Digital Gaming – Doing History Today

In this interview, Olga Kalashnikova and Jan Kremer discuss their on-going research into historical digital gaming.  They note that around sixty percent of the population regularly play digital games, and that historical games generally constitute twenty percent of the most popular games, implying that history sells games. Olga and Jan research not only the games and their developers, but most importantly, the gamers, focussing on how they understand the games they play and the history behind those games.  In this interview they consider if, and how the most popular historical digital games can change or re-enforce popular perceptions of history. And if they do, will this makes professional historians more or less relevant.  They also discuss how national governments might use historical digital games for political propaganda with an example of a game developed and marketed on behalf of the Russian state.  Finally Olga and Jan consider what might be better ways of using medieval, or any history, in digital games to ensure they are historically valid while still being entertaining and profitable for the developers.This podcast is part of a series of interviews covering central Europe in the medieval period for MECERN and CEU Department of Historical Studies.Photo image - Pentiment (2022), photo provided by the Obsidian Entertainment