Livestreaming History: The Streamer-Historian and Historical Games Outreach

Abstract

As games grow in popularity, the importance of outreach has begun to be recognized within the field of historical games studies. However, much outreach has focused on education, consultancy, or the development of new games. While these are all valuable, this article draws attention to a fourth category of outreach that has hitherto been underutilized: digital criticism, particularly in the format of the Let’s Play. Embodied in a “streamer-historian,” this style of outreach offers great potential as a tool to analyze historical games. This article combines approaches drawn from discourse theory with case studies of recent games and lessons drawn from practical work on digital platforms by the author and others, arguing that the streamer-historian occupies a unique and crucial position within the discursive cycle of games that makes it a potent tool of outreach.