Journal of Geek Studies

jgeekstudies.org

Playing with the past: history and video games (and why it might matter)

Jeremiah McCall Cincinnati Country Day School. Cincinnati, OH, USA. Email: [email protected]

HISTORYING, PUBLIC HISTORY communicating the past and certainly not AND HISTORICAL VIDEO GAMES the only legitimate media (McCall, 2012b). There are many more, and once we leave While traditional history, as a discipline, the realm of academic historians, it’s easy is important, that should not obscure the fact to find pretty much everyone doing history that doing history, sometimes called “his- in some form. They do this when they tell a torying,” is something everyone does. For story about their day, draw a picture about history is fundamentally just the communi- their vacation, or debate something that cation of the past through a medium (Den- happened in their peer group. Film, paint- ing, 2006; Chapman, 2016). That is certainly ing, theater, sculpture, toys, music, even so- the case when the most traditional forms of cial media can and often do communicate history are crafted by academic historians: aspects of the past and, when they do, they books and textbooks. The dominance of text are history.1 So, historical video games cer- and speech in history classes should not tainly qualify as a medium that can do his- mislead us: they are not the only media for tory, that can communicate aspects of the

Figure 1. Historying. Collage of several images; sources: Revolution (cravengames.com); Delacroix’s La Liberté guidant le peuple (Wikimedia Commons); Metropolitan Museum of Art (screen capture from their website: metmu- seum.org); East India Company (screen capture from their website: theeastindiacompany.com); Clan Fabius, book cover (amazon.com); Cincinnatus Statue (S Kaya: flickr.com); Cincinnatus Pig Statue (waymarking.com); Hamilton (broadway.org); Assassin’s Creed Origins (screen capture from the game, Ubisoft); Playmobil History set (toptoyusa. com); Evil Empire, album cover (Rage Against the Machine); Dirt, album cover (Alice in Chains).

1 History and accurate/authentic history are not the same, and a work that qualifies as history can still be a very flawed communication of the past, whether a monograph, a lecture, a visual artwork, a film, a game, etc. 29 McCall, J.

past. To use a more formal term, historical three decades with III, IV , and V still sold video games are a form of public history. and VI released in late 2016); Assassin’s Because the term’s meaning varies widely, Creed Origins and Odyssey (and many ear- for purposes of this article, let’s define pub- lier entries in the series); the favorite games lic history as any communication of the past of last decade like Stronghold, Sid Meier’s crafted outside traditional academia with Pirates, and even Age of Empires; and hosts little or no involvement of academic histo- of recent games by independent developers rians. This includes games whose designers such as Field of Glory II, Egypt: Old Kingdom, read published histories and even games Bomber Crew, Nantucket, and The Curious Ex- where an academic historian was on board pedition. as a consultant but did not make the driv- ing decisions in the design process (McCall, Some games that connect to the past, 2018). however, are more difficult to categorize. Wolfenstein: New Order, for example, imag- So, what makes a count as ines a counterfactual history where Nazi historical? This is another area of debate, Germany conquers the United States in but a useful broad definition runs like this: 1948. The game begins in 1960. Not a his- a historical game “has to begin at a clear torically documented world of 1960, but a point in real world history, and that history counterfactual United States ruled by Na- has to have a manifest effect on the nature zis. Though Wolfenstein deals with import- of the game experience” (MacCallum-Stew- ant historical topics like the Holocaust, it art & Parsler, 2007). This definition works does not neatly fit the definition of a histori- for most commercial games set in the past: cal game noted above (McCall & Chapman, the big budget titles : World War 2017, 2018). II, Total War: Rome 2, and Battlefield One; Sid Meier’s Civilization series (now for almost Games in Assassin’s Creed series, on the

Figure 2. Wolfenstein: The New Order, screen capture from the game (Bethesda Softworks, 2014).

other hand, do begin at a clear point in real torically – at least not according to the best world history but focus on player charac- evidence and analysis. It’s best to remem- ters that did not exist (Altair, Ezio, Bayek, ber that, ultimately, categories like “histor- Kassandra) occupying roles (Assassins and ical games” are useful not for their rigid Templars in cabals) that did not exist his- application but only insofar as they help

Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 29-48 (2019). History and video games us focus on what is essential. Accordingly, Glory and Bomber Crew. Despite their many this article is concerned primarily – but not differences, these games have real-world exclusively – with exploring those games historical settings and have player agents that fit the narrower definition of historical that – generally speaking – either existed games most neatly: large-budget games like historically or take on roles that existed his- Civilization, Total War, Crusader Kings, Euro- torically (McCall, 2019). pa Universalis, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and countless independent games like Field of

Figure 3. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, screen capture from the game (Ubisoft, 2018).

