Abstract

This thesis will investigate how developers can create recognizable and historically realistic female game characters while balancing historically accurate aspects and creative aesthetics. This paper is meant to give a better understanding of the importance of accurate historical female costumes in games, and investigate whether or not these are preferable to a gaming audience. The results will be reached by analysing the results collected from two online surveys where six 3D models’ turnarounds from two different eras with different levels of historical accuracy will be represented.

Keywords: historically accurate, female costumes, game studies, game character costume design, recognition of historical costumes

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Background 4

2.1 How Historical Costume and Character Design Has Previously Been Done in Entertainment Media 4

2.2 The Issue with Idealized Female Character Designs 8

2.3 The Consequences of Altering History 11

3 Central Question of the Thesis 14

3.1 Method of data gathering 16

3.1.1 The Survey and the Sample Group 16

3.1.2 The Predictions for the Survey 17

3.1.3 The artifacts 18

3.1.4 The Second Survey 19

4 The Research Behind the Artifacts 20

4.1 3D Models and Posing 20

4.2 The Style of the Artifacts 21

4. 3 Fashions of the Two Historical Eras 22

4. 3. 1 16th Century Fashion 22

4. 3. 2 Edwardian Era Fashion 29

5 The Production Process of the Artifacts 36

5.1 The Base of the Artifacts 36

5.2 The Design Process of the Artifacts 37

5.2.1 The Design Process of the Accurate 16th Century Artifact 37

5. 2. 2 The Design Process of the Accurate Edwardian Artifact 39

5. 2. 3. The Design Process of the Semi-Accurate 16th Century Artifact 42

5. 2. 4 The Design Process of the Semi-Accurate Edwardian Artifact 44

5. 2. 5 The Design Process of the Creative 16th Century Artifact 46

5. 2. 6 The Design Process of the Creative Edwardian Artifact 48

5. 3 Summary and Conclusion of the Artifacts 50 5. 3. 1 16th Century Artifacts 50

5. 3. 2 Edwardian Era Artifacts 51

5. 3. 3 The Textured Version of The Artifacts 51

5. 4 The Pilot Study 55

6 Evaluation 58

6.1 The Study 58

6.2 Analysis 60

6. 3 Conclusion 73

7 Concluding remarks 74

7.1 Summary 74

7.2 Discussion 75

7.3 Future work 78

References 79

1 Introduction

Video games inspired by history have been a part of the gaming industry for a very long time. Take for example the classic games The Oregon Trail(1971) or King's Quest(1984), both of ​ ​ ​ ​ which were released in the infancy of the industry. Historical games have almost always been present and popular among the gaming audience. History has influenced games from many different genres such as role playing games, strategy games, and first person shooters, to varying degrees. Some games have merely been inspired by the aesthetics of history, whereas others have sought to replicate history, but regardless of how games are inspired by history, some historical aspects are almost always recognizable to the player. By reflecting aspects of authentic history, developers are able to create a feeling of the past both in realistic and in fictional settings.

In these games there have been many characters who have been clad in what we perceive as historical fashion. Though, when depicting a historical era within a medium meant for entertainment, aspects of historical fashion are often changed. This is the case for both character design in games, as well as costuming for theatre and film. Costume design and character design are closely connected as they both have similar ways of adapting historical aesthetics and fashion in order to better present story and character. Costumes are often changed for many different reasons, such as to create a stronger character impression, create a mood, or to appeal to a modern audience (Andersson, 2011). However, games have a few other reasons that are unique to its medium such as to fit a more simplistic graphical style, technical limitations, or to appeal to the mainstream target audience. Gaming culture unlike theatre, or film, is a culture which is very male-dominated (Lynch et al, 2016), and so designs may also be adapted to create a stronger appeal for this specific group.

These design changes make the clothes lose the context they once had, and we can no longer see them as true reflections of history. Video games however, often do not mean to recreate the past, but to create an experience which a modern audience can appreciate and relate to. An experience that reflects the values and perceptions of modern society rather than those of the past. Yet despite the many differences, we still recognize the past. In this study we wish to explore how developers should make use of historical aesthetics in their character designs, specifically their female character designs, to appeal to the general audience.

Is there a preference for true authenticity, or is the preference merely for society’s perceived idea of authenticity? If a fictional interpretation can still be recognized as a product of a

1 certain era of history, is it preferable for a depiction to only represent certain elements of an era rather than recreate it fully? These are the questions that we wish to explore, and by doing so we hope we can collect information that will be helpful for character designers who want to design costumes inspired by history.

It’s however difficult if not impossible to study and research the reaction of players to all of history’s different aesthetics within a single study, thus we have decided to focus on two specific eras: The early renaissance era, i.e the 16th century, and the Edwardian era, i.e late 19th century to early 20th century. There are multiple games that have depicted or taken inspiration from said periods, for example Assassin's Creed 2 (2009), Dragon Age ​ Inquisition (2014), Dishonored (2012) and Bioshock Infinite (2013). All feature varying ​ degrees of historical authenticity but still predominantly feature aesthetics typical of the historical eras we aim to study.

Many other studies and articles have analysed and discussed the relationship between modern media and historical fashion. Such as the article “Competent, Capable, and ​ Practically Dressed”: The Representation of Women in the Assassin’s Creed Series which ​ discusses how the Assassin’s Creed games depict history with a focus on the appearance and roles of the female characters (Fishbune, 2018). The article The Tyranny of Realism: ​ ​ ​ Historical accuracy and politics of representation in Assassin’s Creed III (Shaw, 2015) similarly discusses the Assassin’s Creed games’ relationship with history but with a more general focus on history itself (Shaw, 2015). A great article discussing the depiction of ​ ​ historical aesthetics in media and its reflection of society is the article The maiden fair: ​ Nineteenth-century Medievalist Art and the Gendered Aesthetics of Whiteness in HBO’s Game of Thrones (Downes & Young, 2019) which brings up how our perception of the ​ medieval ages have been heavily influenced by values of the victorian era. These are but a few examples of texts written within the subject, but they show that the way history is portrayed in entertainment media is a subject that is and will remain relevant as history is something that will remain forever present. The study that will be performed for this paper will further explore the subject with a focus on multiple eras, something which is rarely seen in other texts. Commonly most texts only focus on one era. We will study the perception of these eras, how knowledgeable the general audience is of these eras, and how to create an appealing character inspired by these eras. Focusing both on historical depiction and game development is something that makes this study unique for its kind.

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Inevitably a discussion of the appearance of characters, especially female characters, will bring up the subject of sexism in entertainment media. Sexism is very much present in both film and gaming culture, both within the media and in the culture surrounding it. Female characters have been objectified and portrayed in damaging ways for years in the media for both children as well as adults (Munilla, 2018). As gaming is closely related to film, these issues exist within games as well (Lynch et al, 2016; ESA, 2009-2020). Both in games and in the male dominated fan culture that exists around them.

This paper will mainly focus on visual aesthetics of history. Though we will discuss certain aspects of society and sexism in gaming culture, we will not analyse these societal topics in depth as this is not the focus of our study.

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2 Background

2.1 How Historical Costume and Character Design Has Previously Been Done in Entertainment Media Costumes may to many seem similar to fashion, and while it is an aspect of it costumes are different from fashion. Costumes are created for a specific purpose (Moloney, 2014), and are rarely meant to be garments worn outside of a specific context. They strike a balance between reflecting society and reflecting the character. Costumes can show a society’s values and perceptions of other cultures, eras, careers, etc, but they are also meant to create an impression of an individual. Costumes are as mentioned designed to show character (Andersson, 2011), to create an image of something (Moloney, 2014). A character design is essentially the same thing as costume design but the actor is digital. Costume and character design both try to convey an identity and narrative to the viewer (Maloney, 2014; Salomaa, 2018). By simply showing the character the audience must understand part of who this character is.This visual narrative can take its shape in both more avant garde and otherworldly garments, as well as simple everyday clothing. It all depends on what kind of character is being portrayed (Maloney, 2014).

In media such as films or games historical fashion is often changed in some way. This is because of various reasons but often it’s to communicate something to the audience. These changes are made either to make the time period more relatable to the audience, to give a stronger character appearance, or to create a stronger emotional mood (Andersson, 2011; Jablon, 2014; Cunningham, 2019).

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Fig 1 - Screencap from the movie Marie Antoinette showing the character Marie Antoinette (middle) wearing a bright pink robe de la francaise decorated with feathers. Neither the colour nor feathered trim are present in the records we have of rococo fashion.

An example of when accuracy was disregarded in favor of a stronger character appearance is the movie Marie Antoinette (2006) by Sofia Coppola. The costumes of the movie may seem ​ authentic at a brief glance but several changes have been made. In a number of scenes in the movie the costume designer has chosen to use unconventional materials, colours (see fig 1) and objects in order to create a stronger character impression (Andersson, 2011). Even such a small thing as the material of the costume has an influence on the character's impression (Cunningham, 2019). Every aspect of the costumes worn in the movie is a tool for conveying various information about the character Marie Antoinette. The costumes are meant to show the character more so than to be replicas of french Rococo fashion. We see her transform from a bright, innocent, adolescent dressed in light pastelles to a weathered woman dressed in darker, more somber colours. Though these colours and fabrics may be inaccurate, it helps communicate the character.

Fig 2 - Closeups from screencaps showing three female characters from the show Game of Thrones

Another example of how a piece of cinematic media portrays a historic era is the popular fantasy series Game of Thrones (2011). The costumes worn in the show are not authentic to ​ the eras of which it is said to be inspired by, but they have been changed to live up to society’s perception of the era (Downes & Young, 2019). The audience perceived the look of the characters in Game of Thrones as medieval since the aesthetics of the show reflect what ​ our society has been brought up to believe the era was like the era was like. Many of the women have fair skin, long braided hair, and wear fine floor length gowns (see fig 2) and in the eyes of the viewer this image feels correct. This image of the Medieval era was created in Victorian times by artists during the Pre-Raphaelite art movement. They painted women in a

5 fictional setting that was loosely based on the medieval era but also on fairy tales and myths. The paintings presented an idealistic image of the mevielad era and as a society we adopted this image. Despite this, even though the Medieval aesthetics of Game of Thrones may not be ​ authentic, in the context of which the costume exists it is more important that it feels authentic. By changing the costumes to live up to the audience expectations, the creators of the show have an easier time communicating with the viewer.

An example of a fictional cinematic design which incorporates modern features in a historical setting can be seen in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959). The era of the movie is ​ ​ Medieval, and at the first glance, Princess Aurora looks like she belongs to the Medieval times. However, the so-called peasant dress she wears for the first half of the movie is a full calf-length dress with a modern collar. Her silhouette is closer to 50s fashion rather than Medieval (Kalmakurki, 2018). The design of the Princess was adapted in order to be more relatable for the modern audience, historical dress can seem foreign for a viewer but by making the design have a modern shape it gives off a more appealing and relatable appearance. Compared to the other characters in the movie who wear a more traditional style of dress, she has a striking and distinct appearance. This decision to differentiate and modernize her silhouette also makes her more recognizable which is a very important factor when designing a character (Solarski, 2012; Cunningham 2019). A good character should be recognizable at first glance even in a crowd, and sometimes accuracy must be sacrificed in order to achieve this. By using colours and aesthetics of the medieval era combined with a 50’s silhouette, Aurora’s design achieves a unique look that doesn’t feel out of place.

This way of designing is not exclusive to movies. Developers and designers of video game characters have taken similar design decisions in certain historical games. The main character of the game Assassin's Creed II (2009) being one example. The game takes place in ​ ​ ​ ​ Italy during the early renaissance era, but the main character wears a very distinct light ​ coloured outfit that is unlike the historically traditional clothing most other characters wear in the game. It’s an outfit that is obviously inauthentic but, with its use of renaissance aesthetics, the design still fits in. The prominent women of Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) ​ have similar aesthetics to those in Game of Thrones, and their designs have the same ​ ​ function as the previously mentioned Marie Antoinette and Princess Aurora from Disney’s ​ Sleeping beauty. The designs feature aesthetics of the historical era the developers have ​ taken inspiration from, but their silhouettes are noticeably modern (see fig 3). They wear tight fitting pants, tall boots, and low cut bodices. They clearly stand out from the irrelevant

6 background characters who wear more traditional and simple dress. As explained previously when designing a character it is important to create a design which is easy for the audience to distinguish (Cunningham, 2019). This helps the audience better understand the story and actions that occur since they are able to follow the character without difficulty.

Fig 3 - Closeups from screencaps showing three prominent female characters from the game Witcher 3

It’s important for the player to recognize a character in order to be able to properly play the game, the design of a character is an important aspect when it comes to the accessibility of a game. Accessibility is always relevant for game development as when developing games a character designer must have the audience in mind (Silva Filho, Rocha Franco, Chicca, Maya 2016). In games, the audience becomes part of the story and characters as they play. A player often comes to identify with their character (Bullingham & Vasconcelos, 2013), and the appearance of their character influences their experience in a different way than it would for an audience member watching a play. Artistic style and character design can have such a great influence on the player that if they find they dislike the appearance they may choose not to partake in the experience at all, or if they seem interested in a particular design they may seek the gaming experience out in order to learn more about the character. Character design is a vital part of a game which is why it is the chosen topic of this study.

There is no absolute way to portray history. History can be adapted in many ways and still retain the aesthetics of an era. Sometimes inaccuracies may be necessary in order to present the identity of a character (Kelly, 2004). By dressing characters in costumes that show the character’s identity, the viewer understands the character to a degree purely from the visual appearance (Jablon, 2014). This is vital information in all entertainment media

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(Cunningham, 2019), both within film and games, where often there's only room for a limited amount of explanatory information. If too much of the story is spent on informing the viewer through explicit means then the entertainment value of it often lessens. Both film and games communicate stories, and costumes, as mentioned previously, are a part of this communication. They convey information through visuals and, though they may not always tell us much about history, costumes help tell the story that the creators wished to convey. A more accurate design could potentially be more damaging to a story than helpful depending on what type of story and theme that the developers wish to portray. A costume should enhance the experience, not smother it.

