Videogames Could Be Education’s Greatest Ally, If We Would Only Allow It

I’m currently about a quarter of the way through season 10 of Mike Duncan’s podcast, Revolutions. The podcast details the course of societal upheavals that result in sweeping cultural, economic, political and social change — beginning with the English Civil War in 1642, followed by the American, French, Haitian, Mexican and Russian revolutions, as well as seasons dedicated to the European revolutions of 1848, the Paris Commune, the July Revolution, and Simon Bolivar and the South American wars of independence. The so-called Age of Enlightenment is a period of history I find incredibly fascinating, but this hasn’t always been the case. For me, it took a catalyst to inspire this interest, and that catalyst was Empire: Total War (2009) by Creative Assembly. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*48BwM5lEqRYJxThkHEl1pw.png" style="height:523px; width:700px" /> It’s no substitute for history education, but it’s a start — Sid Meier’s Civilization II (Microprose, 1996). This wasn’t the first game to inspire interest in history. Creative Assembly’s breakout hit, Shogun: Total War (2000) led me to become utterly immersed in Japanese mediaeval history during the Sengoku Jidai period. And going back to my younger gaming days, it was Civilization II that gave me a taste of classical history. <a href="https://fat-studios.medium.com/videogames-could-be-educations-greatest-ally-if-we-would-only-allow-it-d8e96d6abc63">Read More</a>