Conferentie Erfgoed & Games : Level 2

2. Why should an archive use
games?
Andrew Payne
Head of Education & Outreach
The National Archives

3. 3

4. Games make you think…
“Playing means being active… Whilst
nowadays most leisure activities seduce
people into passivity, the game makes
people act. Depending on the game, the
following activities may be undertaken:
• thinking, combining
• planning
• making decisions
• concentrating
• training your mind
• receiving knowledge…”
Wolfgang Kramer
What is a game?
www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/WhatIsaGame.shtml
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5. … and so do archives!

6. Memory is the residue of thought
“Your memory is not the
product of what you want
to remember or what you
try to remember; it’s the
product of what you think
about”
Daniel T. Willingham
Why Don’t Students Like School
Jossey-Bass 2009
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7. Investigate, don’t illustrate!
Use sources for enquiry-based investigations

8. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education

9. When is a game
a waste of time?

10. When it teaches
the player nothing

11. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/greatwar/g3/game/default.htm
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12. When does a game
(that’s not really a game)
become a game?

13. When the players
make it a game!

15. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/worldwar2/theatres-of-
war/mediterranean/investigation/where-will-allies-invade/index.htm
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16. When is a game
a learning experience?

17. When it’s the vehicle for
historical enquiry

18. 18

19. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/victorians/ViewSection.aspx?SubjectID=3
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20. Why should an archive use games?
Archives and games have much in common
o They can make you think
o They can require you to gather knowledge and make
decisions
o They can allow you to enter a different reality
o They can offer the possibility of different outcomes
o They can become progressively more complex the
further into them you go
But there is one important difference
o Archives go beyond the game… so the game should be
the entry point to the archives, not the end point
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21. Andrew Payne
Head of Education
The National Archives
andrew.payne@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk
020 8392 5319
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education