HISTORICAL VIDEO GAMES: lutions in AC Unity or negate Cleopatra’s WHAT KIND OF HISTORY? alliance with Julius Caesar in AC Origins as they have their adventures. Protagonist There are a great many kinds of these Red Daniels’ actions in Call of Duty: World historical games: shooters, strategy games, War II do not spawn an alternate history adventure games, city builders, manage- without the Allied Push through western ment sims, and so on. These games take two France. Rather, the player character devel- main approaches to representing the past: ops their own fictitious narrative within the realist and conceptual (Chapman, 2016). backdrop of the more-or-less documented Three-dimensional first- and third-person historical setting. Players decide some of shooter games like Call of Duty, Battlefield the in-game protagonist’s actions but do not One, and the Assassin’s Creed series take the change the larger historical narrative. realist approach to representing the past. Their designers present a visually verisimil- The other main approach to historical itudinous environment, the past as it argu- games is the conceptual simulation ap- ably appeared and as a world the player can proach. Games like those in the Civiliza- navigate through the game’s protagonist. tion series, Total War series, and Paradox’s Much like historical novels, these games grand strategy games like Europa Universa- center on fictitious characters who act in lis IV, Crusader Kings II, and Hearts of Iron IV historically documented setting but do not focus not on showing how the past looked alter conventionally accepted larger histori- but telling how the systems and processes cal narratives. So, for example, the Assassin of the past functioned. They do this, not protagonists in the Assassin’s Creed series do through immersive visually realistic envi- not alter the outcome of the French Revo- ronments, but through underlying rule sets

31 McCall, J.

Figure 4. Call of Duty: WWII, screen capture from the game (Activision, 2017). and systems, communicated to the player become the dominant world power by the through stylized and sometimes abstract time of the Renaissance, preventing Rome symbols and graphics (Chapman, 2016). from falling, fending off the Crusaders, etc. So, Civilization, for example, does not show These are approaches are not mutually ex- what ancient civilizations looked like so clusive, however, and many games have el- much as tell, among other things, how ge- ements of both, such as the Total War games ography shapes the development of civi- that combine the conceptual-style large- lizations. Crusader Kings II does not show scale grand strategy of campaign maps and how medieval barons lived but tells about city-management screens with the more the political fragmentation of medieval realist verisimilitudinous representations Europe. In these games, players can make of individual soldiers and battlefields ren- choices that have a grand impact on histor- dered in 3D. ical outcomes: managing ancient Egypt to

Figure 5. Europa Universalis IV, screen capture from the game (Paradox Interactive, 2013).

Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 29-48 (2019). History and video games

What kind of histories are these histori- • any number of elements, including cal video games? The vast majority whether other agents modeled by the AI as non-play- their approaches to the past are realist, con- er characters, that can afford and assist ceptual, or some combination, present that player actions, constrain player actions, or past as one or more historical problem spac- both depending on the situation; and so, the es (McCall, 2012a, 2012b, 2016a, 2018). That player crafts is, they present the past in terms of: • strategies and makes decisions to • A primary agent, the player charac- take advantage of available affordances, ter of the game, with one or more roles and work within or around constraints, and goals, operating within achieve their goal. • a physical space, a virtual world This certainly can be a problematic way with an environment and geography that to approach the past: It can over-emphasize includes

Figure 6. Diagram of a Historical Problem Space. agents’ conscious goal-oriented behavior Historical games model historical prob- and cause humans other than the prima- lem spaces in significantly different ways ry agent to be cast as instruments (McCall, from narrative historical texts (McCall, 2012b: 16–19). When applied specifically 2012b: 13–21, 2016a: 8–10). The basic dis- to the study of agents making decisions in tinction is that games are interactive where systems like politics, trade, management, text-narrative histories are fixed. Texts are construction, battle and so on, however, the fixed by the author and though, of course historical problem space approach of video they can be interpreted in many ways by games works reasonably well. For in these readers, the reality of the actual letters on and other spheres, there was a great deal the actual pages is objective and fixed and of conscious goal-oriented behavior, tak- the narrative outcome of the text is fixed. For ing place in a physical geography contain- example, every reader that reads the book as ing elements and agents that could afford designed will experience the same words in and constrain actions – terrain, weather, the the same order. To that extent, the narrative physical condition of agents, their morale, outcomes of the text are fixed. Videogames and so on. Merchants and revolutionaries, (and boardgames for that matter) are inter- soldiers and farmers, all formed strategies active. The player is faced with meaningful and made choices to reach their short- and choices and a variety of possible narrative long-term goals within their environment, outcomes based on those choices. Different their space. players playing the game as designed will

33 McCall, J.

experience different scenes and episodes in pen, but might have. different orders, a different narrative over- all. In practice, this means historical games Crusader Kings II, for example, allows a will necessarily include counterfactual his- player to start their games at various times tory, events and outcomes that did not hap- in the 9th to 15th centuries CE. At any giv-

Figure 7. History media. en date, the world map is divided into ter- es are coded as probabilities, not certainties, ritories under the control of historical local means that the narrative of gameplay will rulers according to the historical evidence bear similarities to the broader historical the game developers have been able to find. context of the period and place but almost So, to use the European Middle Ages as an certainly not match the specific historical example, starting the game in late 1066, the chronology. So, one can centralize elev- player finds William of Normandy as the enth-century England under King Harold new king of England. The game designers instead of William the Conqueror, lead a did not stop with historical monarchs; less- Mongol king to conquer all of Eurasia, and er nobles generally correspond to historical- so on (McCall, 2012b: 12–16, 2016a: 8–10, ly documentable agents when that informa- 2018: 408–409). tion is known, and the political boundaries of the world map change to match the his- This key feature of historical games, in- tory of the time and place. Thus, to a cer- teractivity and, as a result, counterfactual tain extent, Crusader Kings II accurately sim- outcomes, makes games potentially a very ulates the political geography of the time powerful medium for exploring the past. period in its various starting points. Once Historical games, in short, can do a very the player selects a dynasty to control and good job presenting the past in terms of starts to play, however, the game simulates systems and interactions, the causal con- the actions of all the lords great and small nections that made past societies and peo- in the game that the player does not control. ple act the way they did. They can also Each lord operates according to the rules represent the past, to a certain extent, as it and priorities established in the game code. seemed to agents at the time, as a contex- The player’s freedom of choice and the fact tualized world of possibilities where agents that artificial intelligence (AI) agents’ choic- make choices in the hopes of achieving or avoiding certain outcomes, without any

Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 29-48 (2019). History and video games

Figure 8. A counterfactual history: Norwegian control of England in Crusader Kings II (screen capture from the game; Paradox Interactive, 2012). certainty how everything will come out in about the past: implicit and explicit. Es- the end. Indeed, this is how life is experi- sentially, all historical games make im- enced for most of us, past and present. In- plicit claims to having at least some accu- terestingly, however, as Copplestone (2017) rate historical detail. Consider this: When noted, the standard form of representing designers craft a historical game, they can the past, textual history, tends to present the choose to make it about a historical topic past as anything but open-ended, as simply and world – Civilization or Call of Duty or a linear set of events destined to turn out Assassin’s Creed – or not – Scrabble, Super the way they did. Games offer a sense of ex- Mario Odyssey, and so on. By opting to con- ploration, of control, of possibility, possibly nect the game to a historical world with his- a sense of sober consideration, not just pas- torical names, visuals, symbols, and rules, sive determinism. As such they can helpful- the designers implicitly suggest the game is ly move history education beyond the ar- historical to some extent and has some level chetypal monotony of “one damned thing of accurate portrayal of the past – though after another.” of course that level can vary widely within and between games. Historical games generally make two kinds of claims to being historical, to con- Many historical game publishers go be- forming with evidence and scholarship yond these implicit claims to claim explicit-

Figure 9. Implicit claims to historical accuracy: Scrabble and Super Mario Odyssey vs Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed. Sources: Scrabble (boardgamegeek.com); Super Mario Odyssey (screen capture from the game; Nintendo, 2017); Call of Duty: WWII (screen capture from the game; Activision, 2017); Assassin’s Creed Origins (screen capture from the game; Ubisoft, 2017).

35 McCall, J.

ly that their games are historically accurate. ly claim. The manual for Civilization IV, for “Historical accuracy” is a problematic term example, boldly proclaims: in-and-of itself and means different things “Civilization IV is the latest iteration of Sid Meier’s to different people. Copplestone (2017) Civilization, first released in the early 1990’s. From its found in her research that many video game inception the Civilization series has been acknowl- designers understood “accuracy” in terms edged as the first and best world history simulation, of verisimilitude, correctly portraying ar- lauded for its incredible depth of play and its extraor- dinary addictive nature.”– (2K Games, 2005) chitecture and material culture. Many play- ers, on the other hand, considered accuracy And Paradox Interactive claims its game, to be judged in the degree to which a game Europa Universalis IV allows one to “Rule matched something they had read (Copple- [their] nation through the centuries, with stone, 2017). Gilbert (2019), however, found unparalleled freedom, depth and historical some players judged games to be more ac- accuracy” (in store.steampowered.com; ac- curate than history texts to the extent that cessed on 04/Apr/2019). Activision, pub- the games seem to espouse more diverse lishers of the 2017 World War II shooter, points of view than standard historical text- Call of Duty: WWII, crowed, “our teams at books or teachings. Those investigating the Sledgehammer and Raven (…) captured the connections between video games and his- epic scale and authentic atmosphere of the tory have their different definitions too and most brutal war ever fought” (Jones, 2017). some advocate distinguishing between ac- Creative Assembly, makers of the histor- curacy, defined as exact capturing of histor- ical Total War series, played with defini- ical factual details, and authenticity, a more tions some, but still claimed their historical systems-based general feel that may err on games conform to historical evidence when details but gets an overall valid impression a spokesperson noted, “Authenticity is (Chapman, 2016; McCall & Chapman, 2017, probably a better word than accuracy, and 2018). Still, many would recognize histori- that’s what we aim for” (Brown, 2013). cally accurate or even historically authentic representations of the past must conform to Historical games not only promise to some debatable extent to sound historical connect players to a real past, however; evidence. In other words, they are consis- they promise all the traditional appeals of tent with at least some of the evidence. And video games, elements that shape the type this is what some game developers explicit- of history these games deliver. Beyond the

Figure 10. Total War: Rome 2, screen capture from the game (Sega, 2013).

Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 29-48 (2019). History and video games tendency to cast players as goal-orient- perience of a player agent in terms of lev- ed agents within a problem space, video els, treating all the nutritional requirements games often seek to indulge power fanta- of humans as a simple all-purpose food sies where players have not just choices, commodity, expressing diplomatic rela- but interesting and important choices that tionships as positive or negative numbers. determine the fate of the game world. And These are all examples of simplification and because games try to satisfy this desire to abstraction (McCall, 2012b). make important decisions, they tend to be made about topics that seem more readily On top of designers’ goals to craft engag- cast in heroic terms. This is at least part of ing gameplay, and the historical problem the reason why there are very few peasant space framework, game histories – like in- agriculture history games or games about deed all historical media – are also shaped herding flocks – despite the importance of by their designers’ understandings of the these activities in human history – but there past. At a basic level, when a designer at- are myriad games about battles and politics. tempts to model the past, the elements in a game function according to that designer’s Several other common biases of the me- understanding of the past. To give some dium are worth noting. Beyond presenting recent examples, the Civilization series con- agents as empowered goal-seekers who tinues to emphasize the designers’ under- face interesting choices, historical games standings that advantageous geography also tend to simplify and streamline the and the development of Western arcs of topics they cover to make them more read- technology are primary determinants in a ily graspable, and, as a result, more appeal- civilization’s success, a quantifiable success ing to consumers. Converting the health of often expressed in militaristic terms. The soldiers into hit-points, calculating the ex- Roman city-builder game from last decade,

Figure 11. CivCity: Rome, screen capture from the game (2K Games, 2006).

