Pushing the Right Buttons: Professor Uses Video Games as a Gateway to History
In the Viking village of Ravensthorpe, a longhouse hosts feasts and events. Men in the community engage in āflytingā (a war of insults) or āholmgangā (a dispute-settling duel) or compete to quaff the most alcohol from a horn. When in need of resources, they hop into longboats and sail to a nearby settlement, where they use battle axes and flails to loot and pillage.
These scenes come from ā,ā a highly popular video game. But the characters and settings might as well be straight from a history book.
āEverybody knows who the Vikings are,ā says , an assistant professor in the Department of History at the æģ»īappās . āAnd part of that is because of video games. When youāre searching for relevance and how to make people care about people who have been dead for a very long time ā¦ thatās a really good angle to get undergrads interested.ā
Melleno can certainly relate. As a kid, the path to his future career began with J.R.R. Tolkienās books and games from the Age of Empires franchise. Through books and computer screens, Melleno inadvertently learned about the succession of historical kingdoms, the evolution of tools and the three-field farming system.
Now, with three history degrees in hand, his courses on medieval and pre-modern history always feature pop culture. After all, Melleno says, about 80% of his students enroll because of love for a video game, TV show or movie. (āThe History Channel TV show āVikingsā is why I have a job,ā Melleno jokes.)
For former students like Marisa Lopez (BA ā20), tying pop culture to the curriculum proved fascinating and fun.
āHeād bring up historical tidbits about the video games, the movies, the TV shows,ā she says. āIt put the dots together. There are a lot more video games that maybe donāt mention [the characters] are Vikings, but they start taking inspiration.ā
As a final paper for Mellenoās class, Lopez wrote about , a video game based on a series of fantasy novels. She assessed the realism of the charactersā clothing, accessories and weapons, and noted the similarities between the gameās creatures and creatures from Norse mythology. In the process, she learned more about the daily life of the Vikings she had been studying.
āI think there are a lot of video games that are now starting to touch on a little bit of history, and it piques peopleās interest to learn a little more,ā she says.
Whatās more, game developers are paying more attention to historical accuracy. Increasingly, Melleno says,
When Assassinās Creed Valhalla debuted, Melleno received invitations to to explain how the gameās fantasies depart from realities. As a , he answers questions from amateur historians, enthusiasts and hobbyists curious about everything from swords to calvary battle tactics.
Melleno considers it all a form of outreach ā from the collegiate history classroom to the greater community.
āIf we want the humanities to survive as a valuable thing in society, we canāt lock ourselves up,ā he says. āEvery time I answer a question on Reddit, I reach, easily, twice as many people as I do in the classroom. I think thatās a really good way to feed more interest in history, and I think people want it.ā
Colin Phipps (BA ā20), for one, didnāt major in history, but taking Mellenoās classes changed the way he views his hobbies.
āI donāt think Iāll play a game where I donāt think about [history],ā he says. āEven when I buy a new game, I think thereās a fun part of it where I will have to look up online: How real is this game? How accurate is this game?ā
Part of that desire lies in the immersive nature of first-person games, Phipps explains. Unlike movies and books, which provide a proscribed point of view, players have the liberty to explore a map the way they want to, diving into niches and creating their own adventure. When Melleno was growing up, such elements were much rarer in video games.
Itās all proof, the educator says, that history is much more than memorizing names and dates.
āThatās not what historians do,ā he says. āIāve got Wikipedia for that. History is all about stories and storytelling and the stories we tell. I think talking about media and history allows people to understand that better.ā
And often, Melleno adds, history serves as a perfect complement to other disciplines. Assassinās Creed Valhalla wouldnāt exist, he says, if people getting computer science degrees werenāt also interested in history.
āSo many people have divorced their hobbies and interests from college,ā he says. āAny time you can remind people, āHey, thereās room for you to do history. Thereās room for you to enjoy this stuff.ā Thatās a great thing to do.ā