Abstract
Queens Game explores the potential of creating a serious game for cultural heritage through collaborative intersectorial research and production. Popular neo-medieval entertainment-games lack correct historical content and the appeal of modern character-based screen period drama, which often focuses on female protagonists: princesses attract large followings. Female player-characters in games usually act and dress like males – though studies show that female gamers prefer atmospheric exploration, interactive drama, and gathering and crafting to defeating enemies. The Queens Game incorporates well-researched history and features exploration and gathering, utilizing period-drama and musical approaches to characterization and staging. The player-character, based on a real medieval princess, lives in a virtual, populated, explorable version of her real castle, now built over. Medieval visual, musical, and storytelling modes in a historically accurate setting immerse visitors in the Middle Ages, potentially attracting players who don't normally enjoy games as well as those who do.
TopBackground: The Appeal Of Cultural Heritage
Cultural Heritage plays a significant part in economic and social life (Katsoni, Upadhya & Stratigea, 2016). “Heritage tourism is one of the fastest-growing segments in the industry and equates to a $171 billion annual spend. (…) Heritage tourists travel (…) in search of authentic experiences and want to learn something new” (Payne, 2018). The United Nations World Tourism Organization suggests that they seek the “distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual and emotional features of a society (…); arts and architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, (…) lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions” (UNTWO, 2017). The US National Trust for Historic Preservation defines cultural heritage tourism as “travelling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past” (NTHP, 2015).
The global covid 19 pandemic of 2020-2022 drastically restricted travel and increased online virtual exploration, where “viewers can experience activities, locations, and destinations from the comfort of their own homes (…); see and experience a destination without traveling to it” (Fredericks, 2021). But in digital cultural heritage the focus is on photogrammetry – the realistic recording of sites to create navigable 360-degree computer models – for virtual tours, gamified with quizzes (Georgopoulos et al., 2017): not on bringing to life the emotional, cultural and personal. Tourism employs gamification to enhance experience, create brand loyalty and increase consumer spending (Xu & Buhalis, 2021). Can video games devised for entertainment help give access to the stories and people of the past and their cultures?
The global market for serious games rose from USD $2,731 million in 2016 to an expected USD $9,167 million by 2023 (Sonawane, 2017). The global entertainment games market estimate for 2021 is USD $175 billion, with 2.9 billion gamers (Wijman, 2021). In 2021, Netflix included video games in subscription packages at no extra cost. Accessing television, social media and games on computers and mobile devices and accessing the internet on smart televisions is now common: Netflix saw the potential of channeling everything to their subscribers. The possibility of crossover audiences opens the way to new demands and opportunities for content.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Survival game: player must eat and drink to survive, typically combined with gathering, crafting, and combat.
RPG: Role Playing Game, where avatar has skills and stats that can be developed.
Skill-tree: gated avatar skill progression.
Tactics and Planning: gameplay choices that have consequences later.
Maneuver and Steer: controlling avatar with precision to progress.
Attack and Defend Combat: gameplay to defeat one’s enemies or be defeated.
Life-sim: genre where player develops relationships with NPCs.
Empire building: game objective to conquer opponent’s territory.
Crafting: mechanics allowing combination of items into new items.