By showing different types of costumes to the participants of this study we will see if they have a different impression of the characters depending on their level of authenticity. Without being given a context f0r the artifacts we will test if the participants judge the designs based solely on visuals, or if they will judge the artifacts based on a self-imagined context inspired by the artifacts impression. In addition to this we will test whether they are able to distinguish what type of design is authentic or whether their perception of history has been skewed by entertainment media.

2.2 The Issue with Idealized Female Character Designs When designing and discussing the appearance of female characters it would be a gross oversight to do so without also considering the oppression and objectification of women in games and other entertainment media. About a decade ago, most female characters were objectified and sexualised in video games. Their characters were based on distorted gender roles, their appearance didn’t reflect a realistic female body image, and clothing was almost always extremely revealing (Miller & Summers, 2007). This is a phenomenon that was carried over from cinematic media where women have been objectified and sexualised for decades, to the point where it has become tradition (Mulvey, 1975). In the current day these damaging, hypersexualized stereotypes of women in video games are slowly decreasing. Many developers have become more socially aware, and more diverse characters are being created, yet despite this sexual objectification is not gone entirely (Breuer et al., 2015; Lynch et al., 2016) and it's still prevalent within gaming culture.

The game industry sees young adult males as their primary target audience, and including sexualised female characters in games has been a method to appeal to this audience(Gestos,

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Smith-Merry & Campbell, 2018; Kondrat, 2015). Many articles have been written highlighting the subject throughout the years and criticizing the fact that female characters in video games were overly sexualised and failed to reflect realistic female bodies. According to the article Shirts vs. Skins: Clothing as an Indicator of Gender Role Stereotyping in Video ​ Games (2002) the most sexualised and deformed female body parts were the breasts. They ​ ​ found out that almost half of the analysed female characters had unnatural breasts (Beasley & Standley, 2002).The size of the female characters' chests was either increased to an abnormal degree, or portrayed in other unnatural ways(Gestos, Smith-Merry & Campbell, , 2018; Kondrat, 2015; Breuer et al, 2015).

In our current day society female and male characters should be treated equally without a game being an outlier(Lynch et al, 20016). Female characters wearing similar clothing to their male counterparts should not be an exception to the norm, but unfortunately this is not the case. A study from 2007 describes male characters as usually fully dressed up characters with their clothing matching the games genre. Males were usually portrayed wearing military clothing or any other kind of fighting uniform, while females most often had tank tops and shorts (Miller & Summers, 2007). In the article Gender and video games: How is female ​ gender generally represented in various genres of video games? (2015) female imagery in ​ video games is analysed. This article confirms that women in games are objectified and wear less clothing than men even in modern games. Even though many studios in the industry are dedicated to improving gaming culture and games portrayal of women, the issue of sexualised female characters is unfortunately still a very relevant and important matter. (Gestos, Smith-Merry & Campbell, 2018). The most surprising fact is that women looked hypersexualised even in games rated as playable for everyone, meaning games developed for young boys and girls to play. This kind of unrealistic female imagery being presented to children is especially worrying as young children are very impressionable (Beasley & Standley, 2002).

In the mid 1980’s video games started to be marketed exclusively to young boys. Female character designs were and are sexualised in order to appeal to this audience. The famous female character Lara Croft from Tomb Raider (1996) being an obvious example of this ​ ​ method of appealing to a male audience. She was designed with large breasts, a tiny waist and round hips (Lynch et al, 2016) and to compliment this figure and emphasize her sexual appeal further she was also dressed in short shorts and a tight tank top; an outfit that showed plenty of skin (Fig 4). In the late 2000s the designs of female characters started to slowly

9 become more realistic as the gaming industry slowly became more progressive in terms of their portrayal of women. The clothing worn by female characters was still more revealing than those worn by male, but the female body started to look more real and natural. People had started to become uncomfortable playing with overly sexualised characters (Martins et al, 2009) and female gamers had started to become an acknowledged part of the gaming audience(Lynch et al, 2016).

Fig 4 - Evolution of Lara Croft over 20 years

In the beginning of the article Sexy, Strong, and Secondary: A Content Analysis of Female ​ Characters in Video Games across 31 Years (2016) the authors discuss the harmful portrayal of female characters in the games, the issues of gaming being regarded as a masculine activity, and also the issues of the shortages of women in the game industry (Lynch et al, 2016). These issues damage the perception of gaming culture for female players. Women seldom identify themselves as gamers, even though it is known that there is a substantial number of female players(Lynch et al, 2016; ESA, 2009-2019). Because female players feel uncomfortable to make themselves known, many gaming developers continue to only keep their male audience in mind when developing their female characters. This discomfort that women have of identifying themselves as gamers is further maintained by developers appealing primarily to men. These developers create characters that as a result alienate their potential female audience further. It has been shown that women are often negatively affected by oversexualised images of female characters. This also gives more of an understanding as to why sometimes women prefer playing with male characters - they are more realistic, stronger, have more abilities and are not objectified, nor sexualised (Lopez-Fernandez et al, 2019).

Though this study will not test the participants preference when it comes to sexualised designs, the matter of sexualised female characters being a prevalent part of gaming culture will be kept in mind when analysing the result of the survey. Female sexualisation is always

10 relevant when discussing female characters, and especially so when a study explores the preference of players when it comes to the appearance of a female character.

2.3 The Consequences of Altering History

The way that history is portrayed in entertainment media has a major influence on how society comes to perceive history. This has been the case in the past, and presumably this is the case for the portrayal of history in modern media as well. Thus, it’s relevant to discuss how video games are inspired by and depicts history.

Altered versions of history can influence society and cause society to forget what is actual historical fact. Historical dress may seem like an indisputable subject and in many cases it is, especially for later ages such as the early 20th century. From these eras there is a lot of documentation of both the society and the ways of dress. There are preserved pieces of clothing, books, photographs, illustrations, advertisements, and various other pieces of documentation showing proof of the fashion that was. However, documented proof often matters less in comparison to what society perceives of an era. Even though there might be plenty of documentation of an era or historical event but if society perceives the era or event in a certain way then proof that that doesn't align with the perceived vision is often forgotten or ignored by society (Downes & Young, 2019).

fig 5 - Pre-Raphaelite painting depicting the Shakespearian character Ophelia (Waterhouse, 1894)

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The medieval ages is an example of an era which has come to be perceived in a certain way because of society being influenced by pieces of media. These pieces being paintings created during the Pre-Raphaelite art movement which took place in the late Victorian era. A common subject to paint at the time was fair feminine medieval maidens with long flowing hair, either unclothed or in floor length gowns (see fig 5). The idea of the medieval ages that was created then affects our image of the past even in the current day (Downes & Young, 2019). The images and ideals created then of medieval aesthetics are recreated even in current media, one example being the series Game of Thrones. Even though it's inaccurate, ​ ​ the society of the time understood this image and connected with it, and thus it has remained. It’s not strange to see that many modern pieces of media attempt to do the same thing and change history in order to better connect with the audience (Jablon, 2014). The same way the Victorians did it, modern society does today, and it has a significant impact on the way we see history. The way media portrays history influences us, more so than scientific texts or articles (Butler, Zaromb, Lyle, Roediger, 2009).

Fig 6 - Official cover image used for Battlefield V Standard Edition, showing the controversial female character.

One example of a modern piece of media depicting accurate aspects of history, and still receiving criticism for being inaccurate is the video game Battlefield V (2018). When the ​ ​ trailer for Battlefield V was originally released, the reaction to the female character seen in ​ the trailer and in official images (see fig 6) was largely negative (Gauteul, 2019). It felt unrealistic, untrue to the perceived idea and aesthetics of World War 2, and so the audience reacted with disdain. It depicted a female soldier fighting in the war. Documented proof of female soldiers exists. Though the appearance and actions of the soldier depicted in the game may not be fully authentic to reality, it’s by no means unrealistic especially in the context of it being a character in a video game. It could be seen as reasonable to criticise the actions and

12 design of the character, but the largest complaint was regarding the character’s gender which is an aspect that is presumably authentic (Gauteul, 2019). However it went against the audience's perception of history and so the audience did not approve. Because the media has not portrayed this part of history in an authentic way it wasn’t seen as authentic by the audience.

A female character in a similar active role is Evie Frye (see fig 7) from Assassin's Creed: ​ Syndicate (2015) Evie is not a very historically accurate figure for the Victorian Era. She does ​ not wear any dresses and performs the same active and violent actions as her male counterpart (Fishbune, 2018). She is not only dressed in a masculine way, but also allowed to perform traditionally male actions. The idea of a Victorian female as an assassin running around in pants is very unusual and probably historically inaccurate since it goes against the typical restrictions women suffered at the time. It’s known that females in the Victorian era were restricted with some rules, had no properties and fewer rights than men (Demir, 2015). Despite this character not being historically accurate and performing a similar role as the female character in Battlefield V she is not criticized. This could be because the media has not portrayed Victorian assassins in the same way as it has soldiers of World War 2, and so society and the gaming audience has no perception of that specific part of history. This would explain why some historical games are played more and why other ones get more critiques.

The media’s and other games’ depiction of history is a great influence on the perception of history, and this matter is relevant for our study as it tests and analyses the participants' knowledge of history. By showing them designs inspired by historical eras the participants will be tested if they are able to recognize and identify two historical eras. When analysing the result of this there might be signs of their perception being influenced by entertainment media, and so this matter is relevant to keep in mind.

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Fig 7 - Concept art of Evie Frye for the game Assassin's creed: Syndicate

3 Central Question of the Thesis

Even though quite a few games are inspired by or based on history, there are no studies that research what players actually think of historical character designs. Some players might enjoy games without knowing any historical details in the game, but some players can be bothered by lack of historical authenticity. Inaccurate graphical assets such as costume design can perhaps frustrate some players, and have a negative effect on their gaming experience.

Despite the fact that this is an issue which can have a major influence on the player experience, no studies about specifically gaming character design could be found as of the writing of this paper. Finding articles and studies pertaining to historical costumes in film or literature is relatively simple, however there are very few articles written that analyse the reaction and preference when it comes to the authenticity of female character costumes within historical games. As mentioned previously, games that feature female main characters are far fewer in number in comparison to games with male protagonists. Therefore it’s reasonable to assume some developers spend significantly less time on female costume design which can result in less accuracy in female historical costumes. Moreover, in the game industry most costumes regardless of gender tend to not accurately reflect reality as many designers and developers often choose to feature a more artistic rendition of an era. Because

14 of this it is sometimes difficult to recognise a historical period. This means that it is difficult to accurately gauge how players feel when they encounter characters with inaccurate historical design and whether they even recognise that the costumes they are seeing are inaccurate as it's possible they’re not familiar with accurate depictions of history.

That is why even Andrew B. R. Elliot questions in his article if players are interested in historical accuracy, or if the game play and the feeling is more important while playing games based on historical facts (Elliot, 2017).

Without knowing the players' side and how they feel about female costume designs in games, it is hard to tell why developers choose particular ways to design and visualise historical characters. There are no exact guidelines on history inspired character design, but despite this developers are able to create designs that are somewhat accurate and easy for the audience to recognize. There must be something that lets players identify that costumes are from a specific era, such as particular features or silhouettes.

Do game players care about historical accuracy in games? Do they care how characters’ look? Can players recognise different historical eras based on female costume design, and can they distinguish historically accurate and inaccurate female character costumes? In short, our core problem is:

How can developers create recognizable and historically realistic female character designs for games, while balancing historical authenticity and creative liberty?

Additionally, since this study will be discussing the appearance of female character design there is the obvious aspect of female objectification. Female characters, regardless of their role or function, are often sexualised in modern media. This is a phenomenon that is present in all forms of visual media, such as film or games, and has an influence on how women are portrayed. Regardless if it’s conscious or subconscious, our patriarchal society has an influence on the media we create as media and culture are simply an extension and reflection of society. Female characters are not always used as 3-dimensional characters with agency and depth but often are simply images onto which the viewer can project a fantasy onto (Mulvey, 1975). Examples of sexualised female characters like this can be seen in many games such as Witcher 3 or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011). In these games we see ​ ​ ​ ​ female characters dressed in impractical costumes that clearly have been designed to display their physical assets. These characters are designed to be spectacles rather than authentic or logical, and perhaps this way of design is encouraged by some players. Seeing as gaming is a very male dominated culture, it’s very possible that women functioning as images of which

15 fantasies can be projected onto is preferable to a lot of players. This is an important aspect to take into consideration for our study, as male participants may prefer a design that more so aligns with the idea of the woman as an image.

When developers choose to what degree of historical authenticity they wish to replicate, it’s relevant to reflect why there is a desire for certain changes of historical designs. There is certainly a very high possibility that the developers are subconsciously influenced to continue this tradition of portraying the female character as an image rather than a character, as well as the possibility of a conscious design to do so as it can appeal to certain players. Depending on our result it may show developers to what degree female objectification influences the opinions of the male player. Perhaps it matters less than expected or perhaps more, either way it is information which will be valuable for character designers.

3.1 Method of data gathering

To perform this study we had two groups of participants fill out a survey where they were asked questions regarding their opinions on games inspired by and based on history. Together with the questions, two sets of images were shown. These images showed two sets of artefacts, three artefacts per set and each set inspired by a historical era. 16th century and the Edwardian era. The artifacts ranging from accurate, to semi accurate to inaccurate design. The images were used to question the participants' knowledge of history and their preference when it comes to designs of historically inspired characters.

