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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

And it's time for the closing remarks! Thanks to everyone who gave papers for #MAMG26! The conference chatter is still ongoing so please do go in and keep asking questions of our presenters. Thank you all so much and see you next year! middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/closi... #gamedev #games

Scene from Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, with the protagonist standing in front of four obelisks arranged around a colourful floor. Up a staircase at the back a large clock-like structure is visible.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

And for our very last paper of #MAMG26 (though do stick around for the closing remarks!) we have @robehoughton.bsky.social on "The Problem with Paladins" - what effect do these pseudo-crusaders have on our gaming? middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/the-p... #Paladins #Crusade #Medieval #DnD

Various Paladins: Keldorn Firecam (Baldur’s Gate II) [Baldur’s Gate Fandom.com], Pallegina mes Rèi (Pillars of Eternity) [Pillars of Eternity Fandom.com], and Casavir (Neverwinter Nights 2) [NWN2 Fandom.com]

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

In our penultimate paper of #MAMG26, Marcus Jensen looks at the alchemical connection between the characters of Radagon and Marika in Elden Ring and asks how this reflects the gender division (or lack of it) between them: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/agend... #EldenRing #Gaming #Medieval

Statues of the two characters, left and right, from Elden Ring.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Our final session of #MAMG26 is on "Alchemy and deviance"! It starts with Peter Färberböck discussing the role of blood between the medieval world and modern gaming: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/the-s... #medieval #gamedev #gaming

A game screenshot of the character Strohl saying the "The traditionalists always say mixed blood children are abominations. Terrible omens."

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

In our final paper on presentisms and nostalgia, Yahuai Lu explores Fallout: New Vegas' competing ideas of a New Rome, and the use of contested anachronism to work through contemporary political anxieties: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/when-... #MAMG26 #FalloutNV #Gaming

Screenshot from Fallout: New Vegas of a player in modern combat armour with a red beret standing outside a square tent with large square bull-motif banners and a classicising portrait of Caesar.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

In our second presentisms and nostalgia paper, Yaraslau Kot examines medievalism as propaganda and counter-propaganda in the Russo-Ukrainian War, looking at the clash of Russian state narratives of Slavic heritage and their Ukrainian deconstructions: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/virtu...

Boardgame box art for "Rurik: Dawn of Kiev", which shows two mounted warriors with chain mail and pointed helmets looking across an open grass field towards a heavy wooden-walled settlement, under a blue clouded sky.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Our penultimate #MAMG26 panel has three papers on Nostalgia and presentism. We start with Kristina Wittkamp, discussing the binary of feminine hearth and masculine warrior identity in game reflections of medieval Rus: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/betwe...

Depictions of the Sturgia faction in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord resembling Early Medieval Viking Rus’ raiders on foot (left) and Appanage Rus’ mounted military units (right). Both are shown in snowy, wooded locations.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Our second and last #MAMG26 gender panel paper has Hanjun Shi turning to Uncharted Waters IV where Huamei Maria Li's character provides a complication of narratives around colonisation and maritime control: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/i-do-...

Two characters from Uncharted Waters IV. On the left is a long-haired blonde man in a white cloak: on the right a woman with short dark hair, long white sleeves,and a red sash stands. There are bookcases and a fireplace behind them.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

We kick off our third and final day of #MAMG26 with our session on gender - in the first of our two papers Kurtis Pope looks at how Diablo IV's Lilith complicates medievalist ideas of the monstrous feminine: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/queen...

Lilith's death (left) and turning to stone (right) in Diablo IV.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In our last paper of #MAMG26 day two, Ian Regueiro-Salcedo discusses agency, memory and micro-history in Pentiment, and how the game presents the player with choices around constructing historiographies: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/when-...

A scene from Pentiment that includes large numbers of coloured woodcut-style townsfolk drinking and doing a range of other activities.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Last session of day two, and we're on lore and ingame histories, with Ricardo Santana arguing that trade and merchant caravans are a key part of building the sense of Tamriel as a medievalist world: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/some-...

