History in games: how to learn discipline by playing?

Electronic games, with all their possibilities, present an infinity of scenarios to set your adventures. In this article, we are going to talk about games that are concerned with talking about the past: that is, we will talk about history in games. Let's take a look at how the discipline is worked on in the media, what are the purposes and ways in which it is possible to work the theme and, most importantly, how you can learn history with games, citing many examples and giving tips to unravel the historical periods. featured in video games. Come on?

Understanding the story

Trying not to go too deep and make it too complex, we still need to talk a little bit about the story itself before addressing its use in games. As you may have heard in some places, history is not just a bunch of dates that define important events, eras or days: it is made up of a whole body of accounts of what has already happened, involving writings, paintings, photographs and filming. (when they could already be captured), oral histories and even buried archaeological artifacts. To understand what a period of humanity was like, we need to find out what people at that time thought, practiced, liked and disliked, believed or not. Knowing all this, we can represent the time in question.

And that's where historical representations come in, whether in video games or other media. To talk about a specific period, we cannot, of course, cover it in full – there is a limit to what can be shown in a given game without making it too information-heavy, or too long, or not cohesive. Imagine, for example, that one day a game is made about you. You can't count your whole life in, say, 30 hours, right? We have to choose important events, relevant people and a linear narrative. With that, a lot is left out – and this deliberate choice of what to show will say a lot about the game, what we want to show, if it's something good or bad, etc.

We'll try not to talk too much about the topic of historical inaccuracies in this text, but when representing a period, it's practically impossible to stay completely true to reality – and that faithfulness decays the further we go back in history. An interesting phrase about historical representations says: “the period in which a work was made says more about it than the period it seeks to represent”. This happens because our view of the past has different approaches according to the period in which we are.

Today, for example, a film dealing with the Vietnam War will show how the Americans did poorly in the conflict, with a critical narrative and depicting the atrocities committed, while a film from forty years ago, like Rambo II – The Mission, seeks to show a successful intervention, taking the Americans as the good guys. There were already critical war movies back then, of course, but think a movie like Rambo II would be completely rejected these days. This difference in focus and narrative is very important when thinking and analyzing a game, so always try to keep that in mind.

historical approaches

It is convenient for us, here, to divide the historical representations to better understand how history in games is worked, depending on how its approach is made. Be warned that we are not going to make any academic divisions here, so calm down, historians on duty. It is for teaching purposes only. Let's separate the types, comment on how each one works and give examples to better situate ourselves. The different uses of history in games would then be:

• Historical Reconstruction: This category defines the games that decide to represent a period with the greatest possible fidelity, showing scenarios, clothes, weapons and any clippings of an everyday life of the time to set the game play, putting you in the shoes of a historical character or an invented one, who lives in the period. It is the category that intends to tell the facts as they were, but note that even these end up having inaccuracies, usually to enhance the narrative or certain characters;
• Based on historical elements: This category defines games that use story to build their world and narrative, but do not intend to be faithful to what actually happened, distorting the story to create the virtual universe, with very recognizable elements from a specific period or more. Within this category, we are going to talk about the more “down to earth” games, which still show periods of history with some fidelity, and those that are completely cool and use the story in a very, very free way.

When analyzing history in games, the best thing to do is not stick to the preciosity of “but it didn’t happen that way”, since it is a media that needs a playful and interactive language that sometimes doesn’t give space for fidelity. A game that is not 100% faithful to the facts has, at the very least, the merit of representing an era that may well leave the player excited, wanting to know more, eventually making him study and obtain his own knowledge.

Just the incentive to know is a huge achievement – ​​how many people have you not seen on the internet saying that they learned more from games than at school? We have, however, to understand what the knowledge passed by games is proposed for – and that is where the categories we defined above and their examples come into play. Although there is poetic freedom and suspension of disbelief to let us reveal historical distortions, we need to know how to separate fact from fiction and understand the proposal of each game. Shall we, then, better understand how history in games works?

historical reconstruction

As previously mentioned, this category deals with games that seek to portray historical periods with the greatest possible fidelity. As we don't have absolutely accurate accounts of any earlier period - let alone actions and speeches of historical people never recorded, then - all historical representation in games is bound to be inaccurate. Some games, however, try their best to work through an era, by reconstructing architecture, clothes, weapons, even hair and everyday customs. The most obvious example that probably came to readers' minds is Assassin's Creed.

Assassin's Creed, regardless of which game in the series we are talking about, has always sought to bring an accurate model of the cities and peoples of the chosen setting. Strolling through Rome, Constantinople, Athens or Paris is an experience that is hard to forget. The best example, however, is perhaps Assassin's Creed Odyssey: The ancient Greece that the game represents is not 100% accurate (nor could it be), but the representation of the elements of the time is very accurate: the statues have color, people are not very shy when it comes to sex, and the clothes they are very well represented (apart from some slips in the armor).