3.1.1 The Survey and the Sample Group

To perform our study it was concluded that an online survey containing both open- and closed questions would be the most optimal method to gather data. This was largely because of the current ongoing pandemic discouraging direct contact, as well as it being an efficient method to spread our survey to multiple participants.

The survey included 18 questions total, and these were written to gather both quantitative and qualitative information, quantitative from the closed questions and qualitative from the open ones. In the open-ended questions participants were able to give their opinions and thoughts freely without any restrictions (Barnum, 2011). The questions asked were meant to

16 gather information both about the participants themselves as well as their impression of the aforementioned artifacts. The artifacts were used as a visual tool to question the participants ability to identify the two historical eras the artifacts were based on, and to question the participants preference in terms of design.

The participants of the survey were not asked to identify themselves, which means their answers were gathered anonymously. This way the participants were more inclined to give their honest opinion while answering the questions since they would not be judged based on their person.

The sample of participants chosen for this study were selected through convenience sampling.The method of sampling was chosen due to the fact that we knew beforehand that these individuals fit the profile of our chosen target group. Since we wanted to gather information that would be useful for game developers we decided to focus on a sample group that reflected the average gamer. According to the 2019 report published by Entertainment Software Association, the average gamer is 33 years old (ESA, 2019). Because of this we decided to focus on individuals who play video games regularly who are between the ages of 20-35. Many game companies develop and market their games with this target group in mind, and this study is meant to be a tool for these game companies and developers.

3.1.2 The Predictions for the Survey

It’s very important to plan surveys carefully to get useful and appropriate information from participants (Roopa and Rani, 2017). That is why we decided to inform our participants beforehand about the type of questions that would be presented to them beforehand.

We predicted that the majority of participants would be able to recognise two different eras and could give us their opinion on what exactly in the artifact gave away about that particular era. The only concern was that the participants would confuse the Edwardian artifacts with the Victorian era, as the two eras had a very similar aesthetic in many ways.

It was presumed that the participants would also be able to distinguish which artifacts were based on historically accurate dress and which ones were more based on modern clothing. Many fictional and modern aspects should lead to the inaccurate artifacts being more recognisable as an inaccurate costume.

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3.1.3 The artifacts

In order to produce the material necessary for the study the six artefacts needed to be sculpted, these would become the visual tool that was essential for testing our participants' preferences and opinions. These artefacts were presented in sets of two, with 3 artifacts in each. All six models were sculpted in the same pose and style in order to have a cohesive appearance, and were all inspired by historically authentic references as well as modern clothing.

When designing these artifacts we took into consideration the flaws of historical remembrance, and used primarily preserved garments as well as authentic photographs, paintings and illustrations as our main sources. These sources are not without flaw as even paintings and photographs created during the time in which the fashion took place can be an altered image of reality (Ribeiro,2017). There are however few if any alternatives that could be better and so we have chosen these, as well as additional sources when needed. These additional sources were for example modern texts written by fashion historians, which were necessary as our knowledge within the subject of fashion history is nowhere near as advanced as an educated professional.

For this study we chose Zbrush (2019) and Blender (2019) as the softwares for developing ​ ​ ​ our artifact. We believed these to be the most optimal options in terms of softwares as we are both familiar with these programs and enjoy using them. These softwares are more optimal for creating smooth and intricate sculpts compared to other modeling softwares, especially since the artifacts created for this study were not intended to be optimized, used, or shown in any way other than still images. Being able to create intricate sculpts without issue was especially important when trying to recreate clothing as it enabled us to portray the detailed historical clothing of our artifacts in a clear and accurate way which would not confuse the participants.

The artifacts that were shown in the initial survey did not have any textures, the survey only showed the artifacts as grey uncoloured models. This was a conscious decision as we intended to lessen the chance of the participants being influenced by matters such as skin or fabric colour, which could be aspects that potentially could affect the results. This survey was meant to solely focus on the shape of the costumes, not on the colour or race of the

18 characters. However after the result of the survey had been gathered it was concluded that simply showing the artifacts without textures gave us lacking data. In order to compliment the data of the first survey a second survey featuring the artifacts with textures was performed.

3.1.4 The Second Survey

After the first survey had been completed it was evident that the result was lacking. In hindsight the survey that had been developed was deemed inadequate, and thus a second survey was performed to compliment the data gathered from the first survey. This survey differed from the first survey as six of the questions asked in the first survey were excluded, and featured altered versions of the artifacts. The second survey focused solely on the participants' impression of the artifacts and did not include questions about their person nor their experience and preference when it comes to historical games. The decision to focus the second survey mainly on the artifacts was due to the fact that this was the area that was found to be lacking in the first survey. The artifacts presented in this second survey had textures, something the artifacts in the previous survey did not, and these new artifacts would show how much of an influence colour had on the impression of the artifacts. In all other facets the second survey was performed the same way as the first, with a new group of participants who were part of the same target group.

As this second survey was not originally planned and thus was performed during a shorter period of time than what would have been optimal. For the second survey we were only able to gather data from 15 participants whereas for the first survey 24 participants took part of the survey. These 15 participants however provided very interesting data which gave a new perspective on the subject which will be analysed in the later analysis of this paper.

4 The Research Behind the Artifacts

As described, the artifacts were to function as a complementary tool to our survey, in order to test the survey participants' opinion and experience of historical visual aesthetics. Before modeling began two decisions needed to be made. Those being what pose the outfits would be modeled in and in what style. The pose is important specifically for these artifacts as we

19 needed a clear view of the costumes’ detail in order for the artifacts to be easy to understand. In addition to the pose there was also the matter of style. The choice of style is equally important as in order for a group of assets or artifacts to be cohesive, a specific style must be set. If the survey was to present images of artifacts in varying styles this could potentially cause confusion which would negatively affect our research.

4.1 3D Models and Posing

When creating and designing a character, different artists may choose to make use of different poses that fit their purposes better. 2D artists often depict their character designs in more than one pose in order to show the character in different ways. This allows the artist to show the characters impression as well as their appearance (Fig 8).

Fig 8 - Concept art of a character from the game Fable by Ross Darsley

However when creating a character meant to be replicated as a 3D model the character is usually created in a T- or A- pose (fig 9, 10) (Egländer, 2015). This is done in order to make the work easier for both 3D artists and animators. A character in a T-pose has its arms stretched out to the sides, at shoulder height, with the palms of the hands facing down and the fingers very straight (Fig 9). The A-pose is a more relaxed pose, the arms are angled slightly downwards and not as straight as they would be for T-pose (Fig 10). Both A- and T-pose have their advantages and disadvantages, and so the decision of pose must be carefully considered.

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Fig 9 (Left) - T-pose by Jada Chavis Fig 10 (Right) - A-pose by Ken Wong

For this study there is no use in adapting our artifacts for animation as they will purely function as a visual tool for our survey, however the T-pose was still chosen as the pose used for this project for a number of reasons. It’s possible that these models could be used for other projects in the future and in that case it would be useful to already have the model in an optimal pose for flexibility in case this project would require a lot of movement. Furthermore the T-pose shows off the models’ visual appearance well, it clearly shows the costumes both in front and side view. An A-pose would have covered part of the costume when seen from the side. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, modeling with a T-pose is a far more optimal choice for our specific purposes. Many of these dresses are large and wide, and an A-pose may have constricted modeling as the arms would merge into the clothing. Thus the decision was obvious to create our artifacts in a T-pose.

4.2 The Style of the Artifacts

The style of a character is very important as it can influence the impression of a character. A simple and cute character will always appear cute regardless of how it is dressed, and so for this project the decision of style was carefully considered. However since the artifacts were intended to recreate real life clothing to a degree, a realistic style seemed like the more optimal choice in order to properly recreate the general look of the clothes. A more stylistic approach would also have required additional work in order to develop a specific look, this

21 work would have been unnecessary as though this study briefly mentions the stylization of historical clothing it is not something that is analysed in depth. However, even though the models are far more realistic than stylized, this study still refers to them as semi-realistic as the anatomy of the base-model used for the artifacts is not fully true to that of a real life woman. It more so depicts an idealistic image of a woman rather than a realistic one.

4. 3 Fashions of the Two Historical Eras

4. 3. 1 16th Century Fashion

To begin with, this section will present and explain some of the more mainstream aspects of fashion in 16th century Europe, thus explaining why certain design choices were made for the 16th century artifacts. The artifacts were meant to be a reflection of the era and thus some of the aspects seen in the era had to be present in their design. The 16th century featured many recognizable aesthetics that designers and costumiers draw inspiration from to this day. The fashion throughout the century was in many ways consistent however there were still aspects that changed and evolved. The neckline, sleeves, and skirts kept consistent aspects yet still evolved in shape.

The square neckline remained in fashion up until the end of the century. It was worn by noble women throughout all of Europe. Its shape is a straight cut across the torso, with the sleeves resting at the very edge of the wearer’s shoulders (Browne & Becker 2014) (see fig 11,12).

Fig 11 (Left) - Picture of what the square neckline and slashed sleeves looks like on an original preserved garment from the 16th century (Red Dress of Pisa, c.1560)

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Fig 12 (Right) - Portrait of Joanna of Austria (Mor, c.1552) depicting a similar type of dress with a high neck chemise worn underneath.

Later in the century other necklines came into popularity, such as the high neck with ruff, or the medici collar. They were created using wide trims of fabric and or lace, gathered into a circle and then stiffened with starch (Gieleghem 2010) (Browne & Becker 2014).

Fig 13 - The Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (Unknown, 1588), showing Queen Elizabeth wearing a wide lace ruff.

Elizabeth the first is an example of one of the century’s fashion icons and she can be seen wearing the large ruff collars in many of her portraits. Sleeves changed in shape as well throughout the century, at the beginning of the 16th century slim sleeves with slashed puffs around the shoulders and elbows were common (see fig 14), but later in the century the sleeves widened (Hill, 2011) (see fig 13).

Fig 14 (Left) - Portrait of duchess Katherina von Mecklenburg (Cranach the Elder, 1514) showing slim slashed sleeves.

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Fig 15 (Right) Portrait from the mid 16th century of a young queen Elizabeth I (Scrots, c. 1546) wearing wide sleeves with slashed fabric underneath. ​

Slashes refer to cuts in the outer fabric of a sleeve, revealing the often more delicate inner fabric that lies beneath. Slashes were not always used of course, many times the sleeves were not cut but simply decorated with beautiful trims or other decorations. During the century cone shaped bodices were in fashion (De Young, 2019). In comparison to the hourglass figure that is popular in modern times, the torso of the 16 century was longer and less voluptuous (see fig 12, 15). There were few if any changes to this silhouette throughout the century. The silhouette of the skirt however did change as the farthingale came into fashion (Delis Hill, 2011). The farthingale was a wide circular underskirt, which made the silhouette of the skirt take on a more barrel-like or cake-like shape (Reynolds, 2013) (see fig 16).

Fig 16 - The Ditchley portrait of queen Elizabeth I (Gheeraerts the younger, c.1592) showing queen Elizabeth wearing a dress on top of a spanish farthingale.

As for headwear, there were a number of different headdresses worn during the century such as gable hoods, bonnets, veils, but by far the most popular headdress was the french hood (see fig 17). The french hood was a fashionable item from the end of the 15th century up until the mid to late 16th century (Norris, 1997). It is a wide decorative headband that framed the face, and was worn both with or without a veil. It is worth noting that when worn without the veil the hair would be gathered in a braided updo.

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Fig 17 - Closeup from the portrait of Catherine de Medici (Clouet, c. 1555) wearing a french hood.

There are unfortunately not as many paintings created during the century showing people of the common and peasant class, as there are of nobles. Art of the common people became more common later in history as the social class grew in wealth (Montgomery, 2007). ​ ​ However, a few paintings do exist, one for example is The Money Changer and his Wife ​ (1514), which shows a merchant wife wearing a dress with wide sleeves, V-shaped collar, and ​ hat (fig 18).

Fig 18 - Closeup from the painting: The Money Changer and his Wife (Matsys, 1514), showing the wife

Her clothing does not have any fine details or trims like the noble women’s dresses, nor does her bodice have the same cone shape. Her sleeves though are very similar in shape, and the V-neck was used in dresses worn by noble women as well. Though her dress is very simple, the general shape of it shows that 16th Century fashion shared some general aesthetics across the social classes. Due to this lack of references it was decided that the 16th century artifacts would only feature aspects present in noble women's portraits.

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The silhouette of the early 16th century is remarkably slimmer compared to the rather large silhouette that came to be later in the century. From a natural skirt, naked neck, and slim sleeves, to a wide skirt, ruffed neck, and large sleeves. The silhouette grew into a new shape that is very recognizable for the Elizabethan era (1558-1603) (see fig 19). The century has an abundance of recognizable shapes and aesthetics, within noble fashion, that can be used by costume- and character designers to refer to the era without recreating it fully. The square or ruffled collar, the wide slashed sleeves, or the wide skirts are only three aspects of many examples of the era’s very distinctly shaped garments and accessories (see fig 19). The colours and many decorations combined with the very distinct silhouette makes the fashion unique for its time.

Fig 19 - Fashion Illustration showing the main characteristics of the 16th century: Wide slashed sleeves, square or high necklines, wide skirts, and hats.

For the design of the 16th century artifacts the aspects that were kept in mind were the french hood, slit sleeves, and the shape of the bodice. These aspects varied slightly in design since the accurate, semi accurate, and inaccurate artifacts had to portray different degrees of authenticity, but the aspects are still present in varying forms in order to preserve a general

16th century aesthetic.