On the left, a medieval image of a spice merchant and shop. On the right, the character of Belethor from Skyrim giving his famous line "Some may call this junk. Me, I call them treasures." which is spoken prior to selling things to the player.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In our last Analogue approaches paper, Jakub Ivanecky looks at the medievalism and horror intersection in Magic: The Gathering's Innistrad and its evocations of gothic medievalism and the Cathars: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/the-d... #MAMG26

Two Magic: The Gathering cards, one of a Gavony Township (left) and one of the Archangel Avacyn (right). Both have timber-framed houses as prominent elements in the art.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In our second paper on Analogue perspectives, Thom Gobbitt (@booksoflaw.bsky.social) explores his concept of "Lawplay", looking at the use of speculative and TTRPG style setups to explore the possibility space of early medieval law codes: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/from-... #MAMG26

Varied polyhedral dice sitting on top of what appears to be a facsimile of a medieval manuscript.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In our first #MAMG26 paper on Analogue perspectives, Anastasija Ropa discusses the ways in which a long-running medievalist LARP group adapted and changed, including adapting to life and technology but also changing explorations for the players: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/possi...

Two feasts with cups and food. One from 2005 on the left, done in person: one during the pandemic, seen over Zoom, on the right.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

And in our second paper, ending this #MAMG26 Time and Death session, Baykar Demir looks at Graveyard Keeper and its mechanisation and economic construction of sacred processes: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/death...

The church interior in Graveyard Keeper, where sacred space is linked to sermons, faith, donations, and the player’s broader economy of progression. It is a pixel art view of a church seen top-down, with columns, hooded figures standing in the shadows around pews at the bottom of the image, and a single light-framed character with a beard reading from a book in front of the altar, with other spots of light to either side.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Welcome back! Another two paper session, this time on Time and Death, to kick off #MAMG26 day two. We start by returning to A Plague Tale, where Ron Heckler discusses how the game mixes modern and medieval imaginaries of apocalypse and community: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/possi...

Public life and festivities in the Red City in A Plague Tale: Requiem. The image is in a realistic style and shows a stage with musicians and a number of people dancing underneath it, and a man standing behind some tables at the bottom right with some bottles out. The background has a tree and some timber-framed houses, and some strings of small decorative flags.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Last paper of #MAMG26 day one! Jéssica Iolanda Costa Bispo argues that the real-time temporality of The Longing (2020) allows it to reflect medieval western senses of temporality and meditation in a way few games allow: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/tempo...

Screenshot. The screen is bordered: in the centre there is a statue or visual of a king, all in brown and half melded into the floor which is the same colour. He sits on a grey chair with grey columns. At the bottom a small, yellow-eyed creature in black, who is the player character, can be found.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

For our second paper of this last day 1 #MAMG26 session, Poppy Tester discusses the strange individualism of Medieval Dynasty where players take a nominally medieval setting but using far more permissive forms of landscape engagement: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/the-w...

A game screenshot where a bison in the centre stands in shallow water, surrounded by reed-mace rushes and trees with a blue cloudy sky behind.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

In our next #MAMG26 paper, "Tides of Pestilence", Blair Apgar explores how ecological anxiety is mechanised and gamified in the form and force of the rats of A Plague Tale, using medievalist aesthetics to reflect and explore a modern crisis: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/tides...

The rat swarm destroys Marseille in A Plague Tale: Requiem. The player character is in the middle of the picture running right whilst an almost fluid-looking tide of rats pours around the corner on the left-hand side of the screen.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

And in our second modding paper we have Andrew Griffiths talking about the puzzling question of why people use mods rather than building games when exploring historical and pseudo-historical puzzle building. Check that out here: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/skyri... #MAMG26 #Skyrim #Modding

NexusMods cover images for (left): SIRENROOT and (right): Carved Brink

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We now have our #MAMG26 Game Modding panel! Two papers in this session: first, Maxime Kremer talks about mods as a way of exploring historiography, looking at the systems of Crusader Kings III and how requirements for modded historical events are shaped: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/recon...

