Past futures: from re-enactment to the simulation of history in computer games

Abstract

'History is one of very few academic disciplines that do not investigate simulation. This is probably due to the fact that historical reality cannot be changed retrospectively nor extended into the future. In a strict sense, the simulation of history is a contradiction in terms. Nevertheless several fields of application have emerged over the past decades: there are simulations of history in the pre-modern sense of mimesis; there are re-enactments (a performative way of 'simulating' history; there are digital simulations of history, mainly in computer games that allow the player to influence the course of events, and there are didactic applications intending to make history experienceable. In this article, the author will first discuss some examples from the different fields of application before she will analyze the impact of the simulation of history in different media on our notion of history.' (author's abstract)