Dr Richard Cole
BA(Bristol), MA(Bath Spa), PhD(Bristol)
Expertise
Current positions
Lecturer in Digital Classics
Department of Classics & Ancient History
Contact
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Research interests
My research specialises in the history and culture of classical antiquity and how this intersects with new media, in particular video games, virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI). I am also interested more broadly in the interplay between history and fiction in different forms of historical fiction. My PhD (University of Bristol, 2019) made the case for the existence of the ‘historical frame’, defined as an (in)tangible border around historical materials that shapes their reception, and explored how this frame functions in historical fictions set in late antiquity.
I have published in high impact journals and key edited volumes on how video games and VR experiences are shaping new forms of public history. I have also published on the ways in which historical fictions impact how readers imagine the past. My forthcoming publications include an essay exploriong how questions regarding the authorship of the Iliad and Odyssey can help us better understand AI generated texts today, a chapter on immersion in what I call 'virtual antiquity', and a special issue for Rethinking History on Virtual Realities as Time Travel. Current projects include Game Conscious™ Characters - a MyWorld Collaborative Research and Development project with industry lead Meaning Machine that involves R&D in generative AI systems for in-game characters.
From 2020-2023, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the multidisciplinary, AHRC-funded project The Virtual Reality Oracle (VRO): An Immersive Experience of the Ancient Greek Oracle at Dodona, which created a ground-breaking VR experience of ancient divination that aims to improve educational outcomes in schools.
My research has also been instrumental in establishing the Bristol Digital Game Lab (2022), which I co-direct. Based in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Bristol, the Lab brings together researchers and practitioners from a radically diverse range of perspectives, including history, translation, comparative literature, film and television, law, computer science, AI, game design, and beyond. The Lab has succeeded in charting new possibilities for collaboration, both across disciplines and between Higher Education and the gaming industry, with digital games as a shared object of interest.
In 2024/25, I am teaching Exploring the Roman Cityscape (CLAS20070), where I am using a variety of digital models and VR experiences to consider how architecture and space can help us to understand a society and its culture, as well as Roman Imperial Culture (CLAS20062).
I am currently supervising an MPhil dissertation on representations of the Bronze Age in video games, and a PhD on the philosophy of history in the SoulsBorne Games. I am always interested in hearing from potential applicants working on the relationship between the ancient world and new media today.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Bristol Game|Play
Principal Investigator
Description
This project seeks to develop and validate a commercialisation plan to determine how the Bristol Digital Game Lab can maintain and expand its impact on the local games industry and…Managing organisational unit
Department of Classics & Ancient HistoryDates
01/09/2024 to 31/08/2025
AI Tools for Games and XR Storytelling
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
The ’AI Tools for Games and XR Storytelling’ project seeks to bring together creative technologists, experienced AI artists and early career artists from the immersive and games industries at a…Managing organisational unit
Department of Classics & Ancient HistoryDates
23/07/2024 to 31/05/2025
Game Conscious™ Characters
Principal Investigator
Description
This year long MyWorld Collaborative Research and Development project will involve R&D in generative AI systems for in-game characters. The project will be delivered in partnership with industry lead Meaning…Managing organisational unit
Department of Classics & Ancient HistoryDates
01/07/2024 to 30/06/2025
VR, Games & Storytelling
Principal Investigator
Description
The VR, Games & Storytelling project is interested in the intersection between games, immersive theatre and VR storytelling, and the principles and frameworks for developing narrative material for immersive experiences.Managing organisational unit
Department of Classics & Ancient HistoryDates
06/06/2023 to 31/07/2023
The Bristol Digital Game Lab
Role
Co-Principal Investigator
Description
The Bristol Digital Game Lab will bring together researchers and practitioners from a radically diverse range of perspectives, including translation and accessibility, history, comparative literature, law, computer science, AI, game…Managing organisational unit
Arts Faculty OfficeDates
01/08/2022 to 31/07/2025
Publications
Selected publications
01/09/2022Mashing Up History and Heritage in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Games and Culture
Unboxing Age of Empires
Paratextualizing Games
Breaking the Frame in Historical Fiction
Rethinking History
Recent publications
01/01/2024‘“Interact with history like never before”: Modding the Past in Historical Video Games’
Routledge Companion to Video Games and History
The AI Question, or what if Homer had ChatGPT?
Routledge Handbook of AI and Literature
“‘As You Write Your Odyssey...”: An Empirical Study of Classics Students’ Play Interests and Ergodic Characterization’
“‘As You Write Your Odyssey...”: An Empirical Study of Classics Students’ Play Interests and Ergodic Characterization’
'Virtual Antiquity: “The closest thing to a time machine that lets you experience ancient Greece”'
Rethinking History
Virtual Realities as Time Travel
Rethinking History
Thesis
Fiction and the Historical Frame
Supervisors
Award date
25/06/2019