Biography
Emily Joy Bembeneck is a Historian and Narrative Designer at Firaxis Games, working on Sid Meier’s Civilization and other titles. Her research focuses on narrative in video games, historical video games, and transmedia narrative, exploring how narrative structures are used in ancient and modern narratives, both fictional and historical, to reflect multiple possibilities of events and character lives. Mythology, ancient epic, role-playing games, and historical video games are her primary objects of study. She earned her BA in Classical Languages and Literatures and PhD in Classics from the University of Michigan.
Teaching
Winter 2026
#### Myth at Play
Spring 2026
#### Critical Approaches to Civilization