Cultural Heritage, Video Games and Video Gaming: Researching Global Actants with Gamevironments

Zeiler's article in Gamevironments issue 21 (2024) argues that the gamevironments approach, which centers on actants (human and non-human actors involved in the production, circulation, and reception of games), offers a productive framework for studying cultural heritage in video games and gaming. The author treats cultural heritage as a deliberately broad and contested concept, drawing on UNESCO's 1972 definition and critical heritage studies, and proposes a two-group typology: "heritage games," built around specific heritage sites or items, and "games with heritage references," which embed heritage within narrative or gameplay. Across these categories, the argument holds that heritage representation in games is never neutral, since developers' perspectives and mechanics shape how the past is portrayed.

A central critique is that existing research on heritage and serious games, including work by museums, heritage sites, and GLAM institutions, has concentrated on individual case studies and media representations. Attention to gaming practices and to non-Global North contexts has been limited. The author contends that a gamevironments lens addresses these gaps by directing attention to the wider ecosystem around games, including GLAM institutions, fan communities, merchandise, journalists, and technical platforms.

The article traces a conceptual shift from the 2014 gamevironments model, which emphasized global regional contexts and actor-centered analysis, to the 2024 revision, which adopts an actant-centered approach. This revision incorporates non-human technical elements and treats media and actors together as carriers of communicative practices. Three research priorities follow: studying gaming rather than games alone, examining actants beyond individual human participants, and analyzing gaming-related media practices across differing global contexts. The author's own publication record, which includes work on Indian video game development as a cultural and creative industry, reflects a sustained interest in regional heritage and methodological approaches to games research.