CHR Forum  Towards a Theory of Good History Through Gaming KEVIN KEE, SHAWN GRAHAM, PAT DUNAE, JOHN LUTZ, ANDREW LARGE, MICHEL BLONDEAU AND MIKE CLARE Abstract: History computer games have become an economic and cultural pheno- menon, and historians should seize the opportunity to participate in their development. Players of history games are interested in the past and in the big questions that drive historical scholarship. In this way, games have the potential to draw players into the discipline if we can discover the best way to express history though simulation. But what research do we draw on as we study how to accomplish this transformation? This essay is the product of a meeting of historians, educators, and gamers who joined previously separate lines of inquiry to identify literature and models that we believe form the foundation for developing a theory of good history through gaming. Keywords: computer games, history teaching, learning Re´sume´: Les jeux vide´o a` the`me historique sont devenus un phe´nome`ne e´conomique et culturel, et les historiens devraient saisir cette occasion de participer a` leur de´veloppement. Les personnes qui jouent a` des jeux historiques s’inte´ressent au passe´ et aux grandes questions qui mobilisent la recherche historique. Par les jeux, il est peut-eˆtre possible d’attirer les joueurs dans la discipline, si nous parvenons a` de´couvrir la meilleure fac ¸on d’exprimer l’histoire par la simulation. Mais a` quelle recherche faisons-nous appel quand nous e´tudions les moyens de re´aliser cette transformation? Cet essai est le produit d’une re´union d’historiens, d’e´ducateurs et de spe´cialistes du jeu qui ont relie´ des pistes de recherche jusque-la` inde´pendantes afin de repe´rer les e´tudes et les mode`les qui, croyons-nous, serviront de base a` l’e´laboration d’une the´orie de bonne pratique de l’histoire par le jeu. Mots cle´s : jeux vide´o, enseignement de l’histoire, apprentissage THE EMPEROR’S PROBLEM The emperor has a problem. Barbarian farmers have been spotted along the borders of his domain. They haven’t crossed over yet, but when they do, it is The Canadian Historical Review 90, 2, June 2009 ß University of Toronto Press Incorporated doi:10.3138/chr.90.2.303