Research shows an increased interest in the use of both educational- and commercial games in the classroom. This increased interest in digital games and the potential of game-based learning may not come as a surprise due to the constant digitization in schools. The purpose of this literature study is to analyze scientific literature that covers the use of digital games for teaching purposes and from this identify opportunities and challenges with using digital games in history teaching, as well as to see how teachers integrate digital games in the classroom. For this purpose, data has been gathered and analyzed through systematic search on two different databases: Primo and ERIC (Education Resource Information Center). The study found that the use of digital games in history teaching may enable the development of student’s social skills, an increased understanding of concepts and theories, increased focus and commitment, an increased critical approach to history teaching and an increased interest in the subject. Several potential challenges with the use of digital games in history teaching were also found. The most distinctive challenges were structural limitations, teacher competence, society’s view of digital games, as well as a concern that students have difficulty applying what they learned outside the framework of the game. Furthermore, the study shows the importance of the digital game being integrated into the regular teaching, and not being used as the main knowledge facilitator in the classroom. It is also shown that it is not just one role that teachers need to take on when it comes to using digital games in their classrooms, but a wide range of roles to successfully integrate digital games into their teaching practice. Lastly, the study provides some guidance for teachers who are interested in working with digital games in their teaching practice but who do not know which games to use. It also discusses an alternative way forward for the field, by using streaming platforms as a means to experience game-based learning for students.

The thesis deals with the historical development of computer adventure games in the Czech Republic. It focuses on the period that started in 1994 with the production of the first commercial PC game Tajemství Oslího ostrova (The Secret of Donkey Island), and ended in 1998. It also touches an earlier period and factors that influenced the production of the adventure genre in the nineties. Researched titles belong to the genre of 2D point-and-click adventure. The paper brings the analysis of the games according to the theories of game studies, context of their production, information about their producers and analysis of the feedback in the press that focused on computer games. The thesis tries to identify the common features of the first commercial PC games thanks to which the games became very popular in the nineties and also describes the obstacles that the first producers had to overcome in the post socialistic country. At nearly twenty titles the paper tries to reveal the new elements that showed in the historical development of the adventure games and also to describe the differences among monitored titles. The sources of information for the thesis were both the literature, which dealt with computer games, and the interviews with the developers, game designers and distributors who focused on the...

Ce mémoire s’intéresse au jeu de rôle numérique, plus spécifiquement le jeu vidéo appartenant au genre du jeu de rôle. Pour comprendre ce genre, il est nécessaire d’en faire l’histoire pour en lire l’évolution à travers le temps. Or, une simple lecture historique ne parvient que très partiellement à restituer un portrait d’ensemble de ce type de jeu vidéo. À partir de notions de genre, de jeu de rôle et d’histoire, ce mémoire dresse un bilan historiographique du RPG ainsi que de ses écritures. Ce bilan permet de dégager les enjeux principaux qui ont articulé l’histoire du jeu de rôle numérique, enjeux qui sont ensuite soumis à une enquête historique. Cette enquête menée sur la critique de jeu vidéo dans des magazines spécialisés entre 1980 et 2006 permet de restituer l’état des lieux à une époque donnée et de le comparer aux écrits des historiens du genre. À la lumière de ces résultats, ce mémoire documente, précise et nuance l’histoire du jeu de rôle telle que construite par les historiens et offre une vision plus actuelle du jeu de rôle numérique d’hier à aujourd’hui. / This master thesis studies digital role-playing games, in this case referring to video games of the role-playing game genre. To do so, it is necessary to study the genre’s history to better understand its evolution through time. However, a historical overview does not fully account for the phenomena of digital role-playing games. Using notions of genre, role-playing games and history, this thesis provides an overview of the history and historiography of role-playing games and its writing. This overview then highlights some major issues which have been integral parts to the genre’s history. These issues are then the focus of a historical study, using video game reviews found in specialized magazines from 1980 to 2006, to situate the state of things in defined points in time regarding role-playing games and compare it to what the genre’s historians have written. This thesis then uses the results obtained to document, clarify, and nuance the history of digital role-playing games built by its historians, and offers a more accurate picture of role-playing video games through their history.

