don’t dumb it down, historical accuracy is fun: discussing the europa barbarorum project and its...
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![Page 1: Don’t dumb it down, historical accuracy is fun: Discussing the Europa Barbarorum project and its impact on the gaming community: Andrew Lamb (University of Leicester)](https://reader034.vdocuments.mx/reader034/viewer/2022042701/55a60b151a28abd17b8b465e/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Don’t Dumb it Down,
Historical Accuracy is
Fun:
Discussing the Europa
Barbarorum Project
and its Impact on the
Gaming Community
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1991 1992
1997
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Europa Barbarorum:• Extension of the game map from the British Isles to the Hindu Kush
• Reconstructed linguistics (Classical Latin, Semitic, Ancient Greek, Celtic,
Classical Persian)
• Reconstructed names for units and provinces
• Historically accurate units
• New musical score, including recreations of ancient music from Musica
Romana and Prehistoric Music Ireland
• 21 Factions with historically advised victory conditions
• Culturally specific social reforms
Europa Barbarorum II:• Faction specific government and social structures
• Spatially and temporally accurate artefacts
• New reconstructed languages: Sanskrit, Sabean Arabic
• Addition of 7 new Factions
• Improved accuracy of campaign map divisions and unit and building
descriptions
• Geographically accurate vegetation species
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What the fans think
• Fans were invited to take part in a survey relating to their experience of Europa Barbarorum:
• Of those asked, 76% attributed an increased interest in history and/or archaeology as a result of playing Europa Barbarorum
• 84% believed that Europa Barbarorum, by being open to volunteers, made it more appealling
• 51% noted that the greatest appeal of Europa Barbarorumwas historical accuracy, whilst 34% described the level of immersion as being the strongest attraction
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Community and the Past
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In literature…
…and table top games
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“As Scott Bennie, a designer I used to work with said […]
“read interesting history”. There are stories in history which are crazier and more amazing than
any fantasy author could write.”
(Hong 2014, 45)
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www.EuropaBarbarorum.com
@EBTeam
https://www.facebook.com/#!/europabarbarorum2?fref=ts
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Barthes, R. 1986a [1967]. The Discourse of History. In: Barthes, R. (ed). The Rustle of Language. Howard, R. (trans). Blackwell: Oxford
Baudrillard,J. 1981a. History: A retro scenario. Glaser, S.F. (ed). Simulacra and simulation. University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor pp1-42
Cassidy, S.B. 2011. The Videogame as Narrative. In: Quarterly Review of Film and Video. 28(4): 292-306
Chen, K. 2003. Civilization and its disk contents: Two essays on civilization and Civilization. Radical Society 30(2), 95-107
Costikyan, G. 2007. Games, Storytelling, and Breaking the String. In: Harrigan, P. and Wardrip-Fruin, N. (eds.) Second Person: Role Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA pp5-15
Dovey, J. and Kennedy, H.W. 2007. Game Cultures. Open University Press: Maidenhead
Evans, R. 1997. In Defence of History. Granta: London
Giles, M.C. 2000. ‘Open-weave, Close-knit’. Archaeologies of Identity in the later prehistoric landscape of East Yorkshire. University of Sheffield unpublished PhD thesis
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Image Credits
en.wikipedia.orgwiki.totalwar.comwww.EuropaBarbarorum.comwww.g-unleashed.comwww.heavengames.comwww.IGN.comwww.mobygames.comwww.totalwar.comhttp://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/archaeology