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History / Games. Robin Burke GAM 206. Outline. What is History? What do historians do? Historical sources Historical interpretation Games Defining games Analyzing games Games as historical sources. History. "the stories we tell about our prior selves" (Howell & Prevenier, 2001)
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History / Games Robin Burke GAM 206
Outline • What is History? • What do historians do? • Historical sources • Historical interpretation • Games • Defining games • Analyzing games • Games as historical sources
History • "the stories we tell about our prior selves" (Howell & Prevenier, 2001) • Accurate, but not very helpful • what stories should we tell? • on what basis are such stories created? • The question of what makes a good / correct / accurate history story is (still) very controversial
Schools of Thought • GOFH • "Good Old-Fashioned History" • Stories about states and rulers, battles, treaties, names and dates • Marxist History • Stories about economic and political inequality, oppression and resistance, the evolution of social classes and their conflict • Social History • Stories about social groups and institutions and their interactions: the family, professional societies, clans • Cultural History • Stories about cultural concepts: love, honor, democracy, civilized behavior; conflicts over the meaning and expression of these ideas • There are more: "feminist history", "post-colonial history", etc.
Why? • Balance • there is lots of GOFH • room for other kinds of stories • Deeper causation • "big events" don't occur in a vacuum • Thorough interpretation • "history is written by the victors"
Controversy • Florida Education Omnibus Bill (2006) • "American history shall be viewed as factual, not as constructed, shall be viewed as knowable, teachable and testable, and shall be defined as the creation of a new nation based largely on the universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence." • Trying to defend GOFH
This class • Cannot study "great men" • few are known • Cannot study names and dates and treaties • none exist • Cannot study influential texts of ancient scholars • games were considered beneath serious study • games were communicated informally • Games are cultural phenomena • need a cultural approach
What historians do • How do we tell "stories of our prior selves"? • Three main activities • gathering evidence • sources • analyzing and interpreting sources • synthesizing the results • "telling the story"
Types of sources • Physical evidence • relics • artifacts used or created in the past • remains • bodies and associated evidence • Testimony • oral and written evidence
For this course • Artifacts • game pieces • game boards • other materials • Documents • writings about games • writings in which games appear • images in which games appear
Sources • Created by particular individuals • in a particular context • for a particular purpose • Sometimes • intended to record something for posterity • sometimes not • Sometimes • require considerable interpretative effort • "construction"
Primary vs Secondary • Distinction depends on the question being asked • more later • Primary sources • created at the time under study • by the individuals under study • Secondary sources • summaries or responses to sources • often by other historians
First-hand vs second-hand • First-hand • diaries • memoirs • oral reports / interviews • photographs • Second-hand • newspapers • fictional accounts
Credibility • How much faith should we place in a source? • Intent • a source unintentionally created may be more credible • what I say about my spending vs my bank statement • a public, political or persuasive text may be less credible than a personal one • diary vs op-ed piece • a normative account may be less credible • laws regulating gambling vs police records of arrests of gamblers
DePaul students 2006 • A historian of 2106 wants to write about DePaul college students of 2006 • What sources would she use?
Example • "The Alphonso Manuscript" • Spain, 1251-1282
Features • Rules of chess • the book describes the pieces and their moves on the board • if you can read Latin • Manufacturing • the book shows chess pieces being made • Chess problems • the book contains 89 chess problems
Analyzing sources • How would we know if this source is what it claims to be? • What questions could we ask of this source? • What is the point of view of the source?
Analysis • Authenticity • Questions • Point of view
Secondary sources • Parlett, "Oxford History of Board Games" "Herodotus credits the invention of cubical dice to the Lydians of Asia Minor. Murray endorses this, none being known from Egypt before the 7th century bc, and those found subsequently mostly belonging to the Roman period. They reached India in the 6th century ad as instrumental to the Persian game of Nard, but never displaced the pasa in native Indian games."
Analysis • Authenticity • not so much of an issue here • although it is an electronic document... • Questions • Point of view • Who wrote this? • Who is the audience? • For what purpose?
Research Project • Need to have three primary sources • Enough secondary sources to write your paper • Preliminary bibliography • due 9/20 • 3 primary sources • 3 secondary sources
Preliminary Bibliography • Primary sources • game counts as one • Reference • Chess, ca. 1470 • Secondary sources • source of rules counts as one • Eales, R. (1985) Chess: The History of a Game. New York: Facts on File. • Need to have two more of each • only one can be on-line
Games and Play • What is this all about? • Should we care? • What can we hope to learn by studying the history of games? • Three answers • historical insight: we will understand something about historical times and places • appreciation: we will be better able to appreciate this very ancient form of human activity • contemporary parallels: we will be better able to understand today's games
Why do we play? • Many approaches to this question • evolutionary • psychological • sociological • cultural/historical
A Working Hypothesis • Play is the exercise of our physical and mental capacities in a constrained, low-risk environment • To play is to learn to get better at something • in an environment of reduced stress • Evolution has wired us to enjoy playing • so that we work to master skills • so that we learn a skill in a safe environment before needing it in a high-stakes one
Requirements • Play must be low risk • war is high risk • chess is low risk • Play must be constrained • rules for what is and is not part of the game • Play must provide feedback • otherwise no learning is possible
Characteristics of Play • clearly separated from real life • primary outcomes non-consequential • freely engaged • governed by agreed-upon rules • Examples • Tag, "House", "Cowboys and Indians" • Chess, Monopoly, Old Maid • Unreal Tournament, Sims • Götterdammerung, Hamlet
Play Game • Play as part of a game • a football "play" • Play activities that aren't game-like • playing "house"
Characteristics • Game-like (ludus) • Beginning and end • Fixed rules • Central objective • Play-like (paidea) • No game objective • Rules may be improvised and modified • Paidea without ludus • can seem pointless • although not always (Sims) • Ludus without paidea • not fun
Definition • Game • a game is a system in which players engage in an artificialconflict defined by rules that results in a quantifiable outcome • GAM 224 • If you want to learn more about games from a "design" point of view
Our Games • We are studying sedentary, mental games • games that do not require physical skill or special exertion • Reasons • practical • polo horses are expensive • much harder to become skilled • evidential • sports are even more poorly documented than indoor games
Basic Concepts • Games can be understood on multiple levels • true of other art forms • Formal • games are structures of rules • typically involve strategic complexity, uncertainty, and / or hidden information • Experiential • games provide a play experience • Cultural • games may reflect or comment on the culture in which they emerge
Thunderstorm • four dice • object • to be the last player whose house is not struck by lightning • rules • player rolls all available dice • if no ones are rolled • player adds to "house" drawing • if house is already complete, it is struck by lightning and player is out • if at least one 1 is rolled • all of the dice with ones are removed from play • play passes the next player • if all dice are ones • all four dice are back in play • house • seven elements
Levels of Analysis • Formal • Uncertainty • odds of rolling a one • Feedback • when a one is rolled, the odds decrease for the next player • Experience • Narrative structure • tension as dice become fewer • relaxation when all are back in play • Cultural • ??
Wednesday • Reading
