The Postcolonial Turn in Commercial Historical Board Wargames

About this event
This talk with situate commercial historical board wargames within the context of colonialism. The talk will explore the means through which postcolonial perspectives are being achieved through contemporary designs, what can be gained from these perspectives, and why they are likely here to stay. The talk will also explore the origins of the postcoloniality in wargames.
Bio:
Maurice Suckling has spent over 25 years writing for video games, including Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Killing Floor 2, and Civilization VI. He now designs commercial historical board wargames, including the 2021 Charles S. Roberts Award-winning Chancellorsville: 1863. He holds a PhD in Creative Writing and an M.A. in Global History. He is an Assistant Professor in the Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences program at RPI in Upstate New York, where he teaches and researches on games writing and historical simulations.

[@briantrain6315]

"Seismic"?
I'll take that in the spirit in which I'm sure it is offered!

[@cassidycash8805]

*Promosm* ☺️

[@23strawbale]

??? There have been plenty of games that involve politics and geopolitics. He is just making up the history of tabletop gaming to suite his argument.

[@captainjohann7708]

I had to think about it for a minute, but yes, even with my pretty limited knowledge, I could think of a few games like that. So you have any in particular that you really enjoyed? I must admit that some of the "post colonial" games he mentioned sounded intriguing, provided they gave a balanced view of history and weren't just pro-native, or pro-communism, etc.; there's no need to swing a pendulum. While I don't think lecturer is "making up history", he is sharing a biased and incomplete history, though that said, I have heard much worse, and at least he admits that there is room for "colonial" games.