Maps of Britain with different early medieval peoples marked upon them, from the Crusader Kings III game engine.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The second paper for our Design panel is by Vinicius Marino Carvalho, titled 'Playing the Irish Annals: Narrative Agency and the Gamic Mode of History'! Come join us and ask your questions now at: middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=1490

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Just five minutes to go until the 2026 Middle Ages in Modern Games Asynchronous Conference #MAMG26 begins with our opening address at 9:45am (UTC+1)! Everything you need to follow along will be in the programme: middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg26/middle-

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The programme for our next asynchronous MAMG conference is live! We are very much looking forward to a batch of incredibly interesting papers! As always, our conference is held virtually at the following address: middleagesinmoderngames.net

The Middle Ages in Modern Games 2026
Possible worlds / Possible pasts
Conference programme
All times UTC + 1
Monday October 5th
9h45 – Opening Address. Vinicius Marino Carvalho and Tess Watterson
10h – Keynote Lecture

‘Why we play the Middle Ages? A proposition for engaged thinking
– Leandro Wallace
Monday October 5th
Session 1 - Design case studies

14h – ‘KAFLI 141”: An Interactive and Immersive Heritage Gamification Experience of the Acoustics of Lögberg, Þingvellir National Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site, Iceland)’
– Emilio Marx & Ginebra Raventós de Volart, Acoustic Heritage Collective

14h20 – ‘Playing the Irish Annals: Narrative Agency and the Gamic Mode of History’
– Vinicius Marino Carvalho

14h40 – ‘Sources and Serendipity: Experimenting with randomisation and medievalism’
- James Baillie
Session 2 - Modding

16h – ‘Reconquering Lloegyr in Crusader Kings III: Modding as a counterfactual historiographical exercise’
– Maxime Kremer
16h20 – ‘Skyrim Puzzles Mods: Finding Indie Freedom within Mainstream Gaming’ – Andrew Griffiths
Session 3 – Ecology and the Non-Human

18h – ‘Tides of Pestilence: Mechanizing Eco-Anxiety within a Fourteenth-Century Dystopia’
– Blair Apgar

18h20 – ‘The wilderness, self-reliance and community in Medieval Dynasty’
– Poppy Tester

18h40 – ‘Temporal Experience and Medieval Contemplation in The Longing’
- Jéssica Iolanda Bispo

Tuesday October 6th
Session 4 – Time and death

10h – ‘Possible Medieval Pandemics? How A Plague Tale Constructs a Playable Apocalypse’
– Ron Heckler

10h20 – ‘Death as Procedure: Sacred Language and Undead Labour in Graveyard Keeper’
– Baykar Demir
Session 5 – Analogue perspectives

12h – ‘Possibles Lives: An Autoethnographic Journey into a Lifetime Engagement with One TTRPG/LARP’
– Anastasija Ropa

12h20 – ‘From “Docufiction” to “Lawplay” — On Speculative Engagement with Early Medieval Law’
- Thom Gobbitt
12h40 – ‘The Dark Ages over Innistrad: Medievalism and Gothic Horror intersection in Magic the Gathering’
– Jakub Ivanecky
Session 6 – Morality & Ideology I

14h – ‘Between Feudalism and Empire: Liminal Temporality and (un)Grounded Aesthetics in Final Fantasy XVI’
- Johansen Quijano
14h20 – ‘Reimagining Medievalism in Chinese-Language Games: Wind Fantasy III and IV’ – Quangang Li

14h40 – ‘Medievalisms and Opposition to Institutionalised Religion in Worlds Beyond Number: The Wizard, the Witch, and the Wild One’ – Hannah Victoria
Session 7 – Lore analysis & in-game histories

16h– ‘Reading the Response to Bero’s Speech in Skyrim as a historical text’
– Phillip Wallinder

16h20 – ‘“Some may call this junk. Me, I call them treasures”: Invisible Trade Networks and Possible Worlds in The Elder Scrolls Series’
– Ricardo Santana

16h40 – ‘When an era comes to an end: agency, memory and micro-history in Pentiment’
- Ian Regueiro-Salcedo
Wednesday October 7th
Session 8 – Gender

10h– ‘Queens of Hell: Kleopatra, Lilith, and Possible Pasts in Medieval Fantasy Games’
– Kurtis Pope

Wednesday October 7th
10h20 – ‘‘I do not seek a marquis title but peaceful seas’: The imagination of an alternative Chinese maritime history in Uncharted Waters IV’
- Hanjun Shi
Session 9 – Nostalgia and Presentism

12h – ‘Between the Hearth and the Kremlin - Nostalgic Entanglements: Gender, Affect, andMateriality in Digital Depictions of Medieval Rus’’
– Kristina Wittkamp

12h20 – ‘Virtual Battles for the Past: Medievalism as Propaganda and Counter-Propaganda in the Russo-Ukrainian War’
Yaraslau Kot

