Game Studies Now,History of Science Then

Abstract

This article compares the growth of history of science as a discipline to the situation faced by game studies today. What can researchers learn from the elevation of the history of science to an established discipline and profession that might help scholars understand the situation of game studies? And why are game studies today being talked about in ways similar to the rhetoric that accompanied the history of science in the 1960s and 1970s? The author suggests that the growth of history of science then and game studies now has been fueled by similar motivations and strategies. These reflections on the history of science suggest there is nothing about such divisions that dooms or even threatens the growth and eventual success of this new discipline.