Katy Meyers is a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology, with a concentration in mortuary archaeology, at Michigan State University. She is currently a fellow in both the Cultural Heritage Informatics Initiative and the Campus Archaeology Program. She is also an editor of GradHacker, and the game designer for an Ancient Egypt based mod of Civilization V. When she somehow finds free time she loves playing first person shooter and adventure video games, and is a major fan of Milton-Bradley board game classics. She’s interested in the role of games for outreach and education in archaeology and cultural heritage, as well as the biases they create. Katy can be found online at her blog http://www.bonesdontlie.com and on Twitter at @bonesdonotlie.
A certain amount of knowledge is required for players to navigate video games, whether this means remembering the weak points of the different splicers in BioShock, or remembering the buttons to press to play Epona’s song in Ocarina of Time. This knowledge is gained throughout play, rather than presented toContinue Reading
While playing BioShock, we are conducting an anthropological investigation that has a direct effect on how we interact with the narrative and the choices we make. Similar to Fallout 3, as discussed in Trevor’s post, we are given the chance to explore a world, make our interpretations about what itContinue Reading
The Assassin’s Creed franchise has held the honor of being one of the most highly debated video games in regard to its historical accuracy and educational worth. There are hundreds of forums dedicated to pointing out the inaccuracies and comparing history against the game play. Every named character has beenContinue Reading
When I saw that archaeologists were using Second Life for the creation of meaningful archaeological games I was of two mindsets. My first thought was how awesome it would be to play an adult version of an archaeological game. As seen from my previous post on gaming in archaeology, mostContinue Reading
When looking at the range of games that are currently available on the topic of archaeology there is an obvious divide in definitions of the discipline. On the one hand there is the antiquated yet appealing portrayal of archaeology as grave robbing, looting and a continuation of 19th century imperialismContinue Reading
Archaeology is a fairly common video game theme, and why wouldn’t it be? Distant lands, searching for lost treasures, the threat of competing looters and foreign governments, the possibilities of cursed tombs, with only the lone archaeologist to right the wrongs and triumph. This fantasy is not unique to theContinue Reading
When I was 8, I was enrolled into a summer camp at Genesee Country Village and Museum. The village was a living museum where costumed interpreters talked about the life of an eighteenth to nineteenth century village. The purpose of the summer camp was to learn about lifeways during this period, asContinue Reading