12h40 – ‘When the Past Returns as the Future: Video Games, Roman Imaginaries, and Historical Possibilities’
Lu Yahuai
Session 10 – Alchemy and Deviance

14h – ‘The Sign Is Added Later: Blood Magic and the Moralisation of Possible Worlds’
- Peter Färberböck
14h20 – ‘Agendered Alchemy? Postmodern Rebis Analysis in Elden Ring
– Marcus Jensen

14h40 – ‘The Problem with Paladins: Eulogising Crusaders in CRPGs’ – Robert Houghton

15h – Closing Remarks
- Vinicius Marino Carvalho and Tess Watterson

The conference will be held asynchronously at the following address:
https://middleagesinmoderngames.net/

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

We're heading to the Middle Ages in the Modern World conference in Oxford (22-24 Jun 2027) with a strand around Adaptation and Translation! Find our Call for Papers with deadline 13 September here: middleagesinmoderngames.net/announcement...

Adaptation and Translation play an increasingly important role within medievalist games. Medieval texts and medievalist books and films have been adapted to produce a growing range of games with recent titles influenced by such diverse texts as Beowulf, Dante, Kingdom of Heaven and the Name of the Rose. Recent years have also seen a growing trend towards the translation of medievalist games into multiple languages, often introducing different perspectives of the period to new audiences. Modders and homebrew game designers have often taken the lead on both these developments, while translation and linguistic boundaries have appeared as a game mechanic in several medievalist games. Meanwhile, studies into medievalist games have continued to fall into distinct schools divided by language.

This strand addresses engagement with adaptation and translation within and around games. We invite papers of 20 minutes addressing any aspects of the medieval period or medievalism in any forms of digital or tabletop games, but we particularly welcome contributions which engage with ‘Adaptation’ and ‘Translation’ broadly defined.

Topics may include (but are not restricted to):

Translation as game mechanic
Adaptation of medievalist works to ludic format
Game mods
Translating medievalist games
Scholarship across languages
Roleplay
Transposing games into different periods
Global approaches to medievalist games
Ludic medievalist influences beyond games
Pedagogy through commercial games
Medieval and ancient languages in games
Cultural appropriation and reclamation
Queering medievalist stories through play

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words and brief biographies, to midagesmodgames@gmail.com by Sunday 13 September.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

We also managed to catch some of the team in action, presenting their research ☺️ And spotted @robehoughton.bsky.social's book at the exhibition stand - already reserved in the morning of day 1 😎

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

A bit late...we know...but thanks to everyone who presented at and attended our strand at @imc-leeds.bsky.social last month. So many papers, so much to reflect on. Thank you everyone, we hope to see you next year 😊 Here's a photo of the organising team looking proud.

Organising team sitting at the front of a seminar room, behind them a screen with another member joining online.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Due to popular demand, and to make it easy for our colleagues just getting back after conference season, we decided to extend the deadline for this year's #MAMG conference. If you feel like participating, but haven't submitte yet, worry not! Make sure to send us an abstract by August 8th.

the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Research at the University of Winchester presents The Seventh Middle Ages in Modern Games Asynchronous Conference on 5 to 6 October 2026. The central themes of this year’s event are ‘Possible worlds / Possible pasts’.
In a time of growing political and environmental anxieties, the Middle Ages are often sought as a source of inspiration for alternative futures. Ecologically-minded games like Of Life and Land look to the medieval past to explore alternative, non-exploitative engagements with nature. Medievalist RPGs have long served as possibility spaces for players to interrogate and experiment with notions of sexuality, gender, and identity more broadly. Games like Scriptorium and Traveller’s Rest imagine medieval pasts divorced from the logics of violence often associated with the period. Medievalist fantasy games like Metaphor: ReFantazio openly engage with utopian thinking and our capacities to imagine possible worlds.
This conference considers the Middle Ages and Medievalism in Modern Games. We invite analytical ‘papers’ (comprising 400-500 words of text or 5-minute videos) and sessions of 3 to 5 papers which address any aspects of the medieval period or medievalism in any and all forms of modern games. We particularly welcome papers addressing the central conference themes of ‘Possible Worlds’ and ‘Possible Pasts’. The conference will be conducted remotely and there will be no registration fee. To promote accessibility and inclusivity, the event runs asynchronously across time zones.
We are able to accept papers in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words, brief biographies, and indications of time zone and availability as attachments in Word to midagesmodgames@gmail.com by Sunday 8 August.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

We're heading back to @imc-leeds.bsky.social in July next year for a strand on 'Communities' or any other aspect of the medieval and medievalism in modern games - organised by @blairapgar.bsky.social with @tesswatty.bsky.social. Get your abstracts to us by 13 September!

