Playing with taskscapes : representing medieval life through video games technologies

Hiriart, JFV

Abstract

This paper explores the affordances and limitations of video games as a medium for the representation and meaningful understanding of the past, focusing on the early medieval period of British history. This study is led by the ideas exposed by Tim Ingold in his influential paper 'The Temporality of the Landscape' (1993), centring the attention on the concept of “taskscapes”; the array of related activities, constitutive of the acts of dwelling, carried out by agents in an environment as part of their everyday lives. In this exploration, Ingold’s ideas are implemented and put to the test in an experimental game prototype, designed to gain a better understanding of the ways in which game-space, game-time, and the interaction with a virtual environment through historically contextualised tasks can be used to acquire a more accurate and meaningful understanding of a particular historical period. First, Ingold’s discussion of Bruegel the Elder's painting The Harvesters (1565) is taken as a point of departure to analyse the mediation of taskscapes, establishing contrasts between interactive and non-interactive mediums of representation. Following, the article describes the multiple systems implemented in the game prototype, focusing on the specific mechanics and algorithmic solutions devised to embed social and cultural meanings into game objects and environment.

• Online Publication Date: Oct 22, 2021
• Publication Date: Oct 7, 2021
• Deposit Date: Sep 20, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 2, 2021
• Pages: 174-185
• Series Title: New Directions in Medieval Studies
• Book Title: The Middle Ages in Modern Culture: History and Authenticity in Contemporary Medievalism
• ISBN: 9781788314787-(hardback);-9781350167452-(online);-9781350167476-(pdf-ebook)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350167452.0020
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350167452.0020
• Related Public URLs: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/middle-ages-in-modern-culture-9781788314787; https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350167452