Open AccessUma teoria digital do feudalismo: dinastia, poder, vassalagem e Estado no game Crusader Kings (2012-2020)
Author(s) -
Felipe Augusto Ribeiro
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
medievalia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2448-8232
DOI - 10.19130/medievalia.2021.53.1.25628
Subject(s) - feudalism , vision , middle ages , meaning (existential) , state (computer science) , problematization , premise , representation (politics) , game studies , order (exchange) , power (physics) , classics , history , art , epistemology , humanities , sociology , literature , philosophy , media studies , ancient history , computer science , anthropology , law , political science , physics , algorithm , finance , quantum mechanics , politics , economics
This paper deals with the representation of elements considered “medieval” in the world of videogames. Approaching the Crusader Kings series, it investigates how the game’s developers operated some important concepts in Medieval History, such as dynasty (or family), vassalage and State. The problematization involves some questions: how does the game portray a dynasty or a medieval family? How does it understand vassalage? What concepts it has of power, feudalism and State? With such questions, the work aims to make an introductory analysis to the game, using a descriptive method that observe, part by part, its basic elements. Based on the premise that videogames, as works of neo-medievalist culture, assume and reconstruct visions of History, the paper outlines a hypothesis: in order to give meaning to the challenges that it poses to players, the game would convey a true “digital theory” of what the Middle Ages would have been, with its supposedly intrinsic feudalism.