CALL FOR PAPERS post image #1:

The Middle Ages in Modern Games invites submissions for its strand at Leeds IMC (5–8 July 2027), sponsored by the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Research at the University of Winchester.

This year's strand explores the congress theme of Communities, examining how medievalist games imagine, construct, and negotiate social groups. Papers may consider communities as systems of governance, identity, cooperation, conflict, trade, religion, reputation, or belonging, as well as the ways players form communities around games. We are particularly interested in how games shape understandings of medieval communities through mechanics, narratives, and audiovisual representation.

We welcome papers and sessions (3–4 papers) addressing any aspect of the medieval period or medievalism in digital or tabletop games, across any region and within a broad definition of ‘medieval’—including fantasy.
We particularly welcome submissions engaging with Communities broadly defined.

Abstracts due 13 Sept. All inquiries to midagesmodgames@gmail.com. For more info, visit: https://middleagesinmoderngames.net

CFP image #2 -

Topics might include (but are not restricted to):

Teaching Medieval Communities through Games
Membership and inclusion within communities; “the Other”
Religious groups within medievalist games
Migration and mobile communities
Race, ethnicity, and cultural identity-based communities
Gender, sexuality, and queer communities
Chosen families and alternative kinship structures
Colonialism, indigeneity, and community representation
Assimilation, hybridity, and multicultural communities
Community lines along social class and/or castes
Enclaves, splinter cells, and secession
Communities of violence and disruptive communities
Cooperation and obligation within medievalist games
Relationship and favorability mechanics in medievalist games
Guild systems in massive multiplayer online games (MMOs)
Language and visual signifiers of communities
Player communities of medievalist games
Positive and negative community exchanges

Abstracts due 13 Sept. All inquiries to midagesmodgames@gmail.com. For more info, visit: https://middleagesinmoderngames.net

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

We're heading back to @imc-leeds.bsky.social next week for two days of papers on the Middle Ages in Computer Games! Come and find us Maurice Keyworth 1.06 (Mon) and Clarendon Building 1.01 (Tue). Full programme here: middleagesinmoderngames.net/leeds-imc-20...

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

The CfP for the upcoming #MAMG26 is now live! The event will take place on 5-7 Oct, assynchronously and online. Come join us from anywhere in the world to discuss medievalisms in games and alternative approaches to the ludic past.

In a time of growing political and environmental anxieties, the Middle Ages are often sought as a source of inspiration for alternative futures. Ecologically-minded games like Of Life and Land look to the medieval past to explore alternative, non-exploitative engagements with nature. Medievalist RPGs have long served as possibility spaces for players to interrogate and experiment with notions of sexuality, gender, and identity more broadly. Games like Scriptorium and Traveller’s Rest imagine medieval pasts divorced from the logics of violence often associated with the period. Medievalist fantasy games like Metaphor: ReFantazio openly engage with utopian thinking and our capacities to imagine possible worlds.

We invite analytical ‘papers’ (comprising 400-500 words of text or 5-minute videos) and sessions of 3 to 5 papers which address any aspects of the medieval period or medievalism in any and all forms of modern games. We particularly welcome papers addressing the central conference themes of ‘Possible Worlds’ and ‘Possible Pasts’. The conference will be conducted remotely and there will be no registration fee. To promote accessibility and inclusivity, the event runs asynchronously across time zones.

We encourage submissions from medievalists, games scholars and developers at any point in their career— especially those from Postgraduate Students, Early Career Researchers and members of any groups under-represented within the academy and industry. We welcome pieces addressing any region globally, and within a broad definition of ‘medieval’ and ‘medievalism’.

We are able to accept papers in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words, brief biographies, and indications of time zone and availability as attachments in Word to midagesmodgames@gmail.com by Sunday 3 August.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

The Conference Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Asynchronous Conference on The Middle Ages in Modern Games are now out! You can find these proceedings and the previous four volumes on our Previous Editions page: middleagesinmoderngames.net/previous-edi...

