Exploring the Intersection of Video Games and History

Stephen Mallory, assistant professor at Lawrence Technological University’s College of Architecture and Design, is a games studies scholar studying the intersection of game design, critical media studies, critical pedagogy, and American history. Mallory has been making games most of his life, and he cannot imagine a time when games were not a fundamental part of what he did and who he was. Mallory combines the multiple intersections of game studies by focusing on the impact of digital games portraying World War II in normalizing fascist imagery, discourse, and political goals.

Stephen Mallory

Game studies is a relatively young and interdisciplinary field. The cultural and economic impact of games was acknowledged by academia in 1990. The field is deeply intertwined into a critical framework called postmodernism; however, given how recent the field is, postmodernism is modified and adjusted to incorporate game studies. Digimodernism, described by Alan Kirby around 2008-2009, highlights the cultural impact of computers and computerization, describing its intersection with cultural and artistic forms while revealing inadequacies of the existing postmodern critical framework, accommodates games studies. Mallory views digimodernism as “a way for [game studies] to help find its footing and establish its theoretical roots.” As a field without centuries of research and materials, it has the flexibility to pave its path and future.

Games from the 1950s to the 1980s have a history of portraying fascist imagery. However, in order to portray a positive image of Germany post-World War II has led game developers to sanitize the horrors of the war in many ways. Erasing the Holocaust and Nazi imagery to sell games oversimplifies fascism. “They kind of polish and rub off the rough edges,” Mallory explains. The lack of emphasis on atrocities and the production of mass-market games undercut and underserve the brutality found in fascism, consequently allowing fascism to be viewed as a legitimate, thoughtful political movement rather than a brutal, violent ideology.

The impact of diluting World War II was evident when Bethesda released a game called Wolfenstein: The New Order. The game takes place in an alternate universe where the Nazis won World War II and occupied the United States, and players are part of a resistance to drive the Nazis out. In 2017, as part of their marketing campaign, a social media campaign called Make America Nazi-Free Again was launched with the hashtag #NoMoreNazi. Suddenly, an alternate reality video game about killing Nazis caused people to sympathize with the fascist ideology and defend it.

Games are about creativity and creating abstract, alternative worlds. However, disentangling the Holocaust from the war in Europe during World War II is impossible, and doing so causes misinformation. As Mallory states, “We can make rules, we can make mechanics, and it'll make the game. But when we extract abstract things too far out, even out of respect, we're not telling the full history. And by erasing that event, we're erasing the violence and impact it had.” There is a credo of ‘never again’ when it comes to situations in history and the easiest way to honor this idea is by enacting player choice. In Mallory's research, the most intriguing finding was that developers honor the prevention of another Holocaust by preventing players from starting one; however, this decision can also be viewed as being inadvertently complicit with Holocaust denial.

According to an article Mallory read in The Atlantic , video games are teaching kids more about history than in classrooms. The concern is that major game studios do not think of their works in terms of educational impact; they look at sales figures and cultural requirements. It is up to the school system's instruction and education to correct those misinterpretations between games and what is historically factual. Games are great conversation starters, a way to get students involved, and a starting point for discussion through critical pedagogy that allows students to bring and use their own experiences as part of class discussions. Introducing and using games in the classroom allows teachers to both connect with and meet students where they are, but instructors need to be aware that games are imperfect representations and should be viewed as a starting point instead of a conclusion.

Games allow students to be playful and creative; they are a safe space to break rules, explore, and push boundaries to come up with solutions. Mallory hopes his research begins a dialogue with future developers that come out of game design, game development, and game studies programs that disentangling the Holocaust from World War II is impossible—one cannot pull the two apart. “Especially now, if that Atlantic article is correct, more kids are learning history from video games than from textbooks. We have to be much more careful about how we abstract and simplify things.” Playing a video game subconsciously produces certain results, but the line becomes blurred when history is involved. When games use verbiage such as ‘based in history,’ players can make intellectual connections with what they are seeing and playing with historical context, often leading them to draw incorrect conclusions, such as a positive attitude towards fascism.

Mallory’s research focuses on what students learn and what developers need to be more aware of when they make their creations. Games are great at abstracting and simplifying ideas and objectives; however, when things are abstracted too far, very important information can be misrepresented.