Society for Classical Studies Annual Meeting

Description

Panel
Game On! Teaching and Reinterpreting Classical Antiquity through Video Games

Paper
Inquiry Machines: How Video Games Structure Play

Abstract
Here follows the results of an inquiry into the nature of video games inspired by antiquity. The aim is to consider how games construct an approach to the history and culture of antiquity, receiving a method in their design and use that speaks to the ‘inquiry-and-reaction or question-and-answer' (Rathnam 2018) made famous by Herodotus. This paper will argue for how video games as inquiry machines not only foreground the tension inherent in history between narrative, entertainment, and education, but also how this formulation suggests a way in which they can be used to conduct research into the past through its creative (re)presentation and exploration in the present. Scholarship at the intersection of historical games studies and antiquity games studies has looked at how video games engage with ancient myth (Vandewalle 2024), history (McCall 2024), and where they ‘mashup’ the two (Cole 2022). Classicists have expanded on synergies between ancient genres - in particular the epic mode - and video games (Travis 2020, Cole and Curley 2024). Scholarly attention has also been directed at the players and producers of classical antiquity games (e.g., Beavers 2018, Flegler 2020, Vandewalle and Cole 2023, Wright 2024). This paper builds on current debates, articulating the case for how video games - understood here as inquiry machines - structure play. By this I mean how games, through their design processes, procedural rhetoric (Bogost 2007), and interactive possibilities, together perform both an imitation of, as well as reflection upon, an ancient method for contextualizing the interactions between peoples and cultures. That is, inquiry as a means to conceptualize history. My central argument takes Chapman’s idea of the developer-historian (2016) and expands on this through a diachronic and historiographical approach to unpick what it means to inquire through a video game. I begin with the origins of inquiry in ancient Greece, focusing on its use by Herodotus in The Histories to account for his encyclopedic perspective, framing of evidence, and narrative construction. I then turn to three areas in which video games can help to shed light on both the reception of a long-standing cultural practice, and the way in which they mechanically re-engineer this type of engagement with the past. The first examines game production, including developer field trips, design decisions, and use of source material. The second covers the player’s interaction with classical antiquity games, which are predominantly structured according to conversations, including, in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, with Herodotus himself. Here I argue that players explore virtual reconstructions of antiquity largely through a question-and-answer approach as they seek the truth, whether in narrative-based games (e.g., The Forgotten City) or strategy ones (e.g., Old World). Third, I explore how scholars who have made games engage both approaches, asking questions in the process of creation and exploration (e.g., Hadrian’s Wall 180). I conclude by looking at the emerging genre of ‘First Person Talkers’, including 1001 Nights, and how generative AI demonstrates the inquiry machine in its latest manifestation, reifying the role of such investigations today.

Period	8 Jan 2026
Event type	Conference
Location	United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International