Issue 2.1: Pirates' Creed, Part 1
Game & Word: Volume 2, Issue 1
Game & Word: Volume 2, Issue 1
“Pirates’ Creed, Part 1”
Summary: Today, we’ll describe the challenges of accurately portraying historical events in video games, examine the difficulties unique to properly interpreting pirate history, and conduct a high-level historical survey of the Golden Age of Piracy. In doing so, we’ll lay the foundation to examine the history of pirates as portrayed in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag in next week’s issue.
NOTE: I got the “too long for email” notice again, so Gmail users, you might see a truncated version of this message. If this happens to you, just click the “View entire message” link next to where it says “[Message clipped]” to read the rest.
Previous Issues:
Table of Contents (Vol. 2, Issue 1: Monday, Jan. 31, 2022)
Feature: “Pirates’ Creed, Part 1”
Food for Talk: Discussion Prompts
Further Reading
Game & Word-of-Mouth
Footnotes
Feature: Pirates’ Creed, Part 1
Arrr, shiver me Timbers, ye scurvy scallywags! Today, we'll be sailing to ye olde seas of yore when pirates ruled the waves. Are ye ready? Then let us hop in our Time Machine...
...Psych! Wait, were you expecting an actual Time Machine?! Come on, get real. Time travel is impossible. Everyone knows that!
But don't despair; there IS a way to travel to the past—through the power of history!
Oh, what's that? Is getting a history degree too much work? Well, have no fear—that's what historical and biographical media is for. Think of movies like Gladiator or shows like Downton Abbey. Every time we turn on a Ken Burns documentary, read an Eric Larson novel, watch a BBC period piece, or play Civilization VI, we travel to the past. That's the power of history and imagination working together!
Sure, such works don't actually take us to the past; they conjure up a series of images with people, places, and things that LOOK like the past. But your brain doesn't know the difference! You're actually there, as far as your subconscious is concerned.
And that's just from observing the story! What if you actually interacted with the reconstructed past on your TV screen? For this reason, video games' interactivity makes them potentially unparalleled teaching tools for frustrated high school history teachers everywhere. Just as anyone who played The Oregon Trail in middle school. Games can bring the past to life like no medium could do before.
...if the game accurately represents the past, that is.