From video games to virtual reality experiences, the Classical world continues to inspire developers and players alike. What does it mean, though, to explore antiquity in virtual spaces? How are such virtual worlds built, how are they experienced, and what do current technological developments mean for the future of Classics? Scholarship has begun to explore the contours of these questions. There have been several edited volumes (e.g., Thorsen 2012, Rollinger 2020, Draycott and Cook 2022), a couple of monographs (André 2016, Clare 2021), along with chapters and articles published in a variety of books and journals, reflecting the nature of gaming scholarship; namely, that this is a multidisciplinary field drawing on a range of methodologies. Such works have broken important ground, although coverage remains partial. Extended reality (XR) simulations, for example, have received far less attention. This is despite the growing use of AR and VR across the heritage sector (e.g., Yorescape, Lithodomos), the crossovers with gaming (e.g., Assassin’s Creed Nexus), as well as the potential for academic research and education (e.g., the Virtual Reality Oracle).

This two day hybrid conference, hosted by the Bristol Digital Game Lab and organised by Dr Richard Cole, thus takes the idea of extended reality, which typically refers to virtual, augmented, and mixed reality, and considers how – from the inception of video games through to the latest AR and VR applications – the history and culture of the Classical past have been twinned with the digital.

The conference consists of academic papers, industry discussions, in-person and hybrid game play sessions, XR showcases, and networking. The full programme can be found below. 

With thanks to our generous sponsors: University of Bristol Faculty of Arts, Institute of Greece, Rome, and the Classical Tradition, Bristol Digital Game Lab, Centre for Creative Technologies.

Monday 3 June 2024

08:15-08:45 Registration and tea / coffee 

08:45-09:00 Welcome

09:00-10:00 Session 1 - Classics and XR: Industry Insights

• Jack Norris (Zubr): Acropolis AR App
• Peter Mansfield (The Newt in Somerset): Villa Ventorum: How VR can Enhance an Experience

10:00-11:00 Break / demos

11:00-12:00 Session 2 - Classics in Non-Classical Games (1)

• Kevin Wong (Harvard University): Esports and the Gladiatorial Fantasy: Technomasculine Imaginaries of the Colosseum in Competitive Play
• Yifan Wang (Hong Kong Metropolitan University): Digital Theogony in a Post-Apocalyptic Urban RPG: The Neo-Olympian Throne Claiming with Zeus, Nezha and Amunet in Dislyte

12:00-13:30 Lunch (provided) / demos

13:30-15:00 Session 3 - Games and XR as Methods for Studying Classics

• Orla Polten (Independent): Posthuman Sappho: Artificial Intelligence In Twentieth- And Twenty first-Century Verse
• Del A. Maticic (Vassar College): Chess in the Classical Tradition: Some Main Lines
• Yanxiao He (Tsinghua University, Beijing): Gaming Cupid and Psyche: A Critical Analysis of NewJeans’ “Cool with You” (2023) in Light of K-pop Cover Dance

15:00-15:45 Break / demos

15:45-16:45 Session 4 - Classics in Non-Classical Games (2)

• Alex MacFarlane (University of Birmingham): Bloodborne (2015), the Gothic, and the Legacy of Classics in Videogames
• Alexandra S. Henning (University of California, Los Angeles): Echoes of Antiquity After the Apocalypse: The Last of Us Part II as Classical Reception of the Iliad & Oresteia

16:45-17:00 Break

17:00-18:30 Session 5 - Taking Stock

• Richard Cole (University of Bristol): The State of Play, Or What Happens When the Ancient World is Twinned with the Digital?
• Aisha Dad (University of North Carolina at Greensboro): Single-player, Multi-player: Shaping Inclusive Collaboration
• Richard Blows (Time Machine Designs / Boomsatsuma): Hadrian’s Wall for Microsoft Flight Simulator

19:00-21:00 Antiquity Games Night: The AGN team will facilitate a 12 player hybrid co-op session of Age of Mythology with pizza for in person attendees (provided)

Tuesday 4 June 2024

08:30-09:00 Tea / coffee

09:00-10:30 Session 1 - Experiencing Classics through Games and XR

• Gillian Marbury (Ohio State University): Fast-Traveling to Antiquity: Virtual Reality, the “Tetris Effect”, and Classics
• Victoria Rooney (Independent): Extending Experiences via VR: Immersive New Realities in Tragedy and the Dionysia
• Alexander Vandewalle (University of Antwerp / Ghent): A Sense of the Past: Game Feel and Sensory Rhetoric as Medium in Historical and Mythological Games

10:30-11:00 Break / demos

11:00-12:00 Session 2 - Methods for Studying Classics in Games

• Rita Tegon (University of Salamanca): Navigating the Intersection of Classics and Video Games: Methodological Insights
• Brent Van Mol (University of Antwerp): Player Choice in the Underworld: An Investigation of Narrative Player Agency, Death and Failure in Hades and The Forgotten City

12:00-13:30 Lunch (provided) / demos

13:30-15:00 Session 3 - Games, XR and Education (1)

• Matthew Leeper (Education Evolved), Sumeet Gurung (Education Evolved), Rachel Porteous (University of Glasgow), Stephen Preston (St. Giles Cathedral): Constructing a Cathedral: Co-Creation through Industry, Third Sector, and Higher Education collaboration
• Preloaded / Rob Sherman (University of Exeter): Wonders: Pyramids of Giza
• Christine Steer (Virginia Tech): Teaching Mythology, Philosophy, and Video Games

15:00-16:00 Break / demos

16:00-18:00 Session 4 - Games, XR and Education (2)

• Irene Di Gioia (University of Göttingen): Learning the Ancient Greek Language via Video Games
• Lissa Crofton-Sleigh (Santa Clara University): Lingua Vitae: Teaching Latin in Virtual Reality
• James H. Brusuelas (University of Kentucky): Ancient Manuscripts, Ancient Languages, and a Post-Keyboard World: Research and Teaching in Mixed Reality
• Claudia Moser and Christian Thomas (University of California, Santa Barbara): Rome: The Game. Creating an Online Course as an Interactive Adventure Game

18:00-19:00 Drinks and networking

19:00 Mezze dinner (provided)