This week, we primarily explored digital historical storytelling, particularly its application in history education. Digital historical stories allow people to engage with history in a more interesting way. However, it is well known that history and storytelling are fundamentally different. While stories can, to some extent, restore history, digital historical storytelling must meet the requirements of linear narrative, creating a compelling arc through climaxes and conclusions. When we try to embed history into a narrative framework, simplification or even distortion of history is inevitable. In the context of history education, a partial understanding of complex history can be very dangerous. Especially in stories, where there are usually “heroes” and “villains,” categorizing historical figures as “good” or “bad” flattens the complexity of both history and the people involved. In games, the “heroes” and “villains” are often the designer’s personal opinions, which are not truly historical. However, students playing digital historical games tend to believe that the history presented in these games is accurate. Moreover, digital games often present historical “answers” (even though history has no definitive answers), making it difficult for students to develop their own thoughts and critical thinking. This point is also supported by the article Teaching through Play: Using Video Games as a Platform to Teach about the Past, which discusses the potential and challenges of video games in history education. The article points out that video games, as an interactive medium, can promote a deep understanding of history through immersive experiences. This approach, based on “Experiential Learning Theory,” allows players to personally engage with history while playing. However, game developers often prioritize entertainment, reducing history to interesting stories or gameplay while ignoring its complexity.

I believe there are two ways to improve the development of digital games. First, digital games should be introduced after formal history learning. Games can serve as supplementary content to the classroom. If students are familiar with the relevant history before engaging with the game, the true history and the distorted version can coexist in their minds, fostering critical thinking. Second, digital games should provide students with multiple perspectives and the causal relationships within history itself. In our class, we used Twine to develop digital games. This reminded me of a previous course on “Portraiture in Ancient Egypt,” where one assignment required students to transform an object (person or item) into an ancient Egyptian portrait. This assignment required students to design based on the characteristics of ancient Egyptian portraiture, demanding a deep understanding of both its appearance and meaning. I believe this assignment would be ideal to design as a digital game, allowing students to grasp the inner significance of the portraits and develop their interpretations through practice.

In conclusion, this reflection has made me realize that history education is not just the transmission of knowledge, but an art of balancing historical facts with narrative structure. Whether through the digital storytelling discussed in the lecture or the video game teaching platforms mentioned in the article, educators need to find a balance between engaging students’ interest and ensuring historical accuracy. Most importantly, whether using digital or traditional teaching methods, it is essential to help students maintain critical thinking and encourage them to find the real connection between stories and history.