Other designers of female game characters have similarly been inspired by the century. The aspects that were chosen to be featured in the 16th century artifacts can be seen represented in a number of games which have taken inspiration from the era. An example of a female character whose design was very heavily based on the 16th century is Catherine de Medici from Civilization VI (2016) (see fig 20). The character Catherine de Medici is based on the ​ ​ real Catherine de Medici (fig 17) who was queen of France in the 16th Century. Her design

26 clearly reflects this, as despite the stylized modeling the aspects of her dress is still recognizable as 16th Century fashion. The veiled French hood, beaded bodice, and wide skirt, though simplified are all represented in her design. Another example of a character whose design is inspired by 16th Century fashion and similar aspects, though less accurately, is Vivienne de Fer from Dragon age Inquisition (see fig 21). Her design is a lot more loosely based on the fashion but aspects of her clothing still share aesthetics of the era. The collar of her dress has a very similar shape to that of the Medici collar, and her striped poofy sleeves are reminiscent of the recognizable slashed sleeves.

A third example is Yennefer of Vengenberg from Witcher 3 (see fig 22). As mentioned ​ ​ previously, the prominent female characters of Witcher 3 have a very modern silhouette in comparison to the 16th Century inspired setting of the game, as well as the two other characters mentioned in this paragraph. The character’s design shows some aesthetics of the era such as the slashed sleeves and the collar, but the tightly fitted pants, loose hair, and thigh high boots are very different from the fashion it takes inspiration from. The silhouette seems more like a silhouette one would see in current day fashion rather than in any other point of history, but neither the character’s design nor the game is meant to recreate the 16th century. Unlike Civilisation VI, which strived to recreate at least a certain level of ​ ​ authenticity.

Fig 20 (Left) - Closeup of the character Catherine de Medici from Civilization VI Fig 21 (Right) - Closeup of the character Vivienne de Fer from Dragon age Inquisition

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Fig 22 - Turnaround of the character Yennefer of Vengenberg from Witcher 3

The designers of these characters have all chosen to feature the same aspects but in different ways, thus creating different types of character with a similar aesthetic, a 16th century aesthetic. With the artifacts created for this study we aimed to create something similar, three character designs with the same aspects and aesthetic but all having a different look and giving off a different impression. Similar, yet different.

4. 3. 2 Edwardian Era Fashion

To continue on, this next section will present and discuss the aesthetics of the Edwardian Era and how the Edwardian artifacts were inspired by the aesthetics of this era. The Edwardian Era took place between the years 1901-1914, and is also sometimes called The Age of ​ Opulence or La Belle Époque (Haight, 2014; Mendes & de la Haye, 2009). In comparison to ​ the 16th Century, the fashion of the Edwardian Era was a lot more like modern day fashion in that the trends fluctuated more throughout the years. At the beginning of the Edwardian era, women were still wearing some Victorian era (1837 - 1901) garments and until 1908 there were just a few minor changes in Edwardian fashion. However, during the latter half of the era the fashion would slowly change. From the traditional Victorian form the fashion evolved into the recognizable S-shaped silhouette which became iconic for the era (see fig 23). Then by the end of the Edwardian Era a new silhouette would evolve which was more reminiscent of the later more relaxed fashion of the 1920s.

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Fig 23 - Advertisement for the new trending figure in fashion, showing the then old Vctorian silhouette in comparison to the new S-shaped Edwardian silhouette.

One of the most important fashion garments at that time were corsets. Since the 16th Century they were always in fashion and dictated female body silhouettes until the beginning of the 20th century (Mudalgi, 2018). Victorian era corsets covered the whole chest and belly, but the new Edwardian era corsets started right under the breast, which left space for lungs to breathe. However the corset was still laced tightly, to create a desirable tiny waist. The tight-lacing indicated social status and authority in Edwardian society (Erkal, 2017). Women accentuated their hips, cinched their waist and pushed their chest forward. This created a side silhouette which could be likened to the shape of a swan (see fig 24). This hourglass shape, also referred to as S-bend shape or a Swan shape (Mudalgi, 2018) was very iconic of ​ ​ the time. However, as mentioned at the end of the Edwardian era the silhouette evolved into a more natural, pillar-like shape (See fig 25).

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Fig 24 - (Left) Edwardian corset; Straight front and curved back to make a swan-like silhouette. Fig 25 - (Right) The end of Edwardian era silhouette. Pillar-like shape.

Another difference from the 16th century other than the shape of the corset is that women now wore different clothing depending on the situation and time of day (see fig 26). During the middle of the era, while performing everyday activities it was common to wear high collar blouses and floor length high waisted skirts. (Mendes & de la Haye, 2009). During tea time the clothes were a lot more relaxed, the women would wear more comfortable and light garments. Evening wear was more alluring. Necklines were cut deeper and wider, showing off more skin than the daytime dress would allow. However despite the differences in the activities there were still a lot of similarities in terms of shape. The skirts were always floor length, sometimes with a bit of a train in the back. The waist was always accentuated even during the relaxed tea time. The front of the bodice was either loose, or shaped to emphasize the chest. The mid Edwardian era silhouette is recognizable regardless of what type of dress. It's an iconic aesthetic of the time. Even lower class, working women, wore clothes in this ​ shape and style, although made with cheaper materials (see fig 27).

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Fig 26 (From left to right) - Morning and daytime wear, tea time dress and evening gown.

Fig 27 - Picture of a group of lower class african american women wearing Ewdardian fashion.

However, women would not just wear one feminine style of clothing. There were some aspects of male Edwardian fashion which bridged the genders, such as shirt collars, ties, bow ties, waistcoats (see fig 28 & 29), and sometimes shoes. In terms of shoes, women mostly wore low heels, but depending on the season they would sometimes wear shoes more akin to the Edwardian male Oxford boot. The clothes still followed the female silhouette despite the male aesthetics, but it is still a noticeable fashion trend. These masculine aspects of

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Edwardian fashion were ultimately not represented in the artifacts but their existence is worth mentioning as they show the diversity of the fashion.

Fig 28 (Left) - Photo of an Edwardian woman wearing a tie and a blouse with a shirt collar. Fig 29 (Right) - Photo of another Edwardian woman wearing a jacket, waistcoat, bow tie, and a blouse with a stand up shirt collar.

Besides the dresses and corsets, another iconic aesthetic of Edwardian fashion were large hats decorated with feathers or sometimes even dead bids (Bretaña, 2019) (see fig 30). These were often worn by middle and higher class women. They were so big that women had to pin them down with long sharp hair pins in order to make them stay in place. In addition to this large hat, a poofy curly hairstyle was a must-have in mid-Edwardian society. Women used many different techniques in order to make their hair look full and wide, and hair accessories were used not only for beauty but also to hold everything in place. The popularity of this hairstyle grew after the iconic illustration called The Gibson girl (see fig 31) appeared in ​ ​ fashion magazines. The Gibson Girl was seen as the ideal image of a beautiful Edwardian woman (Mendes & de la Haye, 2009).

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Fig 30 (Left) - Images showing two large feathered hats, typical of Edwardian fashion Fig 31 (Right) - The Gibson girl. An illustration by Charles Dana Gibson

Fig 32 - Fashion Illustration showing the main characteristics of the Edwardian Era. The swan-shaped (or S-shaped) silhouette, the long skirt, the high neck, the voluminous updo and the large feathered hat.

The Edwardian Era artifacts all portray a few specific aspects of the Edwardian Era in the same way the 16th century artifacts all portrayed some specific 16th century aspects. For the Edwardian artefacts the most noticeable aspects are the hats, the hair, the skirts and the side silhouette of the artifacts.

Though Edwardian fashion may seem difficult to distinguish, as it was a very short era and shares many characteristics with the Victorian era, it has as described above some very

33 recognizable aesthetics and shapes of which developers could make use of when taking inspiration from the era. The swan-shaped silhouette, together with the large hats/hair, and long trailing skirts, make for a very unique shape which is unlike any other fashion trend in history (see fig 32). Even if developers choose to only make use of parts of the Edwardian aesthetics, it should still be possible to create a recognizable feeling of this particular century. It’s a unique era that bridges the traditional aesthetics of Victorian times with the more modern aesthetics and shapes of the early 20th century. Despite this uniqueness, there are few games and character designs which draw inspiration from it. Perhaps due to it, as mentioned previously, being a relatively short period. However, there are still some.

One of these games is Bioshock Infinite. The game takes place in 1912 at the end of the Edwardian Era. The setting is meant to be an alternative version of reality, so it's not meant as a complete recreation of reality but it is heavily inspired by it. This can be seen when looking at the female background characters (see fig 33). In the game they mainly use one model that has been recoloured to create the illusion of it being different women. This model very much looks like an Edwardian woman. She wears a loose, high-neck lace blouse, a long high waisted skirt, a large hat, and has her hair in an updo. Her overall silhouette is not particularly swan shaped, and there are flowers on her hat instead of feathers but overall her aesthetic is undeniably Edwardian.

Fig 33 - Various versions of the female Columbia Citizen model from Bioshock Infinite.

This is in difference to the game’s female heroine, the sidekick of the main character, Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s appearance (see fig 34). Elizabeth’s design has some aesthetics of Edwardian fashion, but her design follows the trend of the more prominent characters having a modern design with old fashioned aspects. She wears a blouse with a shirt collar and tie which can be seen in Edwardian fashion, but her blouse is form fitting and her collar

34 has a slight dip which was uncommon in typical Edwardian daytime wear. Her skirt is far shorter than that of the average woman, which would not have been as much of an issue had she been a child or a teenager but Elizabeth is meant to be 20 years old. Similarly wearing her hair down would have been normal for a teenager, but not as much for an adult.

Fig 34 (Left) - Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite wearing her standard dress.

Fig 35 (Right) - Setsuka from Soul Calibur IV in her alternative outfit.

An example of another female character wearing Edwardian inspired fashion is the character Setsuka from Soul Calibur IV (see fig 35). In the game Setsuka has an alternative outfit ​ ​ which has a very Edwardian look to it. She wears a high neck blouse, long skirt, has a cinched waist, a hat, and is wearing her hair up. Though the skirt is a little shorter than what was in fashion at the time, it has the aesthetic of an Edwardian skirt in that it’s high waisted and has a generally slim shape. Her hat is not quite as large or detailed as the typical Edwardian hat, but it is decorated with feathers which is in accordance with Edwardian fashion. However, the most modern aspect of her clothing is not the hat but by far her shoes. As mentioned Edwardian shoes typically had a low heel, and shoes with open sides can not be seen in any pictures of Edwardian fashion.

When reflecting on these Edwardian game characters, as well as the game characters inspired by the 16th century we can conclude that the developers behind these characters have chosen to forgo complete authenticity in favor of a unique character. Even though the character designs are a mix of modern and historical fashion, we still view the designs as

35 historical just as we do with costumes seen in film such as Disney’s film Sleeping Beauty. ​ ​ The character and costume designers can capture the feel of an era without committing to it fully. The fashions of both the Edwardian era and the 16th century were unique, though they share some aesthetics with other time periods, the eras both have many aspects that are not seen in the same way in any other point of time. We presume that it is by drawing inspiration from these specific unique aspects, that developers are able to preserve the feeling of the historical fashion despite not making a full recreation. It has worked in film and presumably this method of costume design functions within games as well, the question is if it is preferable.

5 The Production Process of the Artifacts

5.1 The Base of the Artifacts

The six artifacts created for the study were designed to show different levels of historical accuracy: Accurate, semi-accurate and a creative version that represents a specific era of time. In order for the six different models to have a cohesive appearance the different artifacts were all created from the same base model. This was to ensure both a cohesive appearance and so that the participants preferences and opinions were not influenced by their preference for body type.

The base model was made to have a semi accurate appearance with a simple face and body structure that could easily be altered. On this model six costumes were modeled, three inspired by Edwardian era fashion and three by 16th century fashion.

The appearance of the artifacts could be seen as problematic as they are all relatively thin and fail to show any diversity. This was done in order to keep the focus on the clothes but it's undeniable that female characters' who have a thin and very typical wrongly idealised appearance can and often have a negative influence on both female and male players' ideas of women in addition to affecting female players self esteem and mental health (Gestos & Smith-Merry & Campbell, 2018). Idealised female bodies within all forms of media are a problematic phenomenon as they promote an unrealistic standard of beauty. To ensure the artifacts would not cause such a negative experience for the participants, especially the

36 female ones, it might have been more appropriate to design the artifacts based on a different body type, but as the reference images used as inspiration for the artifacts all featured a relatively thin body type we decided to recreate this.

5.2 The Design Process of the Artifacts

5.2.1 The Design Process of the Accurate 16th Century Artifact

Fig 36 - The front and back of the accurate 16th century artifact.

The accurate 16th century artifact (fig 36) wears a veiled french hood, and a dress with a chemise underneath. The sleeves of the dress consist of slitted upper sleeves and a lower simple wide sleeve. The end of the sleeves and neck of the chemise are decorated with ruffled cuffs and a matching ruffled collar. The underlying chemise has a high neck which contrasts the bodice of the overlaying dress which has a decorated square neckline. The bodice has a simple cone-like silhouette and the trim decorating it continues down onto the skirt. The skirt is wide and consists of an upper and lower layer, the upper layer has a slit in the front to reveal the underlying skirt. No shoes are visible on the model.

The model is heavily based on the dress seen in the 16th century portrait of Helena Snakenbourg (see fig 37). This portrait was chosen as the primary source of inspiration as it featured many recognizable aspects of the 16th century such as the ruffled collar, the slashed sleeves as well as wider poofy sleeves, and a wide skirt. However, the portrait was not only

37 chosen for featuring many 16th century fashion aspects, but also due to the fact that it has been recreated by a couple of historical reenactors (see fig 38). Though these replicas cannot be seen as true copies, they help visualise how the dress might have looked which is helpful as the artstyle present in the 16th century is very two-dimensional.

