History, Heritage, and Memory in Video Games. Approaching the Past in Svoboda 1945. Liberation and Train to Sachsenhausen

0565688 - ÚSD 2023 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Šisler, V. - Poetzsch, H. - Hannemann, T. - Cuhra, Jaroslav - Pinkas, J.
History, Heritage, and Memory in Video Games. Approaching the Past in Svoboda 1945. Liberation and Train to Sachsenhausen.
Games and Culture. Roč. 17, č. 6 (2022), s. 901-914. ISSN 1555-4120. E-ISSN 1555-4139
Institutional support: RVO:68378114
Keywords : memory * heritage * video games
OECD category: History (history of science and technology to be 6.3, history of specific sciences to be under the respective headings)
Impact factor: 2.8, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15554120221115402

This article explores authenticity, immersion, and heritage in two historical video games, Svoboda 1945: Liberation and Train to Sachsenhausen. The two games use different strategies when inviting understanding, emotional attachment, and immersive experiences of past events. We draw upon a critical, self-reflective analysis of the design process and a comparison of both games. Our aim is to expand further the toolset for historical game analysis and critique by developing the terms inter-medial authenticity and procedural heritage to enable investigations of games as both representations and simulations of historical events. We show that both these aspects can contribute to the roles games can play as conveyors of historical memory and heritage.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0338070