We cannot think of modern society without also thinking of video games. And we also cannot think of video games without thinking of history. The number of games featuring historical content is enormous and growing on a daily basis. This also includes top-selling titles of the games industry. For the science of history this automatically means that the presentation of historical content in those games has to be questioned as well as the conceptions of history they embody. The conference aims at providing grounded perspectives by the study of concrete examples from a clearly defined sample from the range of video games with historical background. Early modern history is to be the epochal focus. The strategies and staging mechanisms video games use to integrate history shall thus be clearly illustrated by examples as concrete as possible. This shall help to disclose the programs, mechanisms, and strategies video games use to integrate history and to construct recognisable historicity – and: if and why gamers accept them.

We do not want to to describe video games as deficient from the perspectives of established research agendas. We instead will try to respect the video game as a medium in its own right and to look into its momentums and intrinsic logics in a creative, innovative and constructive way but without relativising our scientific positions and methods, holding an open-minded yet critical distance.

The conference explicitly addresses not only historians but wants to reach out across all disciplinary boundaries.

Conference languages are German and English.

Everyone interested is welcome after registration per Mail via earlymodernity-videogames@gmx.net. There are no conference fees.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Friday, March 15th, 2013

01:30 – 02:00 p.m.
Registration

02:00 – 02:30 p.m.
Florian Kerschbaumer, Klagenfurt/Tobias Winnerling, Düsseldorf Introduction

I PIRATES, MUSKETEERS & CO.

02:30 – 02:50 p.m.
Gunnar Sandkühler, Cologne
Carribean Ways of Life. The Game “Pirates!“ [GER]

02:50 – 03:10 p.m.
Stefan Donecker, Konstanz
Assyrian landsknechts and Mongolian musketeers. The primordial nation concept of the Civilization series as a challenge for early modern history [ENG]

03:10 – 03:40 p.m.
Discussion

03:40 – 04:00 p.m.
Recreation

II HISTORICISM

04:00 – 04:20 p.m.
Martin Weis, Davis (California)
The Videogame as a Historical Medium. Asssassin‘s Creed and the Playable Past [ENG]

04:20 – 04:40 p.m.
Simon Maria Hassemer, Freiburg
Historiographical periodization as a theme in video game series [GER]

04:40 – 05:10 p.m.
Discussion

05:10 – 07:00 p.m.
Recreation & dinner

07:00 – 08:00 p.m.
Angela Schwarz, Siegen
Narration and Narrative: Telling (Hi)stories in Video Games [GER]

20:00 – 20:30 / 08:00 – 08:30 p.m.
Discussion

Saturday, March 16th, 2013

09:00 – 09:30
Florian Kerschbaumer, Klagenfurt/Tobias Winnerling, Düsseldorf Introduction

09:30 – 10:00
Rolf Nohr, Braunschweig
The game is a medium. The game is a message [GER]

10:00 – 10:30
Discussion

10:30 – 10:50
Recreation

III ARCHITECTURE

10:50 – 11:10
Marc Bonner, Saarbrücken
Presentation and function of early modern architecture and urban fabrics in PC and video games [GER]

11:10 – 11:30
Gernot Hausar, Vienna
Players in the digital city: historical metropoleis in the Assassin’s creed series [GER]

11:30 – 12:00
Discussion

12:00 – 01:00 p.m.
Lunch break

IV STRATEGY

01:20 – 01:40 p.m.
Malte Stamm, Düsseldorf
Conflict simulations – tools for counterfactual history or infotainment? [GER]

01:40 – 02:00 p.m.
Lutz Schröder, Hamburg
Discover the Spinning Jenny, get +8% wealth by textile industries. The transfer of real developments into the virtual world of Empire: Total War [GER]

02:00 – 02:30 p.m.
Discussion

02:30 – 02:50 p.m.
Recreation

REAL-TIME

02:50 – 03:10 p.m.
Anton Zwischenberger, Klagenfurt
Epochal delineations and arcs of suspense in the real-time stratey games of the Age of Empires series [GER]

03:10 – 03:30 p.m.
René Schallegger, Klagenfurt
Homo ex Machina? Discussing Trans-Humanism and the Concept of ‚Cyber-Renaissance‘ in „Deus Ex: Human Revolution“ [ENG]

03:30 – 04:00 p.m.
Discussion

04:00 – 04:20 p.m.
Recreation

VI AUTHENTICITY

04:20 – 04:40 p.m.
Simon Huber, Vienna
Game of historical authenticity [GER]

04:40 – 05:00 p.m.
Tim Raupach, Marburg
Authenticity as presentation in video games with historical settings [GER]

05:00 – 05:30 p.m.
Discussion

05:30 – 20:00 p.m.
Dinner break

20:00 – 21:30
Tom Chatfield, London
Special difficulties, special opportunities: what does it mean to study video games? [ENG]

Sunday, March 17th, 2013

09:00 – 09:30
Florian Kerschbaumer, Klagenfurt/Tobias Winnerling, Düsseldorf Introduction

VII GAMING AND SPACE

09:30 – 09:50
Adam Chapman, Hull
The History Beyond the Frame: Off-Screen Space in Historical Videogames [ENG]

09:50 – 10:10
Josef Köstlbauer, Vienna
Playing History? [ENG]

10:10 – 10:40
Discussion

10:40 – 11:00
Recreation

VIII GAMING AND GAMES

11:00 – 11:20
Sinem Derya Kiliç, Mainz
Homo homini ludus? On the early modern philosophy of play and their relevance for virtual role playing [GER]

11:20 – 11:40
Andreas Fischer, Munich
Game in the game: carnival, assassination attempts and competition in Assassin’s Creed II [GER]

11:40 a.m. – 00:10 p.m.
Discussion

00:10 – 01:30 p.m.
Lunch break

01:30 - 03:00 p.m.
Final discussion