Fig 37 (Left) - Portrait of Helena Snakenbourg painted by an unknown artist (c. 1569) Fig 38 (Right) - A recreated version of the dress created by reenactor Angela Mombers (2019)

The dress on the 3D model is however not an exact replica but a simplified version. The neckline of the model’s dress is different from the portrait in order to reflect the more common square neckline. The shape and details of the chemise have also been simplified or removed. Additionally the model differs from the portrait reference in another aspect which is headwear. Instead of a feathered bonnet the 3D artifact is wearing a french hood. This decision was made due to the fact that as previously mentioned in this study the french hood was one of the more commonly seen headwears of the century.

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Fig 39 - Closeup of a 16th century portrait showing a woman wearing a veiled french hood covering her hair.

Additionally, besides the dress and the headwear, the character is wearing a simple pearl necklace. This necklace is a simplified version meant to be a representation of the more elaborate necklaces seen in many portraits. Though in detail it is very different from the ones seen in the 16th century, its general shape is meant to mimic that of an era typical piece of jewelry. Lastly we can see that the 3D model has hair which is parted in the middle and combed back. Only the upper part of the hair is visible as the lower part is covered by the french hood’s veil, this was a common way for a woman to wear their hair at the time.

5. 2. 2 The Design Process of the Accurate Edwardian Artifact

Fig 40 - Side, front, and back of the Accurate Edwardian Costume

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The accurate Edwardian artifact (fig 40) wears a large decorated hat on top of hair worn in a voluptuous updo. On the body the model wears a blouse with poofy mutton sleeves tucked into a long skirt with a slight train. The blouse has a high neck and lacy details . In addition to these clothing pieces the model wears a couple of accessories in the form of gloves and a belt. The artifact has no visible shoes.

The accurate Edwardian artifact was not too difficult to model due to the fact that there are plenty of references available when it comes to Edwardian fashion. The reason for that is that there is a great amount of documentation in the form of photographs and fashion illustrations that have been preserved from the time. The main inspiration for this artifact is an illustration published in a magazine from 1905. However, the front part of the blouse that is tucked into the belt and skirt was inspired by an illustration found in the magazine De ​ Gracieuse which was published in 1907. The artifact was both easy and difficult to produce. ​ It was easy to create the different layers of the model as well as make the voluminous sleeves, but the overall silhouette was a little more difficult to accomplish. In order for the shape of the artifact to be accurate the iconic Swan silhouette that was so popular at that time had to ​ be created. This shape was difficult to accomplish as the blouse easily took on a baggy, awkward appearance, however after some work a decent silhouette was accomplished.

Fig 41 - Page from Edwardian magazine from 1905 Fig 42- Page from a magazine called De Gracieuse published in 1907.

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The upper part of the model which was inspired by a number of designs which can be seen in fig 42 made the process slightly more difficult than planned. The blouse-fabric had to look thin and airy which is something that can be very difficult to accomplish when modeling as well as texturing without using specific types of textures. Because of the T-pose the fabric looks quite heavy, which was not the desired outcome. Some flower motifs and lace patterns were added in to show some decorative motifs that were popular at that time. The inspiration behind these decorative features was an Edwardian tea drinking dress (fig 43). Though a tea drinking dress would not be appropriate to wear the way the accurate artifact is dressed, it shows examples of many general aesthetic aspects which were typical for all types of Edwardian dresses, such as the pattern of the lace.

Fig 43 - Edwardian tea drinking dress Fig 44 - Edwardian hat with a dead bird as and accessory

The two most important accessories of a fashionable Edwardian woman were enormous hats and gloves. There were some issues with the hat as it, in earlier iterations of the artifact, tended to cover the model’s very typical Edwardian style hair. The hair is an important detail showing the models accuracy and therefore the hat had to be adapted.

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5. 2. 3. The Design Process of the Semi-Accurate 16th Century Artifact

Fig 45 - The front and back of the semi-accurate 16th-century inspired model.

The semi-accurate model (fig 45) wears a similar french hood to that of the accurate one with the exception that instead of the veil the model’s hair is loose. She wears a simple beaded necklace, and a wide elaborate dress. The dress’ sleeves are poofy and end above the elbow of the model. The dress has a high neck and tucks into an overlaying underbust corset. The corset has some slight decorations and visible lacing. Its shape plunges into the skirt of the dress, which is a very wide skirt consisting of two visible layers, an overlaying short decorative layer and an underlying skirt.

The semi accurate dress was created with a different approach in terms of inspiration. This model was meant to be similar to the accurate version but with some of its aspects changed in order to exaggerate the 16th century shapes. In order to accomplish this the model partially takes inspiration from two different eras, one being the Victorian era. This is primarily visible on the artifact’s short poofy sleeves. This form of sleeve is not visible in any 16th century portraits, and it can be assumed that it simply wasn't part of the fashion at the time. However this style of a poofy elbow length sleeve is present in later fashions such as Victorian fashion (see fig 46).

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Fig 46- Closeup of a fashion illustration showing 2 examples of typical Victorian-style sleeves.

Besides the sleeves inspired by the Victorian era there are a couple of inaccuracies based on more modern fashion. The model is wearing a french hood but in difference to the accurate artifact, the semi-accurate version is missing a veil and instead wearing her hair loose down her back. There are no 16th century portraits of respectable women wearing their hair loose with their daily dress, the hair was either covered or worn in an updo. Loose hair with 16th century inspired clothes is however fairly common in modern times such as with halloween, live action roleplay, or film costumes (fig 47) and thus this aspect might seem fitting to the player despite this not being the case.

Fig 47 - 3 images of a modern halloween costume (left), a live action roleplay costume (middle), and a movie costume (right) all inspired by the 16th century.

The corset is yet another aspect which differs from authentic fashion, the corset on the model is an underbust corset which would never have been used in the 16th century as the corset of the time was meant to support the chest of the wearer. The silhouette of the corset is also not cone-shaped like an accurate bodice would be, it's instead very tight giving the model a wasp like waist. The last inaccuracy is the skirt. Though its general appearance is accurate, its shape is very exaggerated. The overlying layer which consists of two poofs of draped fabric is

43 largely inspired by fictional designs, such as the dress worn in Disney’s Cinderella (see fig 48 This is an obvious inaccuracy implemented to differentiate the semi-accurate model more from the accurate one.

Fig 48 - A still image from Disney’s Cinderella, showing the dress the model has taken inspiration from.

5. 2. 4 The Design Process of the Semi-Accurate Edwardian Artifact

Fig 49 - Side, front, and back of the semi-accurate Edwardian artifact. ​ ​

The semi-accurate Edwardian artifact (fig 49) or costume consists of a simple bucket hat, a blouse, an ankle length skirt and a pair of oxford-like shoes. The hair on the model is worn in an updo and most of the hair is hidden behind the hat. The blouse has a slight poofy sleeve on the upper arm which connects to a long slimmer sleeve. The blouse is tucked into a skirt, which is decorated with buttons and a swirl pattern. The shoes of the artifact are high heeled and laced.

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The semi accurate Edwardian artifact was based on a combination of authentic Edwardian fashion and modern fashion. This was done in order to create a combination of accuracies and inaccuracies. The accurate aspects such as the general shape and a few aesthetic details of the artifact were based on authentic Edwardian source material, and the modern aspects were based on modern fashion trends and designs. The design of the top was inspired by a cocktail dress from the new PULL&BEAR 2019 collection (Fig 50). Poofy sleeves and high ​ neck collar are very recognisable aesthetics of Edwardian fashion, however these do occur in modern fashion as well. This combined with the more modern cut of the bodice part makes the artifact’s blouse design feel partially accurate despite it having a rather modern shape. The skirt similarly has aspects of Edwardian fashion and at first glance the skirt may seem quite accurate. It’s appearance could be likened to the casual everyday high waisted skirt that was in fashion at the time, but its length is a bit too short for that era, and patterns of a flower lace layer are too detailed and are a bit too much for a common everyday skirt. It’s design was copied from the accurate costume and shortened without losing the wanted Swan ​ shaped bottom part, thus making it partially inaccurate while preserving a key aspect of the ​ fashion, the silhouette. The accessories on this model are considered quite modern: the hat worn is inspired by the shape of a modern bucket hat, which became popular in the 80s, the hoop earring which can be seen in fig 51 was inspired by the ones popularised in the early 2000s, and the artifact’s shoes, the platform oxford heels are modernised male footwear. To include more masculiny and nowadays popular adrogynous fashion (Ranathunga & Uralagamage, 2019) a small neck bow was added. This costume also does not have any gloves, which as was mentioned before were very important in the Edwardian time period. Even with this many mismatched features from many different time periods it can still be seen as modern Edwardian fashion.

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Fig 50 - Dress from a PULL&BEAR collection Fig 51 - A closeup of the Edwardian semi-accurate artifact showing the model's accessories.

5. 2. 5 The Design Process of the Creative 16th Century Artifact

Fig 52 - The front and back of the creative artifact inspired by 16th century fashion.

The model wears a simple french hood, with visible loose hair underneath (fig 52). On her upper body she wears a high-necked undershirt covered by a decorated, corseted bodice. Paired with this top is a couple of large slitted sleeves which end in a simple cuff. On her lower body the model wears poofy bloomer-like shorts, and thigh high boots.

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The creative costume is the most different of the three 16th century models. It was meant to have an appearance reflecting the designs used in the game Witcher 3. The costumes seen on ​ ​ the main female characters of the game all have a modern silhouette combined with historical aesthetics, and so modern fashion became the inspiration for the general look of the creative artifact (fig 53).

Fig 53 - Three images of modern clothing which share a similar silhouette to that of the creative 16th century model.

The artifact replicates certain aspects of the era in the form of slitted sleeves, a corseted bodice, undershirt, and a french hood inspired headdress, but these aspects have all been adapted into a more modern shape. The type of long slitted sleeves depicted is an aspect of fashion but more so an aspect present in later fashion, and primarily on men (Browne & Becker 2014). Women for most part wore shorter slitted sleeves combined with some other sleeve design. The overlying bodice is far too low cut and v-shaped for the era, though a low cut bodice was not uncommon; these types of dresses usually had a square neckline (Browne & Becker 2014) which the model does not. Visible lacing is also inaccurate, though it does appear in some portraits but the appearance is different to that of the lacing on modern corsets. The visible undershirt sticking out underneath the bodice is also unprecedented in the documentation we have of the era. Underneath this shirt a pair of poofy shorts are visible. The silhouette of these bloomer-like shorts could be likened to the breeches worn by men during the 16th century (see fig 54), which makes it, like the sleeves, an accurate piece of fashion but worn by the wrong gender. Lastly the thigh high boots which are visible underneath the shorts, are purely inspired by modern fashion (fig 53). Such tall boots have never been part of any historical fashion as there is little function to their height.

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Fig 54 - Closeup of a portrait of Don Juan d'Austria (De la Cruz, c. 1572) wearing spanish breeches

5. 2. 6 The Design Process of the Creative Edwardian Artifact

Fig 55 - Side, front and back of the creative Edwardian inspired artifact.

The creative Edwardian artifact (fig 55) wears several layers of clothing and accessories. On the models head a military style beret is worn on top of a voluminous updo. A mask, decorated with buttons, covers half of the model's face and this mask continues down into a cropped vest-like garment. Underneath this vest-like piece of clothing is a short sleeved blouse with buttons down the front. This blouse is tucked into a modern looking half-skirt which overlays a pair of wide legged pants. Underneath these pants a pair of tall boots are visible. Besides these articles of clothing the model also wears a number of accessories such

48 as decorative gloves, a belt, and a rifle.

The creative Edwardian artifact took a considerable amount of energy and effort to create. Yet despite the hardships the production of this artifact was also a very satisfying and enjoyable process. It took some thought to find the right inspiration for this model. There are many fantasy designs based on late 19th century fashion but these are usually based on victorian fashion and often based on Steampunk fiction (J. Tanenbaum, K. Tanenbaum & Wakkary, 2012). Steampunk felt like too strong of an influence for this project as the aspects of the genre are very recognizable. In order to retain the historical aspects required, other sources of inspiration were chosen. Instead, more modern clothing and modern military uniforms became the source of reference. This is visible in details such as the beret which takes inspiration from the military, or the mask which is inspired by modern fashion and illustrations. The face mask was specifically inspired by an image (see fig 56) created by the artist C. J. Backman. The most interesting and inspiring feature was the face mask, and therefore it was recreated on the artifact in a similar style.

Fig 56 - Concept art of Human Assassin by C. J. Backman

The poofy sleeves of the model were once again, like with the semi-accurate Edwardian artifact, copied from the accurate artifact’s reference image. As with previous Edwardian inspired artifacts it was challenging to create the Swan-shaped silhouette. This type of ​ ​ silhouette was recreated even with this more loosely based model as it is such an iconic

49 feature of the era. Retaining the same general silhouette also gave the three Edwardian artifacts a more cohesive appearance. The blouse of the creative artifact is quite accurate - it has airy sleeves, is layered with embroidery lines in front and has some lace like fabric around the shoulders. The bottom in comparison strays a lot further from the typical era fashion. The style of wearing a skirt on top of a pair of pants is a very modern look, which is not seen in any illustrations or photos created during the Edwardian era, but it's high waisted upper half is reminiscent of the Edwardian high waisted skirt which makes it feel fitting with the more traditional blouse. A Winchester rifle and fingerless gloves were added ​ as accessories to emphasize the look of a military woman.

