To explore 1530s England, a St. Louis professor turned history into a game

In 1500s England, King Henry VIII was a force of disruption and reform. But in the classroom of UMSL professor Maureen Quigley, the king is a “non-playable character” in a game called Dissolution. Quigley designed the game as a way for players to experience the conflicts and decisions that followed Henry VIII’s decision to marry a new wife by starting a fight with the Catholic Church. Quigley, a professor of art history, shares her insight into designing a “serious game,” and how students who have grown up with video and roleplaying games relate to history, and the connections she sees between St. Louis today and England 500 years ago.