A Link to the Past : The Role of Videogames in Conveying and Generating Historical Information

Abstract

This thesis explores the purpose of videogames in two primary roles related to the field of historical scholarship through examining the virtual worlds of Assassin’s Creed II, Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Ghost of Tsushima. The first of these is the teaching role, where this thesis argues that videogames are an attractive option for delivering historical information to future generations as long as certain epistemological and ethical considerations are made in employing them. The second one of these roles is the role of videogames as source material for historians to use in the past and in the present. In this regard, this thesis argues that history-based videogames are and will be important source materials for future historians to use about the past and explores some of the considerations that historians have to make when employing them for such a purpose.