Fig 57 - Edwardian female shoe

At first the artifact’s shoes were based on more typical Edwardian footwear (Fig 57), however they looked too accurate and light, and not something that would be appropriate for battle. To make the shoes look more sturdy the front shape of the shoe was instead copied from the ​ semi-accurate Edwardian artifact (fig 49) and the heel was copied from the accurate shoe (fig 57). In addition to this new shape the whole shoe got wrapped in Edwardian style leg warmers to give the feeling of protection and heaviness. Finally to make a cohesive line between all three costumes a military beret, flower pattern on gloves and a hybrid between accurate and semi-accurate hairstyle were added.

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5. 3 Summary and Conclusion of the Artifacts

5. 3. 1 16th Century Artifacts

The three artifacts based on and inspired by the 16th century have a few visual aspects in common. The artifacts all wear some kind of wide voluminous sleeve with slashed detailing, they wear a french hood, and at least two of the models wear a skirt, but they wear the aspects in different ways. If we take the slashed sleeves aspect as an example, the accurate artifact wears sleeves inspired by an authentic dress, but the two others are more loosely inspired. The semi-accurate model’s sleeve is moreso based on Victorian fashion as the sleeve is poofy but far too short to be 16th century. The creative model’s sleeve may seem accurate however it cannot be said to be an accurate sleeve for a 16th century woman. So the three artifacts, though similar, are very different when analysing each individual part. They are based on different sources of inspiration, the accurate artifact is based on authentic sources, the semi-accurate one is based on Victorian fashion and modern costumes, and the creative one being based on modern fashion. This gives the three artifacts very different impressions despite making use of similar aspects based on the 16th century.

5. 3. 2 Edwardian Era Artifacts

In order to make the three artifacts based on Edwardian fashion cohesive and recognizable all of them were made to have the S-shape or Swan silhouette. Beside the silhouette the ​ ​ ​ ​ artifacts were also all made with voluminous sleeves, hats and lace details. The layering of upper and lower parts of clothing is also another feature that was consistent through all three models. The semi-realistic one might look like it has no layering on the skirt, but it is mentioned in the text above that the skirt is meant to have a layer of lace fabric, which is hard to show without extensive modeling work. When comparing the three models it is visible how the hats become smaller, the sleeves get less voluminous and skirts become shorter (or even are changed into skirt looking trousers) with each artifact. Furthermore the models also go from a more strictly accurately dressed noble woman and evolve into a more simple, comfortable and masculine look. In many games, the same transition is noticeable, especially if the female is a playable character. They are less ladylike not only for a more ​

51 functional design, but also for more creative and flexible animations. That is why some fewer layers and shorter skirts were introduced in the semi-accurate and creative models.

5. 3. 3 The Textured Version of The Artifacts

After the data from the first survey had been gathered and analysed, it was concluded that presenting the artifacts without colour may have led to a lacking result. Thus a second round of surveys were done, this time with textures added to the artifacts. These textures were based on the same level of accuracy as the artifacts. The Accurate Artifacts had textures based on authentic references, the Semi-Accurate Artifact had textures partially based on authentic references, and the creative artifacts were mostly based in fantasy with little references used. These textures were developed during a very short period of time as the second survey was not initially planned, and so some inaccuracies may be present, but none that are particularly obvious on a general inspection.

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Textured versions of the three 16th century artifacts, with the Semi Accurate Artifact at the top, the Creative Artifact in the middle. and the Accurate Artifact at the bottom. ​

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Textured versions of the three 16th century artifacts, with the Accurate Artifact at the top, the Semi- Accurate Artifact in the middle. and the Creative Artifact at the bottom. ​

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5. 4 The Pilot Study

Images of the artifacts used for the pilot study

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After the six artifacts had been created, a small scale pilot test with only four participants was carried out. This pilot-test was meant to test two points of our survey. Partially it was performed in order to test if the created artifacts are ready for testing and whether they performed their function in terms of being able to clearly represent the intended eras to differing degrees. The test was also held to see if the questions of the survey regarding these artifacts were difficult or confusing for the participants. Two women and two men were chosen as the pilot participants in order to make sure that no potential issues which could be more visible to either gender would be missed.

This pilot-test was performed by presenting the artifacts to the participants along with the relevant questions, and then listening to the participants' experience answering the presented questions. The participants were shown the two sets of artifacts, one with three 16th century inspired character designs and one with three Edwardian ones. They were then given part of the survey questions which relate to the artifacts. These questions were the same as the ones presented in part 3.1.3 of this study. Participants could ask questions and specifications through the whole testing time if needed. They also could talk and discuss between themselves.

Surprisingly the pilot-test went quite smoothly, with only a few issues occuring. As previously predicted in the earlier part of this study some participants assumed that the Edwardian costumes actually are Victorian. When asked why, they said that there are many games that are inspired by the Victorian era and that Edwardian fashion looks quite similar to Victorian fashion. There was also a minor confusion when participants had to choose an accurate 16th century artifact. It was difficult for the participants to discern which artifact was accurate and which was semi-accurate. Another issue was that one participant mistakenly assumed that the six artifacts all represented different eras and did not realise that the two artifact sets were meant to represent two specific periods of time until this was clarified. This made it difficult for the participant to distinguish what was historically accurate or not as the more modern aspects would make sense for a later historical era. This matter will be clarified further in the survey as it is an important detail for future participants to understand.

After the test the participants gave a few suggestions. They recommended being able to pick between options for questions 8 and 11 (Can you tell from what era those characters are ​ from?) instead of having to write the answer on their own. By being given options to choose ​

56 from this would cause less confusion and participants would be able to look and analyse the artifacts more closely before giving a final answer. Asking for any historical era made the question vague and difficult to answer, by giving the participants options this made the question easier to understand. Another critique given was that the questions 10, 13, 16, (Which one would you prefer playing with? Why?, Do you think that historically inaccurate ​ character costumes can affect your game experience? Why?) about which design the ​ participant would rather play with could be improved. One participant felt that the choice for a game protagonist would obviously be the one most optimally dressed for action since most games feature action based gameplay, for both of the eras the inaccurate creative design would then be the given option. In order to balance this the participant suggested the addition of another question: “Which character would you feel would be the most exciting/interesting to meet and interact with?” A third suggestion was that the wording of questions 14 and 15 (Was it hard to distinguish ​ historical eras?, Was it hard to distinguish the historically accurate costume?) should be ​ changed as the participant found the words “was it hard” too biased, and suggested instead changing this part of the questions to “how difficult was it” in order to make the future participants consider their experience properly.

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6 Evaluation

6.1 The Study

With our study we wanted to test if individuals who play games recognize historical fashion, and to which degree they care about historical accuracy in games. Our goal by performing this study was to gather information that can be useful for developers who wish to develop games based on or inspired by history.

The sample of participants chosen for this study were selected through convenience sampling. It was concluded that convenience sampling would be the most fitting sampling method for this study. This was due to the fact that we knew beforehand that the individuals we were able to include in the sample group were individuals who fit the profile of our chosen target group. Since we wanted to gather information that would be useful for game developers we decided to focus on a sample group that reflected the average gamer. According to the 2019 report published by Entertainment Software Association, the average gamer is 33 years old. Because of this we decided to focus on individuals who play video games regularly who are between the ages of 20-35. Many game companies develop and market their games with this target group in mind, and this study is meant to be a tool for these game companies and developers.

We decided to gather our data from this sample group via two online surveys. Partially this method was chosen due to it being a convenient way to collect information which would make it easier for our participants, but also because of the risk of exposing our participants to the COVID-19 virus, an online survey was deemed the safest option. This way of sampling also allowed us to gather data without offering anything in return, a matter which might have been necessary in order to motivate a stranger to fill out the survey.

The two surveys were distributed online to two groups of participants with gaming experience. In total 39 completed surveys were received. 27 from male participants, 13 from female participants, 0 from others. These participants ranged from the ages 21 to 33, and all reported to have previous gaming experience.

Before the survey began the participants were presented with a piece of information which functioned similarly to a consent form in terms of informing the participants of the study

58 and their rights as participants, but the difference being that they accepted the terms and conditions by continuing on and answering the survey. The information presented gave some general information about what the study is about, for what purpose it is performed, and what the target group of the study is. In addition to this the participants were told of their right to withdraw from participating in the survey without consequence, as well as how the data gathered from the survey will be handled. The data gathered from the survey will be shown in the Appendix. In this case readers of this paper will have access to the raw data if wanted.

The participants of the survey were all anonymous, the only identifying data being their age and gender identity. Data such as nationality, profession, name, etc was not gathered as it was deemed irrelevant information for this study. If uncomfortable the participants were also given the option not to answer the question of gender identity.

The first survey presented to these participants consisted of 18 questions. Seven of the questions were closed questions where the participant had to choose between a number of optional answers, and the remaining eleven were open questions where the participants had to write the reply fully on their own. Nine of the questions were used to gather data about the participants, their age, gender, and preferences in terms of games and historical depiction in games. The other half were about the artifacts created for this study, what the participants thought of them and what they could discern from their appearance. The survey was more so focused on gathering qualitative data rather than quantitative, as qualitative data seemed most relevant for the focus of research. When measuring the participants response to visuals, we deemed thoughts and opinions to be more valuable rather than a numerical rating.

The second survey was similar in all aspects except for the exclusion of six questions that were deemed to be less relevant for this version of the survey. The second survey focused primarily on the artifacts and less so on the participants themselves.

The purpose of the six artifacts created for the study was to see if the participants were able to distinguish a historical era based purely on visual aesthetics. The artifacts consisted of six 3D models. The 3D models were all female characters dressed up in historically inspired clothing, ranging from accurate, to semi accurate, to loosely accurate (or fantasy). These artifacts were shown in two sets, with three models shown in each set. The first set shown in the survey showed three models dressed up in clothing inspired by the 16th century, and the

59 second set showed three models dressed up in clothing inspired by the Edwardian Era. The order of the artifacts in each set was mixed so as it did not seem obvious for the participant which model was more or less accurate. Each model in the sets were labeled with a letter (A, B, and C) in order to make it easier for the participants to describe each model. In the first survey the artifacts were presented without textures and in the second one the artifacts were presented with textures.

6.2 Analysis

When analysing the data gathered from the survey, it became clear that the vast majority of the participants, despite many describing themselves as having experience with historical games, had little factual knowledge of historical dress. A majority mentioned having an interest in history and historical games to some degree, but few participants displayed signs of having more than a surface level of knowledge at least in terms of historical fashion. This was shown when the participants were asked to identify the historical eras the artifacts were based on. This question confronted the participants on their ability to recognize specific historical aesthetics, which was something that a number of participants confessed to never having reflected on previously. To quote one participant:

I had never really thought about what Baroque was before - Male, 22 ​

However despite this the majority of the participants were still able to correctly identify the era for the 16th century inspired artifacts. 25 out of 39 participants answered correctly. The Edwardian Era was a little more difficult for the participants, only 11 out of 39 we’re able to identify it correctly, but many seemed from their answers to be able to recognize the aesthetics of the Edwardian era but lacking the knowledge to name the correct term for it. When asked to explain the motivation behind their choice of era many of the participants reference art they’ve previously seen, as well as movies, games, and famous historical figures. This would suggest that the media and art the participants have been exposed to previously is enough for most to be able to identify basic aesthetics of historical dress.

In the data gathered from the first survey, which showed the shape of the models but not the color, some participants based their decision by comparing the artifacts' appearance to designs seen in other pieces of entertainment media. Mentioning movies and games such as

60 the Titanic (1997), or the Assassin’s Creed games. However in the second survey, where the ​ ​ models were shown in color, several participants mention paintings, photos and other authentic sources and only one out of the 15 participants mention having a movie as their referential source.

The participants of the second survey were far more successful in terms of recognizing what artifacts were meant to be historically accurate compared to the first survey, which could be because of the presence of textures. Though few participants comment on the colors of the models, the difference in appearance could make it so that the shape of the model is easier to discern and because of this easier to identify. It could also be because of the colors making the impression of the artifacts more vibrant, and giving the accurate artifacts a stronger accurate impression. It’s difficult to say for certain what effect the textures had on the participants but, seeing as there is such a notable difference between the two it can be assumed that the textures have a definite effect on the impressions of the designs to some degree.

When asked: Which character would you feel would be the most exciting/interesting to ​ meet and interact with? Why? The data showed a consistent response from both sets of ​ survey participants. That being that the character design that intrigued the majority of the participants were the creative designs. These designs were consciously made to have an obvious inauthentic look, but in order for a developer to create an interesting and unique design it's worth to take into account why certain aspects of the creative artifacts intrigued the participants.

A pattern could be found in the reasoning given about the participants' answer to this question, that being that the participants based their interests on imagined contexts for the different artifacts. Many participants described different imagined literary aspects that they applied to the artifacts, such as personality, occupation, past experiences, and games they could play a role in. The participants seemed to generally favor the creative design when asked this question. Because of the creative artifacts having an appearance that was more suited for athletic activities, this was the context imagined for them. This potential context was appealing to many participants and so the creative artifacts were their preferred choice. For example, one participant was most interested in the creative 16th century artifact and wrote out the following reasoning for her choice:

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[The creative 16th century artifact]. Simply because the character design is unorthodox with a lot of potential, she could be villainous or good, acrobatic or elegant. The character design opens up for a lot of gameplay potential. - Female, 23 ​

There were of course still a few participants who preferred the other artifacts as well as the type of gameplay their appearance seemed to suggest to the participants. These participants felt that the artifacts either had the potential for a likeable personality, or displayed potential for intrigue. Less athletic qualities comparatively to the traits the creative artifacts were suggested to have, but still evidently interesting enough for these participants to have a preference for it. When commenting on their choice of preference, two participants wrote the following:

[The Semi Accurate 16th century artifact] as a game character, [The creative 16th ​ century artifact] seems like the most interesting one. They seem to have stories to tell. In real life. [The accurate 16th century artifact] seems like the most approachable person. She would treat me right. - Female, 23 ​

[The Accurate Edwardian artifact]) For sure! She seems to be more chatty and fun to talk to. [The Semi Accurate Edwardian artifact]) looks more stuck up and [The Creative Edwardian artifact]) looks like she would only talk about rebellion and sad stuff- Male, 28 ​

When analysing the result of the surveys questions in detail interesting similarities, and other points of interests that can be found between the participants' answers. These are less relevant to our central question in comparison to the points of note previously discussed.