37 McCall, J.

CivCity: Rome, has a happiness level that is proach integrates reading historical sourc- essentially a material comfort level, and this es, having discussions, direct instruction measures the success of the player. In other segments, and gameplay in class, and en- words, the game promotes the “bread and gaging in activities ranging from discussion circuses” approach to government – give to critical analytical writing, all designed to the people material gifts and entertainment, get students thinking about the historical and they will be happy. The popular Total claims of game models, and thereby, hope- War series suggests that morale is a critical fully, developing a greater understanding part of battles, because soldiers fight not of the past by assessing the strengths and until they die, not always anyway, but until weaknesses of the game versions. At the their morale dips too low and they flee in same time, I have explored the flip side of fear. None of these understandings are nec- the coin, students crafting historical simula- essarily in conflict with historical evidence. tions as a way to practice the craft of histori- They simply illustrate that designer’s un- ans, think carefully about cause and effect, derstandings of the past shape their games and explore the choices of historical agents (McCall, 2010; McCall, 2014). in the past. Most recently that has manifest- ed itself in research and work on Twine, the choice-based interactive text tool, that allows students to research and craft inter- GAMING THE PAST: VIDEO GAMES active historical texts, allows them, in short, AND HISTORICAL THINKING IN- to do interactive digital history (McCall, SIDE AND BEYOND THE CLASS- 2016b, 2016c). The powerful potential of ROOM historical video games as pedagogical tools for history education is just starting to be Designers do a considerable amount of realized.2 historying when crafting their historical games, and this alone suffices to make them Even when not used in class as part of an interesting manifestation of public his- well-crafted learning environments, how- tory for historians to explore. These games ever, historical video games are an import- also have great potential to inspire and en- ant medium of participatory public history. hance all sorts of historical inquiries in and Players do history just by playing, for they outside of the classroom. Since 2005, I have interact with the game and engage in play advocated that historical games’ ability to: that leads to historical narratives. Theorists about public history talk about the idea of • immerse and engage through choice shared authority, that non-academic histo- and multi-modal channels, rians, the public, can share authority for re- • provide systems-based interpreta- constructing and interpreting the past with tions that emphasize causal connections, academic historians. Game players and de- and signers also share authority for reconstruct- • offer historical problem space ap- ing the past in video games. The game does proaches to understanding the past, nothing without a player, and so the act of playing is, in a very real sense, a dialogue makes them useful tools for formal his- between player and designer about what tory education. Treating games as histori- the past was like and how it functioned cal interpretations to critique, not as factu- (McCall, 2018). al accounts, is critical to this approach. In other words, teachers and students should There is some research in this area, try- approach historical video games critical- ing to understand what players think about ly, study historical evidence, discuss ways as they play and reflect upon a historical the games simulate the past effectively and game, though more is needed (Gilbert, ways that they misrepresent it. This ap- 2019). Internet game forum discussions

2 For my work in the field, see McCall, 2011: Gaming the Past: Using Video Games to Teach Secondary History (Rout- ledge) and visit my work page on Gaming the Past (https://gamingthepast.net/theory-practice/my-work/).

Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 29-48 (2019). History and video games offer an important and largely untapped also think about the accuracy of the games resource for investigating the historical (McCall, 2018) reasoning and journeys of game players. True, most game players likely never post In short, historical video games have an on game forums. So, one can rightly ques- impact on how players approach and un- tion how representative forum posts are derstand the past (McCall, 2018; Gilbert, of game-players’ thoughts in general. Still, 2019). Indeed, they can serve as foils for they are an important resource for under- important arguments about past and pres- standing some of the possibilities for play- ent. It’s time to consider this final point in ers’ historical thinking: since the forums al- our exploration of historical video games as low essentially any gamer to participate in means of encountering, learning, and think- them, they publicize players’ ideas ranging ing about the past. from support to analysis and criticism of their games. Forum threads, therefore, illus- trate some of the types of experiences and understandings players can have interacting WHEN GAMES ABOUT THE PAST with these games. This is a critical point: the TROUBLE THE PRESENT forums show a range of possible interac- Far from desiccated topics of debate only tions with games available to anyone who of interest to antiquarians, video games his- wants to share their thoughts, and these in- tories inspire intense, sometimes inflamma- teractions are no less possible for those who tory debates about past, how it is portrayed, choose never to post. In short, the forums whether those portrayals are historically ac- tell us what kind of reasoning can happen, curate, and how those portrayals affect the a critical data point for those investigating present. This final section will examine a historical games as media for learning his- few cases where contemporary controver- tory (McCall, 2018). sies have arisen about how accurately cer- 3 Forum posts suggest that some players tain video games represent the past. engage in considerable amounts of histori- Some video games have proven to be cal reasoning as they reflect upon and dis- politically charged in how they represent cuss their gameplay. Discussion topics in- military and political powers in the past, clude: causing some to challenge their historical • the difference between a fixed repre- accuracy. Assassin’s Creed Unity (2014), for sentation of the past and a simulation; example, places the player in control of a • the tensions that often exist between fictional Assassin based in Paris during the historical accuracy and engaging gameplay; French Revolution. The game, developed • the role of counterfactual history in by French company Ubisoft, sparked crit- games; icism from some French politicians, most notably former presidential candidate Jean- • how accurately games simulate ele- Luc Melenchon. He challenged the seem- ments of world history ranging from a his- ingly bourgeois depictions of Louis XVI torical state’s political and military power, and Marie Antoinette as honorable victims to the role of women in the politics of a pe- of revolution, the radical Maximilien Robe- riod, a religion’s characteristics, and to in- spierre, author of the Terror, as a vicious stitutions of slavery. despot, and the Parisian working class as a Sometimes posters just assume the truth bloodthirsty mob. Debates about these and of their historical claims. Other times they other actors in the Revolution have existed provide reasonable historical statements since the time of the Revolution itself and (“facts”) to back their assertions. Occasion- continue to take place, now around video ally, they refer to a historian’s work or text games (Chibber, 2014). to back up their claims. In these ways, post- Company of Heroes 2, a real-time strategy ers clearly engage in significant historical game about the Eastern Front in World War thinking on varied important topics and 3I gave a talk on this at Cincinnati Country Day School in October 2018, available on the school’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/CincinnatiCountryDaySchool/videos/280069235998930/). 39 McCall, J.

