‘The Place of Periodisation: Strategy Games and the management of Medieval ‘Ages’’

https://twitter.com/MidAgesModGames/status/1278680446075899904

1 #MAMG20 Historians have long categorised blocks of time with similar themes into ‘periods’ for ease of coherent examination and better understanding. Such periods have been copied, sometimes inaccurately, sometimes with criticism, by strategy games for ease of play and theme.

2 #MAMG20 Games often present two visions of the Medieval world: the ‘Dark Age’ of muddy peasants, decline and cultural stagnation, and the fantastical ‘Renaissance’ of knights, ladies and castles. Views that bridge this gap and depict without conforming to these ideals are rare.

3 #MAMG20 In reality, this translates to elements of LA, EMA and HMA merged into one 'Dark Age' while HMA, LMA and EMP turn into 'The Renaissance'. Games of course focus on fun but managing the balance between ‘accurate’ portrayals of MA and gameplay progress is difficult to do.

4 #MAMG20 The demand of 4X/strategy games to show development makes the MA an attractive era to base them. In comparison to other historical periods, the MA has a very clear transition over a concise time period that can be exaggerated to make player development more obvious.

5 #MAMG20 The most clear way games show this is visually, primarily through architecture. Earlier ages have a very pessimistic view of EMA architecture compared to latter eras which, in most cases, is to encourage feelings of player development and a signal of their progress.

6 #MAMG20 It is near impossible to depict EMA without a contrast to more advanced periods. Even games that do explicitly depict the EMA peddle stereotypes such as EE/AOE2. The need of games to show player advancement inevitably leads to the LMA being depicted more favourably.

7 #MAMG20 Many games have difficulty depicting the EMA without a connection to Rome’s decline or glorified pictures of the later period. Nearly all scenarios deemed medieval start post 1000AD, or with key features unavailable or blocked off, limiting options for the player.

8 #MAMG20 While it is easy to criticise games for being abstract to the point of absurdity and blatant inaccuracy (looking at you EE) more recent games try to show periods agreeably and attempt to explain the history behind their decisions by ingame encyclopaedias (MED2/CIV/AOE).

9 #MAMG20 All games do to some extent educate as well as entertain, but the perpetuation of negative tropes such as the lack of MA European ‘Wonders’ in RON & EE, or the poor architecture in AOE & EE, damages public understanding of MA. Thankfully, this has started to change.

10 #MAMG20 There has been a more sympathetic vision of the ‘Dark Ages’ in games recently, CIV6 and AOEDE have trended towards a more nuanced image, but at the expense of a blur between the H-LMA/EMP and contortion into a Renaissance that's confused at what it’s trying to portray. 11 #MAMG20 Many key developments in the HMA/LMA, such as gunpowder and Gothic architecture, are often transitioned to the Renaissance (CIV5/6) or Gunpowder Ages (RON). These differences can muddy public understanding of the period and distort what it is to be 'Medieval'.

12 #MAMG20 It’ll be interesting to see how future games manage the MA: AOE4 is likely to follow the patterns of previous games & CK3 promises tech by era, but HK’s novel EMP approach will be one to keep an eye on. Modern historiography is slowly overtaking myths in & of MA games.