The title page of The Middle Ages in Modern Games: Conference Proceedings Volume 6 - 2025. Edited by Vinicius Marino Carvalho and Tess Watterson. The cover image is a map of East Asia from the mod 'Raja's of Asia' for Crusader Kings 3.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Temos o prazer de anunciar nossa sessão temática no I Congresso Brasileiro de Arqueologia Digital, organizado pelo @archarise.bsky.social Se você trabalha com jogos medievalistas ou #archaoegaming sob qualquer ótima, esperamos sua inscrição! #historygames #medievalsky

O Middle Ages in Modern Games, a Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG) e o Laboratório de Pesquisa Arqueologia Interativa e Simulações Eletrônicas (ARISE) tem o prazer de convidar a todos para uma sessão temática no I Congresso Brasileiro de Arqueologia Digital.

O archaeogaming e o estudo de jogos medievais se beneficiaram de um crescimento expressivo na última década. De um lado, praticantes de arqueologia e história medieval têm incorporado metodologias para integrar jogos como formas de análise e divulgação de suas pesquisas. Por outro, especialistas em game studies têm reconhecido a importância da arqueologia para o estudo da dimensão material dos jogos e da vivência de pessoas em espaços virtuais.

Convidamos estudantes, pesquisadores e profissionais da Arqueologia medieval e afins a integrarem uma sessão temática direcionada às novas fronteiras de pesquisa nesta área. O evento ocorrerá nos dias 8 a 12 de dezembro de 2025, em formato online via YouTube, no período norturno (18h às 21h, horário de Brasília)
Tópicos incluem (mas não estão restritos a):
Archaeogaming e Idade Média
Representações de arqueólogos em jogos medievalistas
Arqueologia de espaços virtuais
Modelagem 3D e criação de assets para jogos
Cultura material da Idade Média em jogos digitais
A Idade Média em jogos analógicos
Medievalismo e roleplay
Uso de jogos para o ensino de história ou educação patrimonial
Simulações analíticas
Realidade virtual/aumentada e o passado medieval
Materialidade de jogos medievalistas
Usos políticos e ideológicos da cultura material em jogos medievalistas
Olhares decoloniais/anti-eurocêntrico sobre a arqueologia digital e jogos medievais
Para mais informações ou eventuais dúvidas, favor escrever ao Dr. Vinicius Marino Carvalho no email midagesmodgames@gmail.com
Favor enviar título e resumo da apresentação por meio do link: https://sinsc.furg.br/fichainscricao/7823
Esperamos ansiosamente sua participação!

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

We're pleased to announce we're putting together a thematic strand at the 1st Brazilian Conference on Digital Archaeology, organized by @archarise.bsky.social. If you work with medievalist #historygames and/or #archaeogaming in any capacity, we'd love to hear from you! #medievalsky

The Middle Ages in Modern Games conference, the Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), and the research society ARISE (Interactive Archaeology and Electronic Simulations) are pleased to announce a thematic strand at the I Brazilian Conference on Digital Archaeology.

Archaeogaming and medievalist game studies have enjoyed noteworthy popularity since the past decade. On the one hand, practitioners of medieval history and archaeology have started to devise methodologies to integrate games as research outputs and vehicles for outreach. On the other hand, game studies experts have acknowledged the importance of archaeology to deal with the material dimension of games and the human experiences within virtual spaces.

We invite students, researchers and professionals working with medieval archaeology and related fields to submit proposals for oral communications exploring these themes. The event will be held online and broadcasted via YouTube between 8-12 December, from 6 to 9pm (UTC -3).
Topics include (but are not restricted to)
Archaeogaming and the Middle Ages
Depictions of archaeologists in medievalist games
The archaeology of virtual environments
3D modeling and asset creation for games.
Medieval material culture in modern games
The Middle Ages in analog games
Medievalism and roleplay
Games as tools for history teaching and heritage education
Virtual/augmented reality and the medieval past
The materiality of medievalist games
Political and ideological uses of material culture in medievalist games
Decolonial/Anti-eurocentric approaches to digital archaeology and medievalist games
For more information or questions, please contact Dr. Vinicius Marino Carvalho at
midagesmodgames@gmail.com
Submissions are open until the 5th of November via the following link: https://sinsc.furg.br/fichainscricao/7823
We hope to see you there!