The purpose of this study is to explore the popular computer game Europa Universalis IV and how the use of history looks inside the game and its potential use during lessons.There is also a second purpose to this study and it is to shine some light on how students between the ages of thirteen and fifteen think about history-based videogames and their use in a classroom situation. In order to get the some answers from the students I created a survey that was sent out to two schools in Sweden. The survey contained, among other things, questions about the students’ own experiences with history-based games and if they had learned anything by playing them. Another thing the surveyasked about was their opinion on games being used during class and what advantages and disadvantages they bring forth. The result of both studies was really interesting in their own way. For the first part EU4 is a complicated game which uses history to a great extent, somtimes in a good and educational way, but also in a way to make money. Secondly, the survey that was sent out to the schools gave some inspired answers. They showed that our studnets today are aware of the different ways history can be used, as well as what the games can teach us. Finally, this survey also showed that our young students have wise thoughts about the pros and cons with computer games during class.

The thesis is a comparative case study, that applies the typology of deployments of history of S. A. Metzger and R. J. Paxton on the World War I video games Battlefield 1 and Valiant Hearts. The objective of the thesis is to compare the studied games and to evaluate the usefulness and limitations of the applied typology as an analytical tool. A. Chapman's analytical framework for the formal analysis of historical video games is used as a methodological guideline. The "texts" of the video games serve as the main data source, complemented by the use of Let's Play videos, that allow a deeper level of analysis in certain areas and offer a glimpse of how historical representations and narratives are being consumed. Results show that both games present a rich and critical view of the World War I history and that they offer space for representation of marginalized groups. The game Valiant Hearts, unlike the game Battlefield 1, has a strong anti-war message and tells its story from a transnational perspective, emphasizing the Franco-German reconciliation. The game Battlefield 1 celebrates the combat heroism of the soldiers of individual nations and avoids completely the portrayal of civilians and the impact of the war on their lives. The World War I in this game is likened to the Second World War and it...

The proverbes dramatiques of Carmontelle have been well-studied. This dissertation explores instead the understudied precursors of the genre, the environment out of which it grew, and its earliest three authors. As seventeenth-century France’s first classic salon, the format, attitudes, and activities of the Hôtel de Rambouillet created a template for salons to follow. Within this milieu arose a collective seeking for a raised moral consciousness, improved intellectual prowess, and a forum for the discussion of progressive ideas. These desires also permeated their leisure activities, giving rise to games of wit, including the jeux des proverbes. An investigation of Charles Sorel’s La maison des jeux and these salon games uncovers the earliest incarnation of the proverbe dramatique, the proverbe improvisé, an impromptu play illustrating a proverb. Following a look at the French salon, the jeux des proverbes, and the proverbe improvisé, this dissertation first examines the proverbes dramatiques of Madame de Maintenon, second wife to Louis XIV and founder of the girls’ school Saint-Cyr. Written between 1686 and 1719, her forty Proverbes served as the foundation of the school’s théâtre d’éducation. Through the preparation, performance, and follow-up discussions of these short works, Madame de Maintenon sought to mold the moral values of her students and to prepare them for the lives that they would lead after finishing their studies at Saint-Cyr. Next, this study looks at the first published proverbes dramatiques, those written by Catherine Durand and housed in the Comtesse de Murat’s Le voyage de campagne. Most of the ten Comédies en proverbes showcase moliéresque humor and tend to depict male characters as less intelligent or more flawed than their female counterparts. Finally, this examination ends with the study of four of the proverb plays written by Charles Collé in context with the théâtre de société. These pieces expand the parameters of the genre and boast a licentious nature characteristic of the author’s work and appreciated in the earlier théâtres de société. Extending more than a century, The proverbe dramatique before Carmontelle seeks to offer a better understanding of the creation of the genre, its characteristics, and its connection to French society. / text