Critical Gaming

"’If anyone doubts that games, gamification, and play do not provide a serious and essential path to creativity and knowledge-production about the past, then Erik Champion’s book will surely change their minds. The book is a must for teachers, historians, archaeologists, and museum and cultural heritage professionals interested in critically using games and virtual reality as tools for teaching and research.’ Ruth Tringham, University of California, Berkeley, USA ’Champion’s newest work represents a treasure trove of ideas for both scholars and practitioners in the field of digital heritage. Digital media designers will find a plethora of design ideas while researchers will encounter as many useful evaluation suggestions, both with the goal of creating virtual environments that convey a sense of cultural presence and facilitate cultural learning.’ Natalie Underberg-Goode, University of Central Florida, USA ’By emphasizing the new cultural role of serious games, game-based learning, and virtual heritage in making scholarly arguments, this book demonstrates the relevance of visualization, interaction and game design in a contemporary humanities discourse. It will be of great use to scholars and educators who want to include new digital methods in their research and courses while it will provide indispensable digital literacy, references, and case studies to 21st century students in humanities and heritage-related fields.’ Nicola Lercari, University of California, Merced, USA ""...proposes a number of intriguing and provocative suggestions, relating to both our theoretical understanding of games and in giving more empirical recommendations for the future of heritage- or simulation-focused gaming experiences, and lays the groundwork for potentially fascinating developments in coming decades."" - Mark R. Johnson, University of York"