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

The Call for Papers for our strand on the Middle Ages in Modern Games for next year's @imc-leeds.bsky.social is now open with the conference theme of 'Temporalities'. Please circulate to any interested parties. Deadline 17 September. Text here: middleagesinmoderngames.net/announcement...

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

We’re delighted to be returning to the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds next week. We’ve got 20 papers in person and online spread over two days of the event, alongside a roundtable on medievalist games outside the Anglophone world.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Final paper for this #MAMG25 session on Globalism and Religion is ‘The Eternal Presence of Holy War: The Procedural Rhetoric of Jihad and Crusade in Total War: Medieval 2’, by Juan Manuel Rubio Arévalo. Come read and ask your questions in the comments: middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=881

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Next up is Ron Heckler’s ‘„Denn häufig haben sich auf seinem Wink und Befehl viele von ihnen von einer hohen Mauer hinunter gestürzt [...]“: Die Tradierung des mittelalterlichen Mythos der Nizari Ismailis in Narration und Gameplay in Assassin’s Creed’: middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=981

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

The Globalism and Religion panel is starting now with a paper on ‘Religious Tensions: The Itatehyōzu Shrine in Assassin's Creed Shadows’ by @tsujihirohito.bsky.social, check it out on the website here: middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=877 #MAMG25

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Third and final paper to close our Witcher panel is ‘Dungeons & Distortions: The Pseudo-Norse berserkir in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’ by Roderick Dale and @markusmindrebo.bsky.social, check it out and ask your questions in the comments: middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=866/

Landscape image from the Witcher 3, with a man (Geralt) on a horse in the foreground looking out over the ocean from a coastline, with Norse style long ships on the water and dark clouds above.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

The second paper of our Witcher panel is now live, ‘The Witcher 3: un viaggio nel tempo e nello spazio dell’Europa medievale’, by Simone Fleres, and is in Italian (with an English translation): middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=861

Game screenshot of The Witcher 3, in the foreground a man Geralt, with white hair, leather armour, and two swords sheathed on his back, is facing away from us, riding a white horse towards a stone bridge into a medieval townscape in the background.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Starting today’s first #MAMG25 panel is the paper ‘Female Voices in a Medieval-Inspired Universe: a Brief Comparative Study of the Representation of Women in The Witcher Books and Video Games’ by Jéssica Iolanda Costa Bispo. It’s live on the site: middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=815

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

The third and final day of #MAMG25 is about to begin! Head over to our website to check out the programme, and read two days of great papers, and our first panel for today, Fantasy Medievalism in The Witcher, will start in just 10 minutes at 10am (UTC+1)! middleagesinmoderngames.net/announcement...

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Final paper for this #MAMG25 panel is live: ‘How Civilization V Brings Historical Nations to the Global Stage: Analysis of the Game’s Majapahit-Era Indonesia’, by @pratamaatmaja.bsky.social, Andreas Nugroho Sihananto, & Gredy Christian Hendrawan Putra middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg25/how-c...

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

It's the first full day of the Middle Ages in Modern Games conference! We're back in a bit less than an hour with our session on Global Perspectives. Check out yesterdays papers if you missed them and come and join us! middleagesinmoderngames.net

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

That’s it for our Game Design session and the first day of the Middle Ages in Modern Games Asynchronous Conference! Thanks very much to @booksoflaw, Baykar Demir, Jessie Contour and Kelcey Gray. Join us tomorrow from 1000 (UTC+1) for a full day of papers.

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Our final paper on Game Design is by Jessie Contour and Kelcey Gray, who will be speaking on ‘DropCaps: A Word Game with a Medievalist Spin’: middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=664

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Up next in our Game Design session we have a paper from Baykar Demir titled ‘The Visualization of Medieval Knowledge in Modern Video Games: Artistic and Architectural Approaches’. It’s live here: middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=902

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The Middle Ages in Modern Games @midagesmodgames.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Today’s final session is all about Game Design. We open with @booksoflaw and their paper ‘Gamifying Landuse: The Birds and the Bees in Lombard Law-Scape’: middleagesinmoderngames.net?p=657

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