Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs The Informal Learning of History with Digital Games Thesis How to cite: Beavers, Sian M. (2020). The Informal Learning of History with Digital Games. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2019 Sian M. Beavers https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0001111f Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk The Informal Learning of History with Digital Games Sian Beavers Thesis submitted to The Open University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute of Educational Technology The Open University July 2019 Abstract Digital games that represent history, i.e. ‘historical games’, are a fundamental way that players can engage with the past. Their focus on historical representations, narratives and processes means educators are using them in formal educational practice. Surprisingly, there is little empirical research on the educational outcomes from the use of historical games in formal contexts, and the specific ways they can increase a learner’s historical awareness and understanding. Existing research on historical game engagements outside of these formal contexts is even scarcer. There has been very little study of whether, what, and how players informally learn through historical games, and their informal learning activities in relation to them. This thesis presents two empirical studies that begin to address this imbalance, exploring player perceptions of historical games as a medium for informal historical learning. The first, an online survey completed by 621 respondents, compared audience and player perceptions of fictive historical film, television series, and games. This situated historical games within the wider media landscape of fictional representations of the past in visual culture, and how they are comparably perceived as media for informal historical learning. The second, more extensive study adopted an ethnographic approach, narrowing the focus of the first by exploring players’ informal learning experiences with historical games that specifically represent classical antiquity. It identified the historical knowledge outcomes particularly associated with historical game use, also examining player’s learning practices with the games that move beyond the game experience (e.g. information seeking, modding, after-action report writing, forum use, and LetsPlay videos). This research thus offers a greater and more comprehensive understanding of informal learning with, and in relation to historical games, highlighting the interplay between these various informal engagements and activities, and how these relationships can influence, determine, or affect player understandings of both the past, and the present. Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to Bart Rientes, the Leverhulme Trust, and The Open University, for making this research possible. My colleagues and friends at the Open University also deserve my profound thanks, for their feedback and support. Jo Iacovides, Jenna Mittelmeier, Ross Whyte, Janesh Sanzgiri, Victoria Murphy and Paco Iniesto have my sincere gratitude for their insights regarding the research methodology. Jonas Linderoth, Camilla Olsson, Anna Backman Rogers, Olivia Gragnon, and Anna Foka: thank you. You helped start me on this process and certainly helped me get through it. To my oldest friends from the North (“we were fun once!”) thank you for putting up with me all these years. To Bex Hunter, thank you for your constant support. My thanks to Elton Barker and especially Rebecca Ferguson, for their excellent guidance in the formative stages of this research. I am also indebted to my amazing supervisory team, Elizabeth FitzGerald, Sylvia Warnecke, and Joanna Paul. ‘Thank you’ does not seem to be enough recompense for your academic and personal support, encouragement and wisdom. I could not have done this without you. I am deeply grateful to my family. My grandparents, Jeff and Mary Beavers, made this research possible in so many ways. I only wish they had lived to see me finish it. I’d also like to thank my Aunt, Jill Eckersley, for her support at some of the most trying times throughout this research process. I’m grateful to my brother Bufyn, my sister in-law Fabienne, and my nephews Zayne and Mylo for ensuring I couldn’t take myself too seriously, and reminding me that videogames are ‘cool’, even when studying them felt like a chore. I need to thank my sister in all but blood, Hannah Chapman, and my mother in-law Therese Chapman. Thank you for helping me to laugh, cry and for just looking after me when I most needed it. To my partner, Adam Chapman: thank you for your sage academic advice, but more for your patience and empathy. I know I’ve been difficult to live with over the last few years v especially through some of the greater hardships. Without you to lean on, I would have given up on this a long time ago. Thank you for your love, and for making me laugh every day. Finally, I need to thank my parents, John and Leonie Beavers, for giving me all the support I needed throughout my life that made this thesis possible. I may have started this PhD for me, but I finished it for you, Mum. I hope I’ve made you proud. My dad was always the historian in our house, and his enthusiasm for the subject helped me enjoy history. I’ve missed him every day since he passed away last year. I like to think he’s at the Great Gig in the Sky, happy that I’ve finished the thesis, though completely baffled by what it’s actually about. This thesis is dedicated to him. vi For you, Dad vii viii Contents Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. v Contents ............................................................................................................................................. ix List of Tables and Figures ................................................................................................................. xiv Chapter 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Research Objectives and Research Questions .................................................................... 7 1.2. Thesis Outline, Terminology and Delineation ..................................................................... 8 1.3. Thesis Structure and Chapter Summaries ......................................................................... 11 Chapter 2. Literature Review ............................................................................................................ 15 2.1. Empirical Research on Global Perceptions of Engaging with History .................................... 15 2.2. History as a Narrative ............................................................................................................. 18 2.3. Learning in this Research Context .......................................................................................... 18 2.3.1. Formal, Informal and Incidental Learning ....................................................................... 21 2.4. History and Learning .............................................................................................................. 21 2.4.1. Historical Learning as a Knowledge Outcome ................................................................ 22 2.4.2. The Processes of Historical Learning ............................................................................... 24 2.5. Potential for Learning with Games in General ....................................................................... 25 2.5.1. Narrative and Learning ................................................................................................... 26 2.5.2. Narrative and Immersion ................................................................................................ 26 2.5.3. Narratives in Games ........................................................................................................ 27 2.5.4. Learning and Immersion ................................................................................................. 28 2.6. Game Mechanics and Learning .............................................................................................. 30 2.6.1. Procedural Rhetoric ........................................................................................................ 31 2.7. Digital Games as a Historical Form ........................................................................................ 32 2.7.1. The Realist/Conceptual Frameworks .............................................................................. 33 2.7.2. Conceptual Simulations and Discourses about the Past ................................................. 33 2.8. Historical Narratives in Games ............................................................................................... 34 2.8.1. Counterfactual Histories