When asked if the participant likes historical games 21 out of the total 24 answered yes in the first survey and 12 out of 15 answered yes in the second. This shows that a large majority of the participants have some investment in our research. When asked about examples of what games they enjoy some participants mention games that are set in a historical setting. These examples include games such as Assassin’s Creed, Civilization 5, and more.

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Despite the fact that many of the participants in later questions admit that they don’t have a particularly strong need for authenticity, history and historical settings are still enjoyable for many. Based on the answers given by the participants it seems that historical authenticity is valued more if the game is meant to portray historical realism. Which is to say if the game is marketed as being historically accurate, or is meant to depict an actual historical event then the game’s visuals should live up to its claims. When asked the question: Do you care ​ whether a game is historically correct?, several participants give similar answers on this ​ matter such as:

I care about accuracy if they're supposed to be historically correct. I care about it

63 more in games like Kingdom Come Deliverance than games like World of Warcraft where I don't care at all. - Male, 23

If the game is presenting itself as based on historic facts then yes. If it is meant to just vaguely represent certain time in history then no - Female, 27

Depends on the purpose of the game. If I play Sengoku Basara I don't care that the horses have exhaust pipes or handlebars like a motorcycle, but if the game is trying to emulate history then yes I'd prefer if it was as close as possible. - Male, 25

Three participants however replied simply with “No”, and it’s possible that the participants that simply answered with a “No” could be the three individuals that previously answered that they have no interest in historical games. Although it’s impossible to say for sure, it's highly probable that this would be the case since then this would reaffirm their already established lack of interest in the subject. Two other participants admitted that though they can appreciate historical authenticity they ultimately do not care. Which would suggest that a small but notable minority does not care for how games depict history. History is appreciated but not seen as a must for these individuals. Two other participants also noted that they enjoy historical games, but not necessarily accurate ones. They enjoy games which portray an alternative version of history. To quote one of the participants:

I like when games have some level of historical correctness. However I also like when games give you the possibility to alter history, mostly because it is fun to see how different world events would have played out. The "alt-history" aspect appeals to me, but mostly in the context that I know how the event would have played out historically. Ex: What if Germany would have won WW1. - Male, 22

This suggests a definitive interest and appreciation of history, but again the aspect of authenticity is not prioritised. Historical accuracy is seen as an option, but not a requirement for a historical game to be enjoyable.

However, if the developers do not claim that the game is supposed to be fully authentic then authenticity can be seen as impressive but not a priority. The majority seems to be in agreement that what is most important for a game’s visuals is to look good. Authenticity is less important than an appealing aesthetic.

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When presented with the 16th century inspired artifacts the participants were asked if they could identify the era. They were given three different answers to pick from, these being, Baroque, Elizabethan/16th century, and Romanticism. 25 out of 39 participants guessed correctly, with eleven mistakenly picking baroque and four romanticism. Which shows that there are some aspects present in the artifact that are iconic enough for a majority to recognize the historical era.

The reasoning behind why the participants chose the 16th century/Elizabethan era as their choice was surprisingly varied amongst the participants. 12 of the answers in the first survey claimed that the appearance of the Semi Accurate artifact had the most recognizable appearance, and that the reason they chose Elizabethan/16th century as the answer was because of it. The silhouette and shape of this artifact, especially the shape of the skirt, is the aspect that the participants seem to have taken particular notice of.

[The Semi Accurate 16th century artifact] feels the most historically distinct with the extra wide skirt silhouette. - Female, 22 ​

[The Semi Accurate 16th century artifact]. I don't know, but my guess is that the big-hip-skirt was the go to style that date. - Male, 24 ​

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Comparison of the answers from both surveys. The 16th century. Note: One participant did not choose any of the answer possabilities only to this question.

In the second round of surveys only three out of the 15 participants described the Semi Accurate artifact as the most accurate. About half of the participants, a total of eight out of 15, correctly identified the Accurate artifact. Why the result differs to such a degree is hard to say for sure but presumably, despite none of the participants mentioning the coloring of the artifact, the presence of textures had some influence.

When asked about which 16th century artifact they preferred, the result from both surveys was very much similar. A majority wrote that they were intrigued by the Creative artifact’s design, but many were interested in the Semi Accurate artifact and Accurate artifact as well.

[The Creative 16th century artifact], seems more interesting. On a first guess I would assume she would be an actor while [The Semi Accurate 16th century artifact] and [The Accurate 16th century artifact] look like royalty or part of a court. She radiates more character. - Male, 22 ​

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[The Creative 16th century artifact]. She looks a bit more adventurous without a skirt. Like she could be a pirate or something. - Female, 31 ​

[The Creative 16th century artifact] or [The Accurate 16th century artifact], by process of elimination again. Something about [The Semi Accurate 16th century artifact] doesn't really appeal to me, I think it's the top part of the dress? [The Creative 16th century artifact], because I really like the shorts and the thigh-high boots, it's a good aesthetic. [The Accurate 16th century artifact], because I guess it's a bit more open to interpretation I guess? B has the most character I would say, more attitude. I'll say [The Creative 16th century artifact] for the boots. - Female, 23 ​

Comparison of the answers from both surveys. The Edwardian era.

As with the 16th century artifact set the participants were also presented with the Edwardian artifacts in the same way and asked the same questions. They were asked to identify the historical era that the artifacts were based on and given three options to choose from, these being Edwardian, First World War, and Victorian. This set of artifacts had a very different

67 result in comparison to the previous set. The majority of the participants in both surveys guessed incorrectly on this question, 20 out of 39 choosing the answer First World War, 11 Edwardian, and 8 choosing Victorian.

The participants in the first survey seemed to have based their choice of the First World war for most part because of artifact C. Eleven out of the 24 comments mention model C and comments on several aspects that they see as recognizable such as the mask and the rifle.

[The Creative Edwardian artifact]looks similar to what working women wore around the time of the 1st world war. - Female, 27 ​

[The Creative Edwardian artifact]l, but I recognized it from the rifle. - Male, 29 ​

[The Creative Edwardian artifact]l, with the gun and mask, indicating that they're in a war zone. The mask makes me think that she's protecting herself from mustard gas and other biological warfare which was common during WW1. - Female, 22 ​

However in the second survey 11 out of the 15 participants correctly identified the Accurate artifact as the authentic design despite misidentifying the era of which it was based on. Only one participant named the creative artifact as the reason behind their choice. The second survey’s participants being able to correctly identify the Accurate artifacts within both sets is a peculiar difference. It could very well solely be because of the presence of textures, but it could be possible that the second survey’s participants are more well informed about historical fashion than the previous survey’s participants. Several of the second survey’s participants mention paintings and other authentic references as part of their motivation, something which none of the first survey participants do.

[The Accurate Edwardian artifact] resembles a lot of dresses I've seen in older paintings and photographs . - Male, 22 ​

[The Accurate Edwardian artifact] reminds me a bit of what Selma Lagerlöf is wearing in some photos and I'm not sure exactly when those are from but I know she was alive around ww1 so I'm guessing that is the time period. It feels like it might be a bit old fashion looking for that time period but I don't know when the other two time periods are supposed to be so I'm staying with my first guess. - Female, 22 ​

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Nevertheless, the results of the following question regarding which artifact they found more interesting/intriguing were the same in both surveys. The Creative Edwardian artifact was like the Creative 16th century artifact the preferred option. The clothes and rifle gave of the impression of an active character with the potential to be part of an intriguing story. The design looked like it belonged to a fighter of some kind, and many participants were curious as to what context the rifle would fit into. To quote some of the participants with these opinions:

[The Creative Edwardian artifact] she looks very interesting! The rifle and the beret make her seem like she may be a soldier or mercenary perhaps? I could imagine meeting her in a video game! - Female, 30 ​

[The Creative Edwardian artifact], same reason as in the previous part, she looks very different and might have an interesting reason for it. Her covered mouth makes her look mysterious and potentially dangerous - Female, 22 ​

[The Creative Edwardian artifact], it looks like that character is some kind of revolutionary or freedom fighter. - Male, 29 ​

Some participants even admitted that despite them favouring one of the two other artifacts they were still curious about the Creative Edwardian artifact. The gun seemed to be an aspect that was difficult to ignore for many of the participants. The fact that it's a non clothing item could possibly be the reason for this. Since no other artifact has a similar accessory the presence of the rifle could possibly be making the Creative Edwardian artifact particularly notable in comparison to the others, and thus potentially wake more interest than the artifact would have without the presence of the rifle.

Lastly in our survey we asked the participants to comment on their experience with the survey, if they thought what we had asked of them had been difficult. Surprisingly the answers to this question varied greatly with some saying it was very difficult, others claiming to have thought of the questions as moderately difficult or average, and some saying that it had been easy. The mistakes made when creating this study, the 16th century artifacts being too alike and the Edwardian Eras being difficult to differentiate, may very well have misled

69 some participants, and made the survey more difficult for them than intended. Had the study been more well developed it's very possible that a larger number of participants would have been able to identify the artifacts correctly. One participant comments that it was apparent which artifact was inaccurate but identifying the semi-accurate artifact was for both of the eras quite difficult, which might have been because of a lack of knowledge but it might also have been because the artifacts designs were not being distinctive enough. The results given from the questions regarding the artefacts also support this idea of their design being lacking since so many comment on the semi accurate- and accurate artifacts being similar, especially in regards to the 16th century artifacts.

However when asked “How difficult was it to distinguish the historically accurate ​ costume?” Many participants do acknowledge that they lack in-depth knowledge of fashions from different historical eras, and so at least partially it can be presumed that some struggled with the identification of the eras because of their lacking knowledge and not solely because of the artifacts having an unclear design.

Again very hard, I have even less knowledge about the clothes from different eras. - Male, 23

Quite difficult. I don't have a great grasp on historical fashion. - Female. 31

Really hard, I don't have enough knowledge about fashion to be able to confidently point out which dress is historically correct. - Male, 27

When asked Do you think that historically inaccurate character costumes can affect your ​ game experience? Why? The majority of the participants do say that the design of characters ​ have an influence on their experience and that inaccuracy can have a negative effect, but this impact does not ruin their experience as a whole and varies depending on how inaccurate the design is. Some inaccuracy is as previously described forgivable and sometimes preferred when the result is more appealing to the audience as long as the inaccuracy is not inaccurate enough to break immersion.

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At the end of the second survey, the participants were questioned outright if they felt that the textures had any effect on their answers, asking them the question: Did color help in ​ identifying the historically accurate costume?

Surprisingly the majority of the 15 participants denied this, despite the fact that the result from the group at large was remarkable in comparison to the previous. This beckons the question, was the result because of the textures having a subconscious influence that the group achieved a more correct result or was it due to a more knowledgeable sample group? It’s difficult to say for sure without further testing, optimally for a more certain result this survey should have been distributed to a larger sample group. This peculiarity is a definite point of interest. Should further studies be performed in the same manner as the latter survey, it would be worthwhile to research to what degree the textures affect the result.

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Lastly we asked the participants participating in the first survey how highly they valued costume accuracy in comparison to other graphical aspects of a game, presenting them with the question: What is more important in the historical game for you? ​

Only one out of the 24 participants named costumes as the aspect that they care most about in historical games. Instead architecture and narrative are supposedly far more important to the audience. As with the question regarding how much influence texture holds in a design, it’s difficult to claim this result as conclusive without more data gathering however it's still a notable result as the difference between the answers is substantial. The audience preferring authentic narrative and architecture could be because of these aspects taking up much larger portions of the games in comparison to the character designs, as well as the two aspects having a larger influence on the game’s experience. It could also be that the participants are more familiar with historical architecture and facts, as the historical knowledge regarding these aspects are more publicly available in comparison to fashion history.

6. 3 Conclusion

The problem, or question, we wished to find an answer for with this study was the following:

How can developers create recognizable and historically realistic female character designs for games, while balancing historical authenticity and creative liberty?

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And we believe to have found at least part of the answer, which could be improved upon with further research. The solution when wanting to balance historical authenticity with character recognizability is to take advantage of the parts of historical designs the audience are less aware of.

Costumes and character designs can be recognised or even mistaken as historically accurate as long as the overall appearance of it is accurate to that specific time period. Larger elements, such as for example the silhouette of a design, should be based on authentic sources in order to give off an authentic impression, but lesser details such as hair or fabric patterns can be altered without it being obvious for the audience. The audience is aware of the general aesthetics of an era but rarely consider specific details, and will accept some less authentic details when the design as a whole largely aligns with their perception of the era.

The textures should compliment the design and similarly be based on documentative sources for a fully authentic impression, as the textures do seemingly play an important part in the impression of a historical design. Textures such as linen or wool for example are appropriate for medieval aged eras as the audience is generally aware that those were fabrics available at the time however, even when it comes to textures there’s room for creativity. The audience presumably isn’t aware of such details as what lace or embroidery patterns were in fashion for the specific eras and these can be altered based on what is appropriate for the character.

