Pedagogy 2025

Abstract

Cultural heritage practitioners are increasingly embracing games as a creative medium, despite their apparent contradiction to traditional culture. This technique encourages users to participate in cultural memory by expressing the historical significance and ideological conceptions of heritage through vivid encounters, challenging long-held perceptions about gaming. “Digital Library Cave” reflects this trend. Set against the backdrop of the Dunhuang Mogao Caves’ “Digital Library Cave”, this game is a collaborative effort between Tencent and the Dunhuang Academy. Its narrative encompasses the geography, history, and artistry of the Mogao Caves, employing gaming techniques to present a comprehensive chronicle of Dunhuang’s legacy. “Digital Library Cave” stands as a successful case within the material cultural sphere. On one hand, it transforms historical texts from the Dunhuang Mogao Caves into game content and mechanics, converting dry “textbook material” into an entertaining gaming experience. Through its narrative backdrop, storytelling approach, role-playing elements, and gameplay mechanics, it creates a comprehensive immersive sensory interaction for players. On the other hand, the game’s design strategy aligns with Eneberg’s concept of “procedural rhetoric”, employing the game’s procedural nature to convey complex cultural heritage knowledge and values. Through its unique design, the “Digital Library Cave” game serves as both an entertaining and educational tool in China’s creative cultural preservation process. This paper uses game studies theories and methodologies to investigate the intricate structures and cultural considerations that underpin its design, stressing the importance of heritage conservation while also providing insights into effectively communicating the essence and value of cultural heritage through games. It also highlights how such approaches might incorporate modern cultural themes popular among the younger masses.