Even so, there are many inconsistencies, such as the fact that no shield walls are made at any point in the game, the weapons are exaggerated, and of course the character you control interacts and even kills actual historical figures in addition to fighting. against mythological beings. This kind of freedom, however, allows the player to feel as if they were living the period and seeing the facts with their own eyes – understanding what the people believed, in the case of mythical beings, and interacting “personally” with figures of the time. .

Few people must have heard of Alcibiades or Hippocrates before playing AM: Odyssey, and some must have even sought to read about them afterwards. The game was even praised by academics in the field. There is a difference between being accurate and authentic, and Assassin's Creed understand it. In the case of this franchise specifically, the latest games have even brought the much-acclaimed Discovery Mode, which transforms games into virtual museums, where there are narrated experiences that make the best possible use of the 3D recreation of the places, informing the player not only about great figures such as pharaohs and kings, but also about the daily life of the people.

Another example is war games such as Battlefield, Call of Duty ou Sniper Elite, which have several titles set in wars of the past. Here we have, of course, a lot of creative freedom, even more when it comes to multiplayer – of course, WWXNUMX soldiers didn't run or jump around, but no one could stand a game where you have to wait in a trench for hours. Despite the deviations made to make the gameplay fun or tell a linear story, the weapons, uniforms and locations shown in the games give a very good idea of ​​how the conflict worked, instigating the player to know more and feel that “it was there ”.

Another interesting example is Ghost of Tsushima. The 2020 game talks about an event a little less known to the general public: the First Mongol Invasion of Japan. Despite fictional elements, such as the fact that invaders are driven back by a single samurai – player-controlled Jin – and not by divine winds (or kamikaze, in Japanese) and some out of season armor, the setting sought to represent the island of Tsushima as it was at the time, including wild animals and even linguistic aspects, being possible to play the title in Japanese. It is a good example of a game that, despite taking many historical liberties, hits a lot in the look-and-feel and introduces a darker theme with great success.

Although the historical clippings of the games mentioned above have their inaccuracies, it is possible to learn a lot from them. Not only does the visual aid allow us to know what cities, people and clothing were like at the time, but we can get glimpses of the culture and way of thinking of a certain people at the time. Just be careful when saying that we "know" something by playing a game set in a certain period: it's always good to research to know what was represented with more artistic freedom and keep in mind what the game seeks to represent.

Assassin's Creed, for example, already suffered criticism for showing big events as having been the result of the action of a half dozen people, while in real life the processes take much longer and involve many more people. Never forget to research that historical period that you liked to see in a game, even if it is in a virtual encyclopedia of life – you will be better informed and, if you want to delve deeper, you will certainly find several reading tips out there. . Just search.

Tips for historically well-placed games are:

• Valiant Hearts: The Great War, a game set in the First World War, which presents the conflict in a playful way;
• Ryse: Son of Rome, set in Ancient Rome;
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance, set in Bohemia, kingdom of the Holy Roman Empire, very historically accurate.

Based on historical elements

This category is certainly the most comprehensive, as it is very difficult to create any game – no matter how fictional – that does not contain even a reference to a period in history, even if it is our own, or the past decade, at least. any less. Here, a subdivision can help to understand how history in games is used.

Historically based faithfully

A great exponent of story-based games that has a good fidelity é Red Dead Redemption, especially its sequence, RDR 2. The Wild West represented by the title features practically only fictional characters, with few really “true” events in the narrative, but the setting is very accurate: we have the backdrop of the American Civil War, for example, and many interesting contextual elements, such as the settings, the weapons and clothes and even the diseases of the time.

They say the devil is in the details, and if you want to know what life in the American West was like, you'll know for sure when you play this game. Just don't expect to know how to answer a history test based on the events of the game.

An example that may seem counterintuitive is Age of Empires. Like this? The game is pure history! Well, more or less. Any game in the saga has a good campaign for you to play with great civilizations and figures of the time, but for the sake of gameplay, the games end up being pretty freely based on facts (I won't even begin to comment on William Wallace's tutorial Age II). Also, most of everyone's hours of play certainly go into other game modes, so you'll see Aztecs fighting Koreans in the Sahara desert most of the time. oops

One caveat is that the next game in the franchise, Age of Empires IV, suggests that it will bring a more documentary story to its campaign, mixing gameplay with cinematic sequences. In that case, it would even be possible to move the game to the most accurate story section, but until now, it's difficult to defend you, friend. Honorable mention to the sections of texts explaining the history of civilizations that the games have and the encyclopedia of Age of Mythology, which brought the mythology of the people worked into the game with a lot of contextualization. In addition, the Historical Battles available in the games, in isolation, even deserved to be in the previous session.

Another example that is perhaps strange is Total War. With titles in various periods of history, such as the Roman Empire, Medieval Era or Napoleonic Wars, the proposal is to place you as the political and military leader of a nation. While each game starts with the right setting and includes well-divided and historically accurate factions, the freedom the game gives you to conquer everyone and change the course of history is big enough to say it's more inspired than it needs to be. And let's face it, no one is willing to lose just for history to run as it should, right? They are great games, however, for getting to know new cultures, simulating historical battles and learning period politics.

