This book charts a path through the various methodological and theoretical approaches to game studies as they pertain to historians and historiography. The editors argue that history bridges the two theoretical camps that have emerged in game studies—ludology and narratology. Ludology is concerned with games as systems of rules and of the possible actions within those rules (thus, its focus is on the player and agency), whereas narratology explores the narrative that envelops those rules and creates the story. In games concerned with history, players must negotiate complex sets of rules that are bound, in part, by the conventional understanding of the story depicted (the history). By playing with and within a historical narrative, games allow players to engage with the contingency and causality of the past, thus developing the habits of thought that are the hallmark of historical thinking.
The book is structured with an opening apologia that frames...