Figure 12. Assassin’s Creed Unity, screen capture from the game (Ubisfot, 2014). II, was released in 2013, causing an uproar in the game, the Soviet army is depicted as among some in Eastern Europe and Russia. sending soldiers into battle without rifles, Some of those upset signed a digital peti- ordering officers to shoot any soldiers who tion, hoping to block the sale of the game retreated, and fielding battalions of convict- in the Russian Commonwealth. Critics “re- ed criminals. Critics suggested that these view-bombed” the game, flooding a -vid elements caricature Eastern Europeans as eogame review site, in this case , violent and obedient to the point of self-de- with negative reviews to lower dramatical- struction and the Soviet state as evil. Relic ly its overall review scores. At issue was the defended its history and noted that there is depiction of the Soviet Army and war effort enough evidence to suggest that two totali- in the Second World War. At different times tarian states were brutal in their clashes on

Figure 13. Company of Heroes 2, screen capture from the game (Sega, 2013).

Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 29-48 (2019). History and video games the Eastern Front and soldiers there were logical and industrial growth. In most play- often caught between a rock and a hard throughs, a civilization can truly expand place, between their enemies on the battle- to all the corners of the world, exploiting field and their own states (Campbell, 2013). ever more land and resources, without any problematic effects on the environment. In- The Civilization series, created by Sid terestingly enough, anthropogenic global Meier back in 1991 and now in its sixth it- warming and its effect on sea levels were eration, has received significant criticism built into the earliest games of the series, not only for its questionably accurate por- Civilization I (1991) and Civilization II (1996), trayals of the past but also the problematic and not seen as particularly controversial. messages those portrayals send to players. The phenomenon disappeared from Civili- In this extremely popular strategy game zations III through V (Tharoor, 2016). Most franchise, players take on the role of leader recently the developers of Civilization VI of a “civilization.” These are ostensibly his- (2016) have released an expansion, Gath- torical national leaders, but functionally de- ering Storm (2019), that adds, among other ities, the guiding intelligence for their civ- human made crises, anthropogenic climate ilizations. Starting with the foundation of change. their first city in about 4000 BCE on a world map of earth-like or random geographic Still others have questioned how Civi- features, players navigate geography, and lization portrays certain historical leaders compete, collaborate, and fight with rival and cultures. Recently the Cree Nation civilizations in a race to create the best civ- criticized Civilization VI for including the ilization. Some have objected to the game’s Cree, without their consultation, as a his- caricature of historical figures and cultures. torical civilization along with their histor- Other have criticized that the surest path to ical chief Poundmaker. Said Cree Head victory, to having the “best” civilization, is Milton Tootoosis, “It perpetuates this myth following the historical imperialist trajec- that First Nations had similar values that tory of technological and military develop- the colonial culture has, and that is one of ment found in Western Civilization (Pob- conquering other peoples and accessing locki, 2002). Still others have pointed to the their land” (Chalk, 2018). Tootoosis further game’s problematic presentation of techno- opined, “That is totally not in concert with

Figure 14. A 10-year (real world years!) game of Civilization II, screen capture from the game (MicroProse, 1996). Image extracted from Biessener (2012).

