Unreal pasts, playful presents: history and fantasy in games/media | Online

What kinds of histories do games let us step into, and which ones are left out?

For many of us, video games and digital media are a gateway to exploring the past, allowing us to engage with collective, and often contested, histories.

They offer immersive, often emotional experiences that bring historical events to life –especially those shaped by conflict, from global wars to national struggles. At the same time, these media frequently incorporate fantastical, science fiction, or other imaginary elements into their worlds, stories, and representations of the past, blurring the boundaries between “real” and “unreal” histories.

Join to hear how digital games and media invite us to play with the past, and shape how history is represented and reimagined.

This event is a collaboration between the Historical Games Network and the Imperial War Museums Institute.

Want to attend in-person?

This is a hybrid event. This event page is for the online tickets only. If you would like to attend in-person, please book your tickets through the in-person event page.

Important points to note

• This event is suitable for age 16+

• Content warning: Please note that this event may contain discussion of sensitive and traumatic historical topics (war and conflict, civilian harms) and particular historical events - e.g., The Holocaust; examples of historical genocide and contemporary conflicts (e.g., Ukraine)

CHAIR

Dr Esther Wright

Senior Lecturer in Digital History, Cardiff University

Dr Esther Wright is a Senior Lecturer in Digital History at Cardiff University. She researches historical video game promotion and branding, and the way that games interact with understandings of “historical authenticity”. Her first monograph, Rockstar Games and American History: Promotional Materials and the Construction of Authenticity, was published by De Gruyter in 2022. She is also co-editor of Red Dead Redemption: History, Myth and Violence in the Video Game West (with John Wills), published by Oklahoma University Press in 2023. Esther is co-founder and convenor of the Historical Games Network – a space for collaboration between researchers, game makers, and cultural heritage professionals.

SPEAKER

Fruzsina Pittner

UI Artist, Scopely

Fruzsina Pittner is a video game artist and independent scholar with a PhD in transmedia storytelling, creative practice and adaptations of historical narratives from the University of Dundee. Her research interests include creative practice for education, postcolonial theory, science fiction and fantasy, and historical games; while her practice focuses on comics, illustrations and (sometimes interactive) stories. She currently works as a UI artist in the games industry.

SPEAKER

Dr Chris Kempshall

Public Historian

Dr Chris Kempshall is a public historian who specialises in transnational experiences of allied warfare and modern media representations of history. He is the author of numerous academic works including; The First World War in Computer Games (Palgrave 2015) and British, French, and American Relations on the Western Front 1914-1918 (Palgrave 2018). His book The History and Politics of Star Wars: Death Stars and Democracy was published by Routledge in August 2022. He also co-authored the officially licensed book Star Wars Battles that Changed the Galaxy (2021) and was the sole author of Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire (2024), both published by DK.

SPEAKER

Mimi Markham

PhD Researcher, University of Glasgow

Mimi Markham is a PhD student at the University of Glasgow in partnership with the Imperial War Museums. Her research explores the role of the fantastic – from folklore and fairy tales to high fantasy – in soldier and civilian responses to the First and Second World Wars. She is particularly interested in how imaginative media, like video games, can make history more accessible by connecting audiences emotionally with the past. Mimi shares her passion for public history and historical storytelling online, where she explores how the past is reimagined across literature, games and popular culture. She is especially interested in how digital platforms can open conversations about history beyond academic spaces.

SPEAKER

Dr Tim Peacock

Lecturer in History & War Studies, Director/co-founder of Glasgow University's Games and Gaming Lab (UofGGamesLab)

Dr Tim Peacock is a Lecturer in History & War Studies, and Director/co-founder of Glasgow University’s Games and Gaming Lab (UofGGamesLab). He leads up to 35 researchers, interns and software programmers as Principal Investigator for funded research and educational cross-disciplinary gaming innovation projects. His research interests include nuclear history, space history and space security, games, AI and politics. Whether analysing ways that history is represented in games to running tabletop policy exercises on flooding crises or transforming heritage sites into video games, he seeks to help people make their ideas fly like bicycles! He has worked with organisations from the United Nations to St Giles’ Cathedral.

About the Curious festival

The RSE’s free Curious festival of knowledge is back, from Saturday 6 − Saturday 14 September 2025!

Curious is a festival of ideas – open to all and driven by connection, conversation, and discovery. It’s a chance to explore ideas and questions that matter with some of Scotland’s leading thinkers – and with people who bring their own lived experiences, insights, and curiosity to the table.

From science and society to arts and innovation, the programme spans a wide range of topics – with each event designed to spark dialogue, invite different perspectives, and encourage knowledge exchange.

Curious is an opportunity to meet like-minded individuals, plus those who see the world differently, and be part of discussions where everyone is welcome to share, learn, and be inspired. full programme of events here.

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