Esther Wright

And now, Writing Game Histories (2026) with cover art (courtesy of @murthynikhil.bsky.social’s Syphilisation) www.bloomsbury.com/uk/writing-g...

When I was 15 I would sit with Dragon Age: Origins and save before every big dialogue. I would replay them over and over and physically write out the trees. I didn’t know at that point that writing or narrative design was even a job I could have. They had such an enormous impact as a studio.

This Saturday 24th at 2:45pm UK time I will be giving my talk "Maidenless? Against Archaeogaming as the Handmaiden of Historical Game Studies," in which I'll argue for grounding archaeogaming in archaeological theory and methodology, and the potential to view it as a form of HCI and design practise

Pleased I was able to surface this. If you also think labour reporting is important please consider supporting @verticalslice.news!

Jenny is awesome and I'm delighted to be part of this event. Check out the call for papers, it's going to be incredible.

Still can’t fully believe it but it’s out in the world: I’ve been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship this round. You can read more about “Past, Present and Futures of Historical Games”👇+more to come soon about what this means for @historygamesnet.bsky.social! www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/31...

New Nations post! Russell Shanks @soegamer.bsky.social explores how British identity, British stereotypes, and the history of the Second World War are filtered through the Call of Duty franchise’s representation of the Special Operations Executive: www.historicalgames.net/how-the-call...

Today on HGN, a post at the junction of our Analogue and Nation themes: David Roberts reflects on the development of a card game about Shakespearean speeches. #historicalgames #gamingthepast #shakespeare www.historicalgames.net/shakespeare-...

Really looking forward to this!! Delighted to be part of a panel at @beinghumanfest.bsky.social with @enwright.bsky.social and @chriskempshall.bsky.social!! Come along and listen to us talk about history and games! It’s free and in person in Cardiff

Hugely looking forward to doing this with @enwright.bsky.social and @hollynielsen.bsky.social in November! Sign up now!

This November we’re hosting a free interactive discussion event as part of Cardiff Univeristy’s @beinghumanfest.bsky.social! Come for history&games, stay for @chriskempshall.bsky.social & @hollynielsen.bsky.social saying excellent things! (I will be there too..) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fact-versu...

If you missed our Nations panel (in person or online!) last Friday, you can catch up with the recording here via YouTube: www.historicalgames.net/recording-hg...

New post! For Analogue, Ian Greener explores the way Card-Driven Games engage with history, the choices they present the player when engaging with a known past or diverging from it, and how they play with historical contingency and uncertainty: www.historicalgames.net/history-in-c...

New for “Nations”! Hrisikesh Bakshi explores the parallels between Julian Barnes’s England England (1998) & SOMA (2015). How do both use history, memory and myth-making for “hyperreal nation-building”, and weaponise a distorted past to build a future?: www.historicalgames.net/hyperreal-na...

rockstar has boasted that all of GTA VI's NPCs are handmade and that human beings put thought into every random room and location—a breath of fresh air in an AI-obsessed industry. but we can't just ignore its long history of mistreating the humans responsible

I’d play it

It's real, and due out in March! 'Imaginative Pasts', which has been a joy to edit with Tracey Loughran, aims to reckon - and play - with the role of the imagination in historical research and writing. #skystorians #earlymodern manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526187154/

You should read this 👇

New post! Malath Abbas (@maltron.bsky.social), @biomecollective.bsky.social's Creative Director & panelist for our Nations event, explores how nation & history intersect, how identity & belonging shape games, & shares personal reflections on his own journey: www.historicalgames.net/where-are-yo...

Be sure to check out the fab contributions from @carrythezero.bsky.social, @xurvermilion.bsky.social and @mabinogiongame.bsky.social. Here: www.historicalgames.net/category/the...

We're delighted to announce our next panel on "Nations" which is part of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Curious festival on Friday 11th September 6-7:30pm UK time. Hosted by @royalsoced.bsky.social. In-person or online tickets available here: rse.org.uk/event/playin...

Had a great time writing this so thanks to all the @historygamesnet.bsky.social folks for giving me the opportunity!

Weekend reading! Will Butler (@carrythezero.bsky.social) examines how genre functions as both a marketing & cultural classification system shaped by commercial viability & national contexts, & how contemporary games increasingly destabilise these boundaries: www.historicalgames.net/the-geofenci...

