Navigating the Problem Space: The Medium of Simulation Games in the Teaching of History

AT iTS Core, A SiMulATioN is a simplified working model of one or more aspects of the real world, especially systems and processes. This definition encompasses the models used in the sciences to represent the universe from the astronomical to the microscopic. It also covers training systems used to teach humans to perform real-world tasks effectively, such as flight simulations and business simulations among many others.1 A simulation game, on the other hand, is a game, a rule-based, artificial conflict or competition that simulates dynamically one or more real-world systems. The concept of simulation game is an expansion of the regular use of the term by video-gamers, which has tended to refer to complex simulations of mechanical systems like aircraft and race cars. In this expanded definition, the digital historical simulation game includes any number of commercial and non-profit computer games that represent the past, placing the player in historical roles, ranging from traders and subsistence farmers, to rulers and generals.2 The interest roused by historical simulation games is readily explained. These games offer immersive, interactive, multimedia representations of the past that are radically different from other forms of media. They engage players through multiple modes of communication: visual, textual, aural, and tactile. Through these modes of communication, compelling problems are presented that invite the player to engage and make world-changing