41 McCall, J.

our traditional ways and world view (…) against the historical evidence, that a game It’s a little dangerous for a company to per- obscures the reality of the past in order to petuate that ideology that is at odds with be “politically correct” and inclusive of di- what we know. [Chief Poundmaker] was versity. Assassin’s Creed Origins (2017), for certainly not in the same frame of mind as example, since its unveiling, has sparked the colonial powers” (Chalk, 2018). debate and a considerable amount of racist rant and memes on Steam forums and else- This concern about historical accuracy where about the skin tones of ancient Egyp- takes a grim turn when some argue, even tians, ancient Mediterranean peoples, and

Figure 15. Chief Poundmaker, from Civilization VI, screen capture from the game (2K Games, 2005).

so on. Much of this discussion focused on whether Ubisoft was historically accurate in its racial portrayals of ancient Egyptians. Though not always, much of this discussion reeked of blatant efforts to promote racist ideology in the present by attempting to ap- ply it to the past (as a search in the Steam forums under Assassin’s Creed Origins will illustrate) (Tamburro, 2017). Similar debates about including women as protagonists in historical video games have surfaced in recent years. Creative As- sembly’s Total War: Rome 2, a strategy game in which players command an ancient state and its armies, received an update in March of 2018 that increased slightly the chances of certain states to receive female generals as potential recruits. These adjustments Figure 16. Assassin’s Creed Origins screenshots (top; Ubisoft, 2017), compared to some Roman Period corresponded with Creative Assembly’s re- Fayum mummy portraits (bottom; Wikimedia Com- lease of the Desert Kingdoms Culture Pack mons). that added Kush and Nabataea, among oth-

Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 29-48 (2019). History and video games

Figure 17: Total War: Rome 2, Desert Kingdoms Culture Pack, screen capture from the game (Sega, 2013). er new playable states (Grayson, 2018; Lu- pearing. komski, 2018; Scott-Jones, 2018). Several months later, in September 2018, Ultimately, the changes assigned some an- Creative Assembly released a tweet to re- cient states in the game a 10–15% chance to spond to forum posters4 who did not con- receive female generals as potential recruits. done the inclusion of women. The develop- A few received greater chances. The ancient ers spoke in terms that demonstrated their Nubian state of Kush, for example, received interest in history and in representing the a 50% chance to reflect the greater frequen- past in fairly viable, broad strokes. They cy of women in political and military roles stood by the changes. there. The most historically patriarchal so- cieties – Rome, Greece, and Carthage – had Almost immediately after the tweet, neg- no chance of recruitable female generals ap- ative reviewers review-bombed Total War:

Figure 18. Creative Assembly’s tweet from 25/Sep/2018.

4 To read reviews, go to: https://store.steampowered.com/app/792520/Total_War_ROME_II__Desert_King- doms_Culture_Pack/ 43 McCall, J.

Rome 2 in the Steam reviews section for the porting diversity and inclusion (Grayson, game.5 Many of the protests claimed that 2018; Lukomski, 2018; Scott-Jones, 2018). the game was historically inaccurate in its inclusion of women in the game. Much of Battlefield ,V a popular first-person shoot- the criticism also suggested that Creative er game focused on World War 2, became 6 Assembly was pandering to the so-called the topic for a similar debate. A trailer “SJWs”, or Social Justice Warriors, a label launched for the game in May 2018 includ- of derision often applied in forums to des- ed a female sniper with a prosthetic arm en- ignate those who are too interested in sup- gaged in a pitched skirmish. Critics, often

Figure 19. Steam customer-review graph for Total War: Rome 2.

in volatile misogynistic terms, protested the Inclusivity: Women in Historical Games. game’s inclusion of playable women char- And, in fact, there is ancient evidence that, acters as historically inaccurate (Plunkett, in some cultures, women indeed participat- 2018). ed in the political and military conflicts of their states as rulers, generals, and even just The striking feature of the Total War: combatants. The same is true for World War Rome 2 and Battlefield 5 controversies is not II where women did play combat roles, es- so much that the critics of these aspects of pecially in the Soviet forces, legendary for the game – the inclusion of more women lethal women snipers and an air unit, the characters in political and militaristic his- Night Witches, composed entirely of wom- torical contexts – often use inflammatory en pilots (Arbuckle, 2016; Holland, 2017). In language calling out “the politically correct” short, it appears a number of posters have and “Social Justice Warriors,” as interesting appealed to historical accuracy to support as that is. What is truly striking is that these what essentially are racist and sexist argu- critics levy the at-first-glance-more-objec- ments to limit diversity and representation tive claim that Creative Assembly and EA in games. DICE are in the wrong because these fea- tures make their games “historically inac- The case of Kingdom Come: Deliverance curate.” In reality, however, there are any (2018, henceforth KC:D) is a particularly in- number of basic features of these games and teresting one to end this exploration with, indeed the larger Total War and Battlefield because of a role reversal: instead of a game series that fail the test of historical accuracy, developer, as in the case of Ubisoft, Cre- if that means consistency with the critical- ative Assembly, and EA DICE including di- ly researched available historical evidence. verse people, increasing representations of This was pointed out by Lukomski (2018) diversity, and sparking cries of historical in- in an insightful essay titled: “Accuracy” vs accuracy, the developers of KC:D presented

5 Search for reviews from September 2018 on Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/214950/Total_War_ ROME_II__Emperor_Edition/ and https://store.steampowered.com/app/792520/Total_War_ROME_II__Des- ert_Kingdoms_Culture_Pack/). 6 You can find it on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7ZpQadiyqs( ). Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 29-48 (2019). History and video games

