Reflections of history: representations of the Second World War in<i>Valkyria Chronicles</i>

Koski, Johannes

doi:10.1080/13642529.2016.1256625

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…This definition aligns with that presented in the historical fiction and video game literature (Koski, 2017; Salvati & Bullinger, 2013)…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…There have been few explicit examinations of historical authenticity in video games other than Koski’s (2017) examination of Valkyria Chronicles . Although the game is set in a fantasy world, it uses explicit allusions and metaphors to Europe during World War II in both its narrative and gameplay elements.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the game is set in a fantasy world, it uses explicit allusions and metaphors to Europe during World War II in both its narrative and gameplay elements. For example, Koski (2017) demonstrates how the urban warfare in its ruined cities evokes bombed European cities, and the geography depicted during the invasion of the fictional Marberry Coast is an allusion to Normandy. Weapons, such as tanks and guns, are modeled on their World War II counterparts and there is systematic racism towards a fictional race of people in a clear allegory to the Jewish population.…”

Section: Historical Authenticity Of Video Gamesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring Player Understandings of Historical Accuracy and Historical Authenticity in Video Games

Burgess

Jones

2021

Games and Culture

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Video games such as the successful Assassin’s Creed series allow consumers to engage with various historical contexts and to explore them in engaging and influential ways. However, it is unclear what consumers understand as the difference between the historical authenticity and historical accuracy used by developers in these games. Therefore, this research explored players of Assassin’s Creed games’ understanding of these two concepts and how they expected developers to utilize them. The study used a qualitative analysis of 959 online forum comments and an online survey with 88 respondents. While it was found that players understood historical accuracy and valued it in video games, historical authenticity prompted confusion with 43% describing it as the same as historical accuracy. The results were used to develop a new player-centric definition of historical authenticity to clarify player understandings and present useful and practical implications for developers and publishers.

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“…This definition aligns with that presented in the historical fiction and video game literature (Koski, 2017; Salvati & Bullinger, 2013)…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Historical Authenticity Of Video Gamesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Exploring Player Understandings of Historical Accuracy and Historical Authenticity in Video Games

Burgess

Jones

2021

Games and Culture

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“…Whether there is any merit in these arguments or not, it is still the case that outside of academia historical phenomena are already being treated like any other piece of media and faces similar issues as other media, like for example branding. 11 With things like the WW2 brand emerging and being taken on by the general public (Koski 2017;Salvati and Bullinger 2013) the power of transmedia expansion of historical representations should not be taken lightly.…”

Section: History As Transmediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Transmedia history

Lähteenmäki

2021

Rethinking History

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In this paper, I argue that history is a large-scale transmedia project that is not understood as such, and this causes friction when history is engaged with through media in which historical research is not usually presented. To do this, I go through Henry Jenkins' ten-step definition of transmedia and argue that history matches the definition very well. This transmedia discussion brings forth the concept of 'world-building', in which narrative is superseded by worldbuilding as the all-encompassing concept and as the beginning point of analysis. In the analysis, history (as a product of historiography) is treated as phenomenon instead of a discipline and compared to other forms of transmedia world-building.

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“…Shifting to the position of the counterfactual in digital representations/enactments of history, Johannes Koski (2017) points out in his work on Valkyria Chronicles, a counterfactual historical game about the Second World War, that one of the critical benefits of the counterfactual is that it lays open to the player many of the questions regarding the ideological underpinnings that motivate historical making: "Valkyria Chronicles is about history-in-the-making, about the transformation of events into history, and about how they are retold to those who come after the events transpired. The player gets to see in some limited ways the subjectivity of history at play; how the choices we make end up affecting what gets written down" (p. 409).…”

Section: The Counterfactual In History and Digital Historical Gamesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Playing the Past and Alternative Futures: Counterfactual History in Fallout 4

McCready

2019

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This article explores representations of history and history for the present in Fallout 4 to illuminate how the gameworld makes clever use of common historical tropes and aesthetics, as well as the genre of the counterfactual in its presentation of a compelling and interactive narrative. Set in the post-apocalyptic landscape of Massachusetts, Fallout 4 employs various sites of historical Massachusetts (Concord, Lexington, Boston) in order to draw the user into the story of the ‘lone survivor,’ the avatar that he or she takes control of. This analysis is interested in the ways that Fallout 4 employs history and the genre of the counterfactual in the production of a compelling narrative that not only invites but impels the player into action to chart a new course for this devastated virtual landscape. The power of counterfactual history lies in its capacity to unravel assumptions about the static nature of historical events, and in its denial of a linear trajectory of history broadly. In the case of Fallout 4, the implementation of a counterfactual story, wherein the nuclear event that shrouded the Cold War period in uncertainty, takes place. It serves as a rejection of the popularly rehearsed narrative of American supremacy triumphing over Communist forces to present the player with a more nuanced interpretation of some of the internal and external tensions that came to define the Cold War period (i.e. cultural malaise, economic instability, the growth of a military-industrial complex). This conflicting presentation of histories both real and imagined provides an opportunity for the player to experience and interact with the game critically as a counterfactual reimagining of the Cold War era. Viewed in this way, the virtual world of Fallout 4 becomes a space where the player can reassess their own understanding of the period, and the nature of historical knowledge production more broadly.

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Reflections of history: representations of the Second World War inValkyria Chronicles

Cited by 7 publications

References 17 publications

Exploring Player Understandings of Historical Accuracy and Historical Authenticity in Video Games

Exploring Player Understandings of Historical Accuracy and Historical Authenticity in Video Games

Transmedia history

Playing the Past and Alternative Futures: Counterfactual History in Fallout 4

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