Credit: Jubal

Can any game be “historically accurate” in a complete sense? The answer is no. We can’t model every aspect of the past in a game, and we can’t get players with the same mindset as historical people to play our games.

A historical game is a limited model of some part of the past. What games do is take some elements from the past, and leave some behind: it’s like creating or curating a particular collection of artefacts and ideas in order to make the situation you want to show.

So when you’re trying to work on the historical accuracy of your game, consider:

• What is the process, dynamic, idea or event you’re trying to portray?
• What caused that, and so what processes will be happening around the player?
• Which elements (people, ideas, items, places) are needed to show those processes?

A good game from a historical perspective is one that’s most aware of what it’s using and why it’s using it, and one that thinks about the problems and situations it presents the player with and why they matter for the history. Some games can have very ‘accurate’ depictions of, say, the look of ancient swords, but actually very bad representations of those past societies and people around them.

The final part to think about is argument. Historians have a lot of disagreements about what drives history forwards and what causes events to happen. Some of those are more accepted than others, but in any case your game will end up with some sort of historical argument or theory behind it, and it’s useful to try and think about what that is and what it’s saying.

Finally, remember that a game is still a game. It’s completely valid to make a choice that goes against ‘perfect accuracy’ to make a game more fun, more inclusive, or more engaging! But it can be useful to recognise that that’s what you’re doing, so you can be aware when your game’s representations and mechanics are changing what the game says about the past.

Is this wiki incomplete? Please feel free to suggest changes or let us know at historicallyaccurategamejam@gmail.com