive and playful discovery, exploration, and (re-)creation. Just as video games have embraced the past, games themselves are also emerging as an exciting new field of inquiry in disciplines that study the past. Games and other interactive media are not only becoming more and more important as tools for knowledge dissemination and heritage communication, but they also provide a creative space for theoretical and methodological innovations. The Interactive Past brings together a diverse group of thinkers - including archaeologists, heritage scholars, game creators, conservators and more - who explore the interface of video games and the past in a series of unique and engaging writings.
They address such topics as how thinking about and creating games can inform on archaeological method and theory, how to leverage games for the communication of powerful and positive narratives, how games can be studied archaeologically and the challenges they present in terms of conservation, and why the deaths of virtual Romans and the treatment of video game chickens matters. The book also includes a crowd-sourced chapter in the form of a question-chain-game, written by the Kickstarter backers whose donations made this book possible. Together, these exciting and enlightening examples provide a convincing case for how interactive play can power the experience of the past and vice versa.
Table of Contents:
Tutorial: An introduction to archaeology, heritage, and video games Angus A.A. Mol, Csilla E. Ariese-Vandemeulebroucke, Krijn H.J. Boom& Aris Politopoulos Part I: Ethical Approaches to Heritage and Video Games 1. Storytelling for the Next Generation: How a nonprofit in Alaska harnessed the power of video games to share and celebrate cultures Cook Inlet Tribal Council 2. Tradigital Knowledge: Indigenous video games, copyright, and the protection of traditional knowledge Gabrielle Hughes 3. Chickens in Video Games: Archaeology and ethics inform upon complex relationships B. Tyr Fothergill& Catherine Flick 4. Herald: How Wispfire used history to create fiction Roy van der Schilden& Bart Heijltjes Part II: Analyzing and Designing Games from an Archaeological Perspective 5. Designing and Developing a Playful Past in Video-Games Tara Jane Copplestone 6. Video Games as Archaeological Sites: Treating digital entertainment as built environments Andrew Reinhard 7. Single White Looter: Have whip, will travel Erik Malcolm Champion 8. On Games that Play Themselves: Agent based models, archaeogaming, and the useful deaths of digital Romans Shawn Graham Part III: Playful Heritage Outreach 9. Playing the Archive: Let's Play videos, game preservation, and the exhibition of play Rene Glas, Jesse de Vos, Jasper van Vught& Hugo Zijlstra 10. Explaining Archaeological Research with Video Games: The case of Evolving Planet Xavier Rubio-Campillo, Jorge Caro Saiz, Guillem H. Pongiluppi, Guillem Laborda Cabo& David Ramos Garcia 11. Crafting the Past: Unlocking new audiences Julianne McGraw, Stephen Reid& Jeff Sanders 12. The Potential for Modding Communities in Cultural Heritage Jakub Majewski 13. Looking for Group: A collective chapter writing game The Interactive Past Community Leveling Up: The future of interactive pasts Angus A.A. Mol, Csilla E. Ariese-Vandemeulebroucke, Krijn H.J. Boom& Aris Politopoulos Afterword James Portnow (Extra Credits)
About the Author :
Angus Mol is a Caribbean archaeologist and exchange theory specialist. For his Research Master (2007, Leiden University), he explored the social mechanisms of Pre-Columbian exchange with a case-study on "guaizas" (Late Ceramic Age Caribbean shells depicting a face) by viewing these artefacts as social valuables. Currently Angus did his PhD in the VICI-research Communicating Communities (Prof. Hofman). In his research Angus dealt with the topic of social valuables from a Pan-Caribbean perspective. Using exchange theories from a wide range of paradigms he will interpret distribution patterns of artefacts and concentrate on their distinct social value in the exchange systems of the Greater Caribbean area (consisting of the Antilles and the Caribbean coastal area), he addresses such questions as to what extent it is possible to speak of a unified exchange system (or systems) within which local interaction spheres were socio-culturally integrated and mediated and, if so, how these system(s) would have operated. Additionally, Angus Mol takes an active interest in the epistemological backgrounds of paradigm formation in archaeology, specifically concerning the perceived interpretational incompatibility of the human and natural sciences. In his research on exchange he has adopted a position of consilience of these two paradigms by combining concepts of the "Maussian gift" with that of "Costly Signalling Theory." Is a post-doctoral researcher. He works on the theory and methodology of past and present socio-material networks, ranging from entanglements at Catalhoyuk and cultural encounters in the Caribbean, to the materiality of online multiplayer games. His writings have appeared at Sidestone Press, in a number of international journals, and, as Dr. Random, on www.valueproject.nl. Key Publications Mol, Angus; Ariese-Vandemeulebroucke, Csilla; Boom, Krijn; Politopoulos, Aris & Vandemeulebroucke, Vincent. 2016. Video Games in Archaeology: Enjoyable but trivial? SAA Archaeological Record 16.5: 11-15. Mol, Angus A.A. 2014. Play-things and the Origins of Online Networks: Virtual material culture in multiplayer games. Archaeological Review from Cambridge 29.1: 144-166. Mol, Angus A.A. 2014. The Connected Caribbean: A socio-material network approach to patterns of homogeneity and diversity in the pre-colonial period. Leiden: Sidestone Press. Hodder, Ian & Angus A.A. Mol. 2016. Networks and Entanglements. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 23.4: 1066-1094. Csilla is a PhD Candidate at Leiden University. She works within the ERC-Synergy project NEXUS1492, studying how museums throughout the Caribbean region are engaging with a diversity of communities. As a gamer, her interest in community engagement and storytelling translates to social identity building in multiplayer games and player interaction with virtual media in museums. Key publications Ariese-Vandemeulebroucke, Csilla E. In press. How Caribbean Museums Contribute to a More Sustainable Society. In: The Museum Blog Book. Edinburgh & Cambridge: MuseumsEtc. Ariese, Csilla E. 2012. Databases of the People aboard the VOC Ships Batavia (1629) & Zeewijk (1727): An analysis of the potential for finding the Dutch castaways' human remains in Australia. Fremantle: Australian National Centre of Excellence for Maritime Archaeology. Krijn is a PhD Candidate at Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology. He works within the framework of the European NEARCH project and researches the socio-cultural impact of public activities in archaeology. Being a passionate gamer and having a background in graphic design, communication and archaeology, VALUE provides him with the ultimate 'end-game' research environment. Key Publications Dries, Monique H. van den; Boom, Krijn H.J. & Linden, Sjoerd J. van der. 2015. Exploring Archaeology's Social Values for Present Day Society. Analecta Praehistoria Leidensia 45: 221-234. Aris is a PhD candidate at Leiden University, Faculty of Archaeology. Aside from video games, he is passionate about the Near East and more specifically the Assyrian Empire and its capital cities. He investigates the reasons for the construction of new capitals, as well as their function within the imperial system. He is also interested in all forms of storytelling and narratives - from Dungeons and Dragons to history-telling.
