Exploring fishery history in game form: ‘Never again April 18!’

Abstract

This article studies the ways in which Norwegian fishery history can be explored through games. Using the 1989 closure of the Norwegian coastal cod commons as a case study, issues related to historical thinking and game studies are discussed. The main focus is on understanding history through serious games, but theoretical considerations for presenting the case in any game format are discussed. The case involves a historical resource crisis, and the article traces how a serious game can frame counterfactual imagination for questioning the institutional politics of resource management as well as for producing historical empathy with stakeholders in resource crises.