The recently formed Wales History Games Collective's next all-day event is in Cardiff on 26.9.26. Just 3/10 spaces left. We play tabletop boardgames about politics, history and war. @enwright.bsky.social @funwithboxes.bsky.social Do join: newcomers especially welcome. whgcollective.my.canva.site

New post! For “Nations”, Juan Carlos Pérez García (@xurvermilion.bsky.social) explores the ways the Ace Combat series offers us fictional parallels of real national conflicts, and what we can learn about memory, patriotism and war by paying attention 👇: www.historicalgames.net/to-breed-war...

Hi all! Just a reminder the CFP deadline for MAMG's annual asynchronous conference is approaching (3 Aug)! Our theme this year is 'Possible Worlds’ and ‘Possible Pasts’. The link below has the full CFP #MAMG #medieval #gamestudies @midagesmodgames.bsky.social tinyurl.com/MAMG2026

‘Star Wars: Star Pilots’ releases in exactly 2 months in the UK (a slightly longer wait for this of you in the US)! The fact that we’re suddenly that close absolutely blows my mind. If you’re interested in or excited by the book then there’s still time to pre-order: geni.us/StarWarsStar...

This was an interesting piece to write, reflecting on how stories changes over time, how they both shape and are shaped by ideas of national identity, and how that feeds into my own current work. I've been following the HGN blog posts for a while now - it was lovely being invited to contribute!

A super thoughtful post on the way interpretation of literary texts - across time - shapes the stories we tell, even before they make it into a video game. Super interested to see more of @mabinogiongame.bsky.social and how it puts Wales and the Welsh language at its heart! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

In October last year I was fired by Rockstar Games in what we believe was a union busting move. We lost our home. We lost 2 jobs with my partner being forced to resign. We lost a community. Most importantly however we had to leave our two dogs behind, one of which will never return.

Back in October, Rockstar Games fired 34 employees for alleged gross misconduct. The severity of these firings could have spelled the end for a burgeoning union effort that was underway, but it didn't. In fact, the union is now *bigger* than it's ever been before. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym4z...

Delighted to say that I’m going to be speaking on a panel along with some other excellent academics and developers at AdventureX (a conference I love) The panel is titled “Fact versus Fiction: Creating historical games for a modern audience” - should be a good one!

My complimentary copy has arrived in the office here in the Philippines. All the thanks to the wonderful editors @enwright.bsky.social, Iain Donald, and @doktornick.bsky.social for giving me a chance to be a part of this anthology. Congratulations to them and all the other writers!

Genuinely ecstatic we have this chapter in Writing Game Histories. An amazing range of perspectives from people who care about what games do to history & vice versa. And at the core of it, a clear sense of why thinking thoughtfully & creatively about history, play (and research!!) matters so much

We're a bit late doing this but announcing our new theme - Nations - and the full call for contributions. As usual it's an open call, and full details are available on the HGN blog here: www.historicalgames.net/call-for-con...

If you missed last month’s discussion panel for our Analogue theme, you can now find a recording of the event on the HGN blog and YouTube channel! Watch this space for our next theme announcement, coming soon… www.historicalgames.net/recording-hg...

Very proud of the theme of this edition. Come and join us to talk about possible pasts, possible worlds, and possibilities for our collective future through the study of history.

My thesis “Archaeological Game Design: Video Game Archaeology as Interpretive Play and Play Preservation” is now online and open access! You can access the official version here, however this has some figures redacted: qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle...

My book, "The Middle Ages in Computer Games" is out in paperback tomorrow (2 Jun). If you've been waiting to get hold of it, now could be a good time! boydellandbrewer.com/book/the-mid...

Was delighted to contribute with my fellow series editors to this piece on intersections between the Humanities disciplines and game studies in our series and more broadly, as part of a great collection!

Writing Game Histories edited by Esther Wright, Iain Donald & Nick Webber explores how games shape—and are shaped by—our understanding of the past, offering a clear introduction to the fast‑growing field of Historical Game Studies. Discover the book https://bit.ly/4sAXVLm

Publication day. Thank you to @enwright.bsky.social, Iain, and Nick for making this so. I think this is a meaningful contribution to the field of historical games. My chapter is on historical rhetoric and board games, with a case study on Crisis: 1914. lnkd.in/evi5Z7Nw

So happy I could contribute the text Historical Theory and Game Design to the amazing Writing Game Histories anthology by @enwright.bsky.social, Iain Donald, and @doktornick.bsky.social! ✍️🕹️📜 Hit me up if you want to chat about anything related to historical game development 😺 Link in the comment!

Absolutely thrilled to have a chapter in this book (alongside other wonderful historical game developers and academics)! Huge congrats to Esther, Nick, and Iain 🎉 Can’t wait to read the book!