Figure 20. Cover art for Battlefield 5 (EA DICE, 2018). a largely monolithically white, patriarchal, the conclusion captured in Guthrie’s title: Catholic vision of Medieval Bohemia that “When historical accuracy is used to deny pushed some to question how historically agency” (Guthrie, 2015). By insisting this accurate this un-diverse vision of the Mid- exclusion of people of color and women in dle Ages was. In response to a query from a anything other than stock subordinate roles reader, the blogger at People of Color in Eu- is required of a historically accurate game, ropean Art History investigated the game’s KC:D essentially erases these groups from Kickstarter and raised questions about the history, at least from the audiences of their game’s very un-diverse portrayal of medi- game. eval folk in Bohemia.7 Angry Internet spar- ring followed, and ultimately KC:D lead de- All of this raises interesting questions for signer, Daniel Vávra, tweeted, “would you historians and history teachers who hope please explain to me whats [sic] racist about to leverage historical video games that are, telling the truth? There were no black peo- like all historical sources, limited in their ple in medieval Bohemia. Period,” a prob- scope and representation of issues and peo- lematically binary and ill-defined state- ple. Historical accuracy certainly seems to ment.8 In response to this doubling down, be a reasonable value for history educa- considerable debate has spawned on the In- tors, and reasonably accurate historying ternet over whether indeed there were peo- by game designers seems to be a positive ple of color in this small section of Medieval goal. But what happens if the claim of his- Bohemia. torical accuracy is used, not as the basis for civil discussion about the past and how it In response to the ensuing flame war, is represented but as a way to exclude oth- blogger Robert Guthrie noted Vávra’s ers? There is, indeed, a critical point here. claims were misleadingly selective. There When whole groups of people are left out are many elements in KC:D, Guthrie (2015) of historical narratives and analysis, wheth- notes, that are not historically accurate, er in a history book, class lecture, or video but ignored in the game designers’ claims game, the effect is to almost erase those peo- to accuracy. And so, it is difficult to avoid ples from the record. This is not a problem

7 You can see it on their website (http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/post/75252294049/hi-ive-been-looking-at-a- kickstarter-for-a). 8 To see Vávra’s tweet, go to: https://twitter.com/DanielVavra/status/569686445344079872

45 McCall, J.

that is unique to historical video games, of Arbuckle, A.Q. (2016) 1942-1945, soviet female course. Even the best historians must be se- snipers: the female terrors of the eastern lective in their treatments and topics and front. Mashable. Available from: https:// will have their own biases. Thoughtful and mashable.com/2016/07/30/soviet-wom- reasoned debate and discussion are critical en-snipers/#6BHiu.izQaql (Date of access: 02/Feb/2018). to navigating the often-muddy waters of historical accuracy in video games. Biessenger, A. (2012) The ten-year Civiliza- tion II game. . Available And those thoughtful and reasoned de- from: www.gameinformer.com/b/news/ar- bates can certainly take place in the class- chive/2012/06/12/the-ten-year-civilization- room. When it comes to use in history ii-game.aspx (Date of access: 04/Apr/2019). classes, the learning experience enhanced Brown, F. (2013) Placing authenticity over ac- by games will be successful to the extent curacy in Total War: Rome II. PCGamesN. educators and students ground their dis- Available from: https://www.pcgamesn. cussion and analysis in historical evidence. com/totalwar/placing-authenticity-over-ac- After all, a game that is largely historically curacy-total-war-rome-ii (Date of access: 04/ inaccurate – however one wants to measure Apr/2019). that – can still be useful for learning history Campbell, C. (2013) Why gaming’s latest because the flaws in the game provide grist take is so offensive to Russians. Polygon. for the mill of critique (McCall, 2010, 2011). Available from: https://www.polygon. com/2013/7/25/4553536/is-company-of- Historical games, accurate or loose, ex- heroes-2-anti-russian (Date of access: 08/ clusive or inclusive, problematic or pur- Mar/2019). poseful are history. They communicate their Chapman, A. (2016) Digital Games as History: designers’ understandings of the past, not How Videogames Represent the Past and Of- only in terms of what the designers think fer Access to Historical Practice. Routledge, about the past, but also in terms of what London. they think is important to know, engage, Chalk, A. (2018) Poundmaker Cree Nation lead- and remember. They offer the possibility to er criticizes Cree portrayal in Civilization 6. game the past, to immerse oneself in histor- PC Gamer. Available from: https://www.pc- ical problem spaces, seek out goals, make gamer.com/poundmaker-cree-nation-lead- choices, and see the impact of those choices er-criticizes-cree-portrayal-in-civilization-6/ in a causally-connected systems. Accord- (Date of access: 02/Mar/2019). ingly, they offer significant possibilities for Chibber, K. (2014) Let them play Assas- learning history whether it comes to stu- sin’s Creed. The Atlantic. Available from: dents honing their abilities to critique mod- https://www.theatlantic.com/entertain- ern media or developing their appreciation ment/archive/2014/11/let-them-play-as- of systems and problem spaces. Regardless sassins-creed/382818/ (Date of access: 06/ of whether they are leveraged in formal Mar/2019). history education, they communicate mes- Copplestone, T. (2017) But that’s not accurate: sages about the past that reach considerable the differing perceptions of accuracy in cul- numbers of people. They should not be ig- tural-heritage videogames between creators, nored by anyone concerned with how the consumers and critics. Rethinking History 21: past is perceived, portrayed, and played. 415–438. Dening, G. (2006) Performing cross-culturally. Australasian Journal of American Studies 25: 1–11. REFERENCES Gilbert, L. (2019) Assassin’s Creed reminds us that history is human experience: students’ 2K Games. (2005) Sid Meier’s Civilization IV. senses of empathy while playing a narrative Available from: https://steamcdn-a.akamai- video game. Theory and Research in Social hd.net/steam/apps/3900/manuals/man- Education 47(1): 108–137. ual.pdf?t=1545236003 (Date of access: 04/ Apr/2019). Grayson, N. (2018) Total War game gets review

Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 29-48 (2019). History and video games

bombed on Steam over women generals. Ko- and best practices. Simulation & Gaming 47: taku. Available from: https://kotaku.com/ 517–542. total-war-game-gets-review-bombed-on- McCall, J. (2016b) Twine, inform, and design- steam-over-women-g-1829283785 (Date of ing interactive history texts. Play the Past. access: 08/Mar/2019). Available from: http://www.playthepast. Guthrie, R. (2015) ‘What’s racist about telling org/?p=5739 (Date of access: 02/Mar/2019). the truth?’ – When ‘historical accuracy’ is McCall, J. (2016c) Creating interactive histo- used to deny agency. Available from: http:// ries in history class. Play the Past. Available robertwguthrie.com/whats-racist-about-tell- from: http://www.playthepast.org/?p=5752 ing-the-truth-when-historical-accuracy-is- (Date of access: 02/Mar/2019). used-to-deny-agency/ (Date of access: 02/ Mar/2019). McCall, J. (2018) Video games as participatory public history. In: Dean, D. (Ed.) The Com- Holland, B. (2017) Meet the Night Witches, the panion to Public History. John Wiley & Sons, daring female pilots who bombed nazis by New York. Pp. 405–416. night. History. Available from: https://www. history.com/news/meet-the-night-witches- McCall, J. (2019) Who am I? What am I do- the-daring-female-pilots-who-bombed-nazis- ing here? Player agents in historical games. by-night (Date of access: 02/Mar/2019). Gaming the Past. Available from: https:// gamingthepast.net/2018/12/30/who-am- Jones, D. (2017) Call of Duty WWII kicks off hol- i-what-am-i-doing-here-player-agents- iday season with a bang. TechNewsWorld. in-historical-games/ (Date of access: 02/ Available from: https://www.technews- Mar/2019). world.com/story/84933.html (Date of access: 04/Apr/2019). McCall, J. & Chapman, A. (2017) Discussion: historical accuracy and historical video games Lukomski, J. (2018) ‘Accuracy’ vs inclusivity: (Part 1). Gaming the Past. Available from: women in historical games. NYMG: Femi- https://gamingthepast.net/2017/12/26/ nist Game Studies. Available from: https:// discussion-what-is-historical-accura- www.nymgamer.com/?p=17807 (Date of ac- cy-in-an-historical-video-game-part-1/ (Date cess: 02/Mar/2019). of access: 02/Mar/2019). MacCallum-Stewart, E. & Parsler, J. (2007) McCall, J. & Chapman, A. (2018) The de- Controversies: historicizing the computer bate is on: historical accuracy and histori- game. Situated Play, Proceedings of DiGRA cal video games (Part 2). Gaming the Past. 2007 Conference: 203–210. Available from: https://gamingthepast. McCall, J. (2010) The unexamined game is not net/2018/04/08/discussion-authentici- worth playing? Play the Past. Available from: ty-the-characteristics-of-a-historical-game/ http://www.playthepast.org/?p=302 (Date (Date of access: 02/Mar/2019). of access: 02/Mar/2019). Plunkett, L. (2018) Oh no, there are women McCall, J. (2011) Gaming the Past: Using Vid- in Battlefield V. Kotaku. Available from: eo Games to Teach Secondary History. Rout- https://kotaku.com/oh-no-there-are-wom- ledge, London. en-in-battlefield-v-1826275455 (Date of ac- cess: 08/Mar/2019). McCall, J. (2012a) Historical simulations as problem spaces: criticism and classroom use. Poblocki, K. (2002) Becoming-state: the bio-cul- Journal of Digital Humanities 1(2). tural imperialism of Sid Meier’s Civilization. Focaal – European Journal of Anthropology McCall, J. (2012b) Navigating the problem 39: 163–177. space: the medium of simulation games in the teaching of History. The History Teacher Scott-Jones, R. (2018) Total War: Rome 2’s fe- 45: 9–28. male general controversy is fake. PCGamesN. Available from: https://www.pcgamesn. McCall, J. (2014) Simulation games and the com/total-war-rome-ii/rome-ii-female-gen- study of the past: classroom guidelines. In: erals (Date of access: 11/Mar/2019). Kee, K. (Ed.) PastPlay: Teaching and Learn- ing History with Technology. University of Tamburro, P. (2017) Assassin’s Creed Origins Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. Pp. 228–254. racist backlash forces Ubisoft to take action. GameRevolution. Available from: https:// McCall, J. (2016a) Teaching history with digital www..com/news/347075- historical games: an introduction to the field

47 McCall, J.

assassins-creed-origins-racist-backlash-forc- About the author es-ubisoft-take-action (Date of access: 09/ Mar/2019). Dr. Jeremiah McCall is an historian who writes about the political and military culture of Tharoor, K. (2016) Playing with History: the Roman Republic and about videogames as a what Sid Meier’s video game empire got form of history. He teaches high school history, right and wrong about ‘Civilization’. Kill quite likely his true calling, at Cincinnati Coun- Screen. Available from: https://www. try Day School, where he has been for most of citylab.com/life/2016/10/what-civi- the past two decades. For more details on his lization-vi-gets-wrong-about-civiliza- work, please visit Gamingthepast.net. tion/504653/ (Date of access: 09/Mar/2019).

Journal of Geek Studies 6(1): 29-48 (2019).