A game genre that deserves to be commented on as a whole is Grand Strategy. It encompasses games where you control an entire nation in its military and political domination efforts, such as the Crusader Kings, Europe Universalis, Hearts of Iron ou Victoria (some include Total War in style, too). Although they work with period history and politics, and in the case of the developer's titles paradox, bring world events very well contextualized, the problem again is the freedom to distort history. That's not bad, but it doesn't help with historical accuracy either.

Still, they are highly recommended games for those who love management and are not afraid to learn the names of thousands of factions, tribes, political and economic terms and diverse cultural elements. Never heard of Dagestan? After Europe Universalis IV, you will even know which proper name is most common there. Trust me.

Other good examples are:

• Civilization, classic series with a lot of work on the historical and technological progression of humanity, which could not be missed here;
• Rise of Nations, a real-time strategy game that works a lot with history over the ages;
• Call of Juarez, a Wild West shooter that is well set but fictional;
• Desperados, a real-time planning and strategy game with a western setting, too;
• Stronghold, a series of medieval simulation games highly faithful to the time, but with a lot of freedom in factions and campaigns.

Loosely based on history

This category can be a little more complicated to identify, but it is very interesting because it inverts the logic of learning a little: sometimes, a game takes its references so far that it is necessary to have a pre-established knowledge of history to understand the drawn parallels, instead of learning from the game and then seeking to read about the actual story. The exercise of looking for historical references in less obvious games, however, goes a long way towards solidifying what we know about each period, and it's fun to look for those parallels in our favorite titles – like a treasure hunt.

A good example of story in games crafted very freely is Mount and Blade. The game series takes place on the fictional continent of calradia, where several kingdoms – also fictional – fight each other, with the player being able to choose their own faction and make their own history. to the peoples, which are clear references to the royal kingdoms of the Middle Ages. It's easy to relate the game's warriors to their Germanic or Saracen equivalents, for example. The franchise's DLCs even bring more direct references to the story, such as Napoleonic Wars e viking conquest.

With The Elder Scrolls, it starts to get a little more complicated to find the parallels, but they are still there. In TES V: Skyrim, for example, we can interpret Empire as an obvious reference to Rome (To Cyrodiil acting as the Roman capital), while the Nords are a reference to the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples. The medieval setting, with everything it entails, also draws heavily from the real period in question, and even the game's mythology shows a strong influence from the beliefs of the time, with the god Thalos representing Thor – keeping the proper proportions, of course.

Yes, Bioshock brings a greater challenge. The first games show a clear reference to the first decades of the 20th century, both in visual references, such as clothes, weapons and aesthetics, as well as in philosophy, with the obvious allusion to works such as Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand (well, it even has a character with that name!) and discussions of meritocracy and free will. In Bioshock Infinite, we see clear references to the same period, but in different contexts: Booker dewitt, the protagonist, is a veteran of the Boxer Rebellion, which actually took place in China, and agent of Pinkerton, also real detective agency. Columbia, the fictional city of the game, is an American fundamentalist and idealist paradise that has many parallels in real life.

Stretching the comparison to newer games, Elysium disk brings a universe very much based on a post-Soviet East/North Europe, where the city of Revachol acts as a Moscow, which would have gone through a communist revolution later muffled, only with an environment much more inspired by the Baltic countries (the game studio, after all, is from Estonia), with French linguistic references. A salad of languages, ideologies and cultural references, but which can all be traced to contemporary historical elements.

In order not to be completely harassed in the comments, it is better to cite a list of games that also use history freely in their setting:

• God of War, with the brutalization of various mythologies and peoples;
• Dishonored, with its warped Victorian England and British imperialist themes;
• Papers, Please, with its totalitarian communist dystopia;
• A Plague Tale: Innocence, a story based on the medieval bubonic plague;
• Iron Harvest, a story heavily inspired by the Second World War, mainly from the eastern front;
• Red Alert, a real-time strategy series based on a super-modified Cold War;
• Rise of Legends, super fantasy mythological version of Rise of Nations.

Conclusion

Well, I believe we already have enough examples to show how history can be worked on in games. There is no magic to learning any discipline, but understanding how history works and how it is used in electronic games, as we try to do in this matter, it is possible to optimize the understanding or, at least, the identification of the themes that each game works, giving us more autonomy to understand what is literal and what is not, what is a direct reference or a more obscure parallel.

History is made of context and a lot of loose information, which together make up a historical “whole”. By making us interested in this information, games have the power to be a pathway to knowledge, no matter how accurate. What we cannot do is lose interest – after all, it is necessary to read a lot, or, at the very least, watch several videos (from good channels, by the way) on a subject to understand it well. I really hope that this post has helped you to better understand how history in games is crafted, how to identify it and why it is important to think of it as a creative tool, not as boring and immutable knowledge. Good games – and good studies!

And if you're interested in history in general, why not check out our article on 17 sites to check out historical photos?

See also:

17 image sites from the past to remember history