Abstract
Today, historical video games going beyond the boundaries of the purely entertainment framework of screen media are increasingly influencing the formation of the public history infosphere. The aim of the study is a comprehensive analysis of historical video games as a tool for constructing mass historical consciousness and the implementation of ideologized strategies for the politics of memory. Methodologically, the work is based on the concepts of “public history infosphere” and “politics of memory”, as well as the historical method and classification approach. In addition, elements of comparative analysis, the method of narrative research of cultural artifacts and the optics of I. Bogost’s procedural rhetoric are used.
The study determines the specificity and nature of broadcasting historical plots in the context of procedural actualization of video game narratives. Starting from the interactive-procedural nature of video games, the original possibilities and objective constraints in the reproduction of “stories about the past” are revealed. It is demonstrated that the programmatic and subjective-user modalities of a video game existence endow it with rhizome and nomadic characteristics. Video game architectonics has an intention to deconstruct the “metaphysics of presence” and the main repressive instances characteristic of traditional historical narrative. At the same time, based on the concept of simulations by G. Frasca, three main formats of historical video game reconstructions are revealed: factual (plot and setting), logical-dynamic and hybrid. The article identifies the most common ways of distorting, mythologizing and politicizing history in video games. Special attention is paid to the explication of the ideologized concept of “anti-Sovietism” in video game plots, as a form of quasi-historical criticism of the Soviet regime and the continuation of the rhetoric of the “Cold War”.
The results of the study can be used in the expert assessment of the space of public history, in the identification of relevant media tools and meaningful concepts that form its semantic framework. In addition, certain conclusions are essential for the effective correction of memory policy strategies implemented in screen digital media.
References
Aurell, J. (2015). Rethinking historical genres in the twenty-first century. Rethinking History, 19(2), 145‑157. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642529.2014.983706
Belov, S. I. (2018). Computer Games as a Tool for Implementation of Memory Policy (on the Example of Displaying Events of The Great Patriotic War in Video Games). RUDN Journal of Political Science, 20(1), 96–104. https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-1438-2018-20-1-96-104 (In Russian).
Belov, S. I. (2021). Prospects for using video games with a historical plot as a memory policy instrument of the Russian Federation. Political Science Issues, 11(4), 1089–1096. https://doi.org/10.35775/PSI.2021.68.4.013 (In Russian).
Belov, S. I., & Kretova, A. A. (2020). Computer games as a resource of the politics of memory: practical experience and hidden opportunities(based on games representing World War II events). Bulletin MSRU. Series: History and Political Science, 1, 54–63. https://doi.org/10.18384/2310-676X-2020-1-54-63 (In Russian).
Belyantsev, A. E., & Gerstein, I. Z. (2010). A country's image through the computer game: the historico-political aspect. Vestnik of Lobachevsky University of Nizhni Novgorod, 6, 279–283. (In Russian).
Bochanov, M. A., Iglin, D. A., & Popov, S. I. (2018). Computer games as a tool for the potential development of political culture and communication. Political Science Issues, 8(5), 7–14. (In Russian).
Bogost, I. (2009, September 3). Videogames are a Mess. Bogost.Com. http://bogost.com/writing/videogames_are_a_mess/
Chapman, A. (2020). Playing Against the Past?: Representing the Play Element of Historical Cultures in Video Games. In Historia Ludens: The Playing Historian (pp. 133–154). Routledge.
Chen, K. (2003). Civilization and its disk contents two essays on civilisation and civilization. Radical Society, 30(2), 95–107. https://doi.org/10.1080/1476085032000175056
Cherny, S. Y. (2017). Constructing the Past in Video Games: The Player as Consumer and Co-Author of the Historical Narrative (Europa Universalis 4 Project). Steps, 3(2), 77–97. (In Russian).
Fedorchenko, S. N. (2020). Interpretation of the Great Patriotic War events in computer games: Risks and prospects of regime legitimization through the politics of memory. Post-Soviet studies, 3(5), 427–438. (In Russian).
Fogu, C. (2009). Digitalizing Historical Consciousness. History and Theory, 48(2), 103–121. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2303.2009.00500.x
Frasca, G. (2004). Simulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology. In The Video Game Theory Reader (pp. 221–236). Routledge.
Furtai, F. (2009). The phenomenon of virtuality in popular culture, or “Welcome to our nightmare”. Bulletin of A.S. Pushkin Leningrad State University, 2(3–2), 112–121. (In Russian).
Griban, O. N. (2017). Transforming memory: reflection of the Second World War in computer games. Teacher education in Russia, 2, 32–38. https://doi.org/10.26170/po17-02-05 (In Russian).
Kirichenko, V. V. (2019). «Encyclopedic Games» as a Way of Historical Reflection. Galactica Media: Journal of Media Studies, 4, 130–152. https://doi.org/10.24411/2658-7734-2019-10040 (In Russian).
Kiriyenko talks about trying to influence children through images in computer games. (2018, September 11). TASS. https://tass.ru/obschestvo/5551452 (In Russian).
Koski, J. (2017). Reflections of history: Representations of the Second World War in Valkyria Chronicles. Rethinking History, 21(3), 396–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642529.2016.1256625
Lewis, K. J. (Ed.). (2020). Grand Theft Longboat: Using Video Games and Medievalism to Teach Medieval History. In Historia Ludens: The Playing Historian (pp. 54–70). Routledge.
Medvedev criticises foreign-made historical computer games. (2019, March 29). Interfax.ru. https://www.interfax.ru/russia/656237 (In Russian).
Medvedev proposes to make a Russian analogue of World of Warcraft. (2011, July 22). RIA Novosti. https://ria.ru/20110722/405663550.html (In Russian).
Montero Díaz, J., & Paz Rebollo, M. A. (2013). Audiovisual History for an audiovisual society. Historia Crítica, 49, 159–183.
Moyzhes, L. V. (2020). An Analysis of the Ideological Potential of VideoGames from the Point of View of James Gibson’s Theory of Affordances. Sociology of Power, 32(3), 32–52. https://doi.org/10.22394/2074-0492-2020-3-32-52 (In Russian).
Osekin, S. O. (2016). Russia as an aggressor in contemporary computer games. Culture and Civilisation, 1, 116–127. (In Russian).
Spring, D. (2015). Gaming history: Computer and video games as historical scholarship. Rethinking History, 19(2), 207–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642529.2014.973714
Traynor, L., & Ferguson, J. (2020). Shooting for Accuracy: Historicity and Video Gaming. In Historia Ludens (pp. 243–254). Routledge.
Uricchio, W. (2005). Simulation, history and computer games. In Handbook of computer game studies (pp. 327–338). MIT Press.
Wainwright, A. M. (2014). Teaching Historical Theory through Video Games. The History Teacher, 47(4), 579–612.
Wright, E. (2018). On the promotional context of historical video games. Rethinking History, 22(4), 598‑608. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642529.2018.1507910
Yablokov, K. V. (2005). Computer History Games from the 1990s to the 2000s: Problems of Interpreting Historical Information [PhD Thesis]. Russian State University for the Humanities. (In Russian).
Zahlmann, S. (2015). Early Modern History in the Video Game: Historical Perspectives. German History, 33(4), 656–658.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.