Historical video games can quite often serve as an educational tool for players – games that have featured real-world events, historical figures, and other cultures have long been popular, but some have even aimed themselves at children. Designing a historical game fit to be taught in schools is possible, though there are a few things that should be kept in mind by developers when creating such a title for educational purposes.
Emphasis on the Educational Aspects
Perhaps the most important part of creating a historical video game aimed at educating children is to maintain the educational parts of the game front and center. Games like The Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? are known as “edutainment” games, as they aim to both educate the players while still serving as entertainment. Great edutainment games tend to strike a balance between the two, emphasizing the educational segments quite a bit.
While video games like the Assassin’s Creed series can arguably do a great job of educating the player, especially through side modes like the Discovery Tour, the main game is ultimately less about informing the player and more about entertaining them. You could technically play Assassin’s Creed Valhalla for hours without learning a single thing about the Vikings, thanks to the hosts of side quests and other gameplay that isn’t designed to be educational. If one were to build a similar game solely for historical education purposes, then Assassin’s Creed would not be a great game to take inspiration from due to its frequent shifts from reality into the fantasy.
Less Violence
Another major thing to remember when crafting a game intended to educate is to scale back on the violence. Though it might seem obvious to many, it can be tempting to create a game as accurate and authentic as possible. But this is one aspect that should be the exception when it comes to creating a game intended to inform a younger audience. Educational experiences don’t need graphic violence to get their points across. That violence would only serve as more of a distraction anyway. For example, the Civilization games are incredibly informative and can do so without graphic violence, despite the presence of war and combat.
So even while other more adult historical video games like Chivalry: Medieval Warfare and A Plague Tale: Innocence embrace the violent nature of the periods in which they are set, your historical game intended for children should avoid this at all costs.
Transparency Regarding Fictional Elements
Another thing to take into consideration that many developers might not think about is to remember to be transparent about which elements of the title are fictitious and which are not. Children are very impressionable and can sometimes have a hard time separating fact from fiction, so video games that have some fictional characters need to clearly separate them from the historical aspects. The classic educational title Mario Is Missing, for example, uses the world of Super Mario Bros. in order to teach children about history and very clearly draws the line between historical information and the fictional world of the Mushroom Kingdom. More educational games need to follow this rule in order to avoid confusing their audience.
Overall, these are the main things to remember when creating a historical video game intending for school kids. Video games can be a great source of entertainment as well as a source for education, as various “edutainment” games have illustrated in the past. With these tips, you could potentially make your own educational video game one day too.
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At Epoch Xperience, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse Epoch Xperience’s service on our parent site, SJR Research.
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(This article is credited to Ben Price. For as long as he can remember, Ben has always loved playing, discussing, and writing about video games. Since receiving his B.A. in English, he now writes about them for a living.)