However, when balancing the design of a character to this it’s important to keep in mind that the type of context the character is presented in matters. What actions the character is seemingly designed for influences the audience's impression of a character, and a character design should be fitting for it’s personality and story as well as it’s setting. Pure historical authenticity might not always be the ideal choice depending on the context the character is meant to be presented in. A greater amount of creative liberty may be necessary in order for a designer to properly portray a character. This will obviously impact the balance of accuracy and inaccuracies in a historical design, but it may in some cases be worth it in order to be able to create a recognizable and appealing character design. Sometimes despite a historical character or costume design being obviously inaccurate, the inaccuracies of their design can be fitting in the case of the game they’re presented in is not accurate in itself. This means that developers research about the time periods that they wish to base their design on, and choose to balance their design based on the game genre, context, and character that the design is meant to represent and be part of.

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7 Concluding remarks

7.1 Summary

As mentioned previously, this study was performed with the intention of finding out how game developers can create more recognizable and historically realistic female character design while balancing creative liberty and historical authenticity. Researching on whether or not the audience is able to recognize authenticity, and what their preferences are in regards to historical authenticity. The sample group that participated in the study viewed six artifacts depicting female costumes with different levels of historical accuracy from two different time periods, and were then asked questions related to the artifacts. We asked questions that could help us better understand what basic costume elements were most recognized and preferred by gamers, which could help developers in the future when designing their characters.

The study was successful in that it provided us valuable data that helped us produce a question to our central question. The majority of the participants from both surveys’ showed that they possessed adequate knowledge and interest in historical fashion to the degree that they could recognize aspects of Elizabethan/16th century as well as Edwardian fashion. Though the participants lacked sufficient knowledge to identify Edwardian fashion correctly, the participants identifying it as the World War 1 time period were not far off as that event in history would take place only 4 years after the Edwardian era had ended. It was also likely that many had misidentified the era due to one of the artifacts from the set carrying a very noticeable rifle. Despite this issue it was clear that the participants were familiar enough with history to recognize when a design was obviously inaccurate. However this knowledge was deemed to be only surface level and so as long as a developer’s design retains a general realistic impression, a lot of creative liberty can be expressed in the lesser details. Creative liberties within a design, and a mixture of modern and realistic aspects is in fact the type of design most preferable by the audience. So despite a developer wanting to create a realistic design, including some modern or creative aspects can contribute to a more likeable and distinct design.

Textures were shown to be a surprisingly important detail when creating an authentic design. Though the participants don’t seem to have realised how the textures affected their

74 impression of the artifacts, it can be assumed that the textures still play a vital role though often subconsciously. Developers should thus keep both color and shape in mind when creating their realistic design, as both affect the impression of the design.

Despite the fact that the data collected has been valuable and informative, it’s evident that in order to achieve certain results further testing has to be performed. The survey and artifact in their current form have a number of flaws which could potentially contribute to misleading results. Some participants expressed difficulties with the survey, commenting on how the era names were too vague and how the artifacts were sometimes difficult to differentiate. In a future iteration of the study other eras and artifacts should be included in order to achieve more accurate results, as only two eras may have been a bit lacking.

The research does show that the subject of how female characters are portrayed in historical games is a question that is worthwhile continuing researching. How the audience perceives history and historical aesthetics in media is a discussion that is important as it shapes our impression of a historical era. Though fashion may seem like a frivolous subject, the way female characters are designed and presented in historical contexts shapes the way we assume women lived in the past. Character design has an influence on the player, and it's a subject with many facets worth studying.

7.2 Discussion

This paper is meant to help developers to understand what to consider when creating historically realistic female character design. The data gathered from the survey does provide some insight on this question, however it’s erroneous to accept the result as absolute fact. The data gathered from the two surveys, though valuable, shouldn’t be treated as truth without any shred of reasonable doubt. The most obvious flaw in the surveys being the small and unreliable sample size. Though 39 participants total partook in the two surveys, these numbers are still far too few to reach a definite answer. Further investigation with a bigger number of participants needs to be performed in order to find a definite and clear answer to the central question posed in this paper.

The second survey was an attempt to gather more data, as it was realised that the initial 24 participants were far too few. However, it became evident that this addition was still not enough. The second survey was, in addition to being an attempt at gathering a larger amount

75 of data, also performed in order to see whether or not textures would have an influence on the survey’s result. None of the participants mentioned colour in our first survey, but still we wanted to know if results would differ if grey models were replaced by textured ones. In the first survey we did not want to influence participants by picking costumes by their colors, especially when they were asked about which character they would like to meet in a game. It is well known that people can be affected by colors therefore (Kumar, 2017) we were afraid of false answers. However, the fact that colors could actually help to choose the right time period was neglected. In the end, despite the smaller amount of participants taking part in the second survey, we could see the difference in the answers.

In the first survey participants that chose the correct time period for the 16th century models, more often have chosen a semi-accurate costume as the authentic one. Surprisingly, in the second survey, participants more often chose correctly both times - correct era and accurate costume. However, there were still a number of participants that chose the semi-accurate costume as the accurate one. This can be a consequence of the media, which portrays inaccurate costumes in movies, books or magazines. On the other hand, the Edwardian era was better recognised when models were not textured. Even though the difference was not significant, it was still very noticeable that colours have affected answers of the participants.

When participants were asked to explain why they had chosen one of the costumes as historically accurate, participants were pointing out parts of the costumes that they have recognised as historically accurate. This observation has led to the Gestalt Theory. This theory focuses on how people’s minds perceive things. In his book, Art and Visual ​ Perception (1974), Rudolf Arnheim wrote that people like to see things as a whole rather ​ than individual parts, therefore if some details are slightly changed, most people would not notice the difference as the overall shape remains the same (Arnheim, 1974:67). Moreover, ​ ​ people like to simplify the whole and convert it into more understandable shapes, which could be the reason why participants have reacted mostly to voluminous sleeves and skirts on Elizabethan costumes or the big hat and weapon on the Edwardian costumes - these features are the most dominant shapes and are easy for the audience to simplify in their mind while still having them be a recognizable shape. This highlights a flaw that was in hindsight discovered among the Edwardian artifacts. The Creative Edwardian Artifact carried a rifle, a shape unlike anything worn by any other artifact. The shape and form of the weapon was a very recognizable shape for the participants. The participants associated the

76 gun with the First World War, and subsequently answered with The First World War when asked to identify the era. The inclusion of the rifle was far too distinct, and so the participants' answers were incorrect, because the participants were misled by more recognizable shapes.

Further in his book Arnheim has discussed how people are reacting to the similarities and ​ differences in shapes. He wrote:

A general principle to be kept in mind is that although all things are different in some respects and similar in others, comparisons make sense only when they proceed from a common base (Arnheim, 1974:79). ​ ​ ​

Which means that most of the participants realised that the three different models could be grouped and recognised as costumes from the same time period even though they differed from each other.

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7.3 Future work

Of course, it’s impossible to say for certain if the result gathered from this study is applicable to all individuals who play games. For a more exact answer further studies need to be performed, with variations of historical eras and artifacts. It’s very possible that the appearance of the artifacts produced for these studies had some influence on the participants' answers, and that a different set of artifacts might have produced a different result.

It’s possible that other time periods, and historical dress from other non western centric cultures could have produced different results. More diverse representations of dress would have tested how aware the participants really are of other cultures, and have given a deeper understanding of which time periods are more or less recognizable for a mainstream audience. Future investigation could also include the traditional dress for both genders to test how aware the audience is of male fashion as well as female. Additionally, including participants from different backgrounds and cultures would give researchers a broader and stronger depth of data. By choosing to do a convenience sampling we were able to perform the surveys quickly and efficiently, but this resulted in a mainly western european caucasian sample group which may have resulted in the data of this survey being skewed.

This study also showed that participants prefer an accurate environment and narrative over the historical costumes. Therefore we would like to suggest further investigation on how participants would react to different levels of accuracy in the environment. For example: What would be more recognisable - outside architecture or indoor environment? Would they be able to recognise the time period or the architectural style of an unknown city purely from visuals? Can developers recreate a historical story without the audience realising that some facts of it have been altered? These questions would let developers achieve a broader understanding of the importance of historical authenticity.

Overall, historical accuracy is a wide topic to be discussed and analysed. Most of the time people that know history want it to be as accurate as possible when they encounter it in the media. That is why we would recommend, in addition to the other matters presented, investigating the question further in regards to entertainment media other than the games.

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We are positive that research on costume design in general could provide very interesting data on the way audiences view historical authenticity.

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Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014). Microsoft Windows [Game]. Redwood City, CA, United ​ States: Electronic Arts

Dishonored (2012). Microsoft Windows [Game]. Rockville, Maryland, United States: ​ Bethesda Softworks LLC

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) Microsoft Windows [Game]. Rockville, Maryland, United ​ States: Bethesda Softworks LLC

Fallout (1997 - 2018). Microsoft Windows [Game]. Los Angeles, United States: Interplay ​ Entertainment Corp.

Fallout 4 (2015). Microsoft Windows [Game]. Los Angeles, United States: Interplay ​ Entertainment Corp.

King’s Quest (1984). IBM PCjr [Game]. New York, United States: IBM

L.A Noire (2011). Microsoft Windows [Game]. New York City, United States: Rockstar ​ Games

The Oregon Trail (1971). HP 2100 [Game]. Not Published ​

Soul Calibur IV (2008). Playstation [Game]. Tokyo, Japan: Namco ​

This war of mine (2014). Microsoft Windows [Game]. Warsaw, Poland: 11 Bit Studios ​

Tomb Raider (1996). Playstation [Game]. London, England: Square Enix Europe (formerly ​ Eidos Interactive Limited)

Valiant Hearts: The Great War (2014). Microsoft Windows [Game]. Montreuil, France: ​ ​ ​ Ubisoft

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015). Microsoft Windows [Game]. Warsaw, Poland: CD Project ​

Images:

Bungărdean, B. (2018). Red Dress of Pisa. [Image]. ​ ​

Clouet, F. (c. 1555) Portrait of Catherine Medici. [Image] ​ ​

Cranach the Elder, L. (1514). Portrait of duchess Katharina von Mecklenburg. [Image]. ​ ​

Félix (1906). Evening dress by Dailly. [Image]. Available at: ​ ​ https://les-modes.tumblr.com/post/181203537839/evening-dress-by-dailly-les-modes-dece mber-1906 [Accessed 17 February, 2020]. ​ ​

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Gheeraerts the younger, M. (c.1592). The Ditchley portrait of queen Elizabeth I. [Image]. ​ ​

Gibson, C. D. (c. 1891). The Gibson Girl. [Image]. ​ ​

Massys, Q. (c. 1514). The Gold Merchant and His Wife. [Image] ​ ​

Mor, A. (c.1552-3). Joanna of Austria. [Image]. ​ ​

Madrazo, de L. (c. 1848). A portrait of Isabella I of Castile. [Image]. ​ ​ Scrots, W. (c.1546) Elizabeth I when a Princess. [Image]. ​ ​

Shaw, M. (1952 - 1962). Dior Glamour: 1952-1962. [Image]. ​ ​

Unknown (1588) The Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. [Image]. ​ ​

Waterhouse, J. W. (1894). Ophelia. [Image] ​ ​

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Appendix

The Questionnaire

NOTE:

This survey is about historical accuracy in game costume design. We would like to know your opinion. We also want to note a few things:

*If you do not play games regularly, you can choose if you want to answer this survey.

*This questionnaire consists of many open-ended questions. So we are hoping to get your opinion in your own words.

*If your first language is either Swedish or Lithuanian, feel free to answer our questions in those languages if this makes you feel more comfortable.

QUESTIONS:

1. Age 2. Gender a. Male b. Female c. Other d. Prefer not to say 3. How often do you play games? (Any platform) a. Everyday b. Few days a week c. Once a week d. Rarely (less than once a week) 4. Which game platform do you prefer? a. Mobile b. PC c. Playstation d. Xbox e. Nintendo Switch

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f. Other 5. Do you like historical games? a. Yes. (what kind of games) b. No. (what other kind of games) 6. Do you care whether a game is historically correct? 7. Would you rather a game look good or be more historically correct when you play? - Questions about artifact set 1 (16th century) - 8. Can you tell from what era those characters are from? a. Baroque b. Elizabethan/16th Century c. Romanticism 9. Which one is historically recognizable? What was the clue that brought you to that conclusion? 10. Which character would you feel would be the most exciting/interesting to meet and interact with? Why? - Questions about artifact set 2 (Edwardian Era) - 11. Can you tell from what era those characters are from? a. Edwardian b. First World war c. Victorian 12. Which one is historically recognizable? What was the clue that brought you to that conclusion? 13. Which character would you feel would be the most exciting/interesting to meet and interact with? Why? 14. How difficult was it to distinguish historical eras? 15. How difficult was it to distinguish the historically accurate costume? 16. Do you think that historically inaccurate character costumes can affect your game experience? Why? 17. What is more important in the historical game for you? a. Facts/Narrative b. Architecture/World c. Costumes/Characters

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The Second Questionnaire

QUESTIONS:

1. Age 2. Gender a. Male b. Female c. Other d. Prefer not to tell 3. Do you like historical games? a. Yes b. No - Questions about artifact set 1 (16th century) - 4. Can you tell from what era those characters are from? a. Elizabethan/16th century b. Romanticism c. Baroque 5. Which one is historically recognizable? What was the clue that brought you to that conclusion? 6. Which character would you feel would be the most exciting/interesting to meet and interact with? Why? - Questions about artifact set 2 (Edwardian Era) - 7. Can you tell from what era those characters are from? a. First World War b. Victorian c. Edwardian 8. Which one is historically recognizable? What was the clue that brought you to that conclusion? 9. Which character would you feel would be the most exciting/interesting to meet and interact with? Why? 10. How difficult was it to distinguish historical eras? 11. How difficult was it to distinguish the historically accurate costume? 12. Did colour help in identifying the historically accurate costume?

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Raw Data of the First Survey

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Raw Data of the Second Survey

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