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Lest They Forget: Exploring Commemoration and Remembrance Through Games and Digital Technologies

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Abstract

The centennial of the First World War has encouraged a wide range of projects to commemorate the participants and communities affected by the conflict. This chapter considers how games and interactivity can be used to enhance commemoration and remembrance with new audiences. The digital commemorations undertaken for the Battle of Loos, and as part of the wider “Great War Dundee” project, are discussed. Emphasis is placed on how game design techniques and technology were utilized to plan an empathy game and then further developed into the interactive documentary and visualization, Loos: The Fallen Fourth. The chapter concludes with a consideration of how these narratives engaged with the community and helped shape a wider understanding. The digital components of this project can be accessed via greatwardundee.com and greatwardundee.itch.io.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Analyst firm Newzoo estimates that there are currently 2.2 billion gamers worldwide. Emma McDonald, “The Global Games Market 2017”, Newzoo, 2017. https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/.

  2. 2.

    The lexicon “the medium is the message” was defined in McLuhan’s 1964 text Understanding Media but has been influential and updated by games academics such as Brenda Brathwaite and Jane McGonigal. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2013); Brenda Brathwaite, “Gaming for Understanding” filmed 2011, TED video, 9:17. http://www.ted.com/talks/brenda_brathwaite_gaming_for_understanding; Jane McGonigal, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (New York: Penguin Press, 2011).

  3. 3.

    Henry Jenkins, and Mark Deuze, “Convergence Culture,” (2008): 5–12; Ian Bogost, “Comparative Video Game Criticism,” Games and Culture 1, no. 1 (2006): 41–46; Frans Mäyrä, An Introduction to Game Studies (Sage, 2008); Jaakko Stenros, Markus Montola, and Frans Mäyrä, “Pervasive Games in Ludic Society,” in Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Future Play, pp. 30–37. ACM, 2007.

  4. 4.

    Marc Prensky, “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1,” On the Horizon 9, no. 5 (2001): 1–6.

  5. 5.

    “About,” Great War Dundee. greatwardundee.com, accessed February 8, 2018. https://www.greatwardundee.com/about/.

  6. 6.

    Christopher Sleight, “BBC News – How Dundee became a world gaming hub”. BBC Tayside and Central, December 7, 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/8399935.stm.

  7. 7.

    Caroline Lindsay, “First World War: share your family’s stories” The Courier, February 17, 2014, http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/history-2.1462/first-world-war-share-your-family-s-stories-1.227114.

  8. 8.

    “Dundee’s Glorious Dead,” The People’s Journal, May 16, 1925.

  9. 9.

    Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, A History of the Black Watch [Royal Highlanders] in the Great War, 1914–1918. Vol. II (London: Medici Society, 1925).

  10. 10.

    Rob Fahey, “A Question of Maturity”, posted July 6, 2012. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-07-06-a-question-of-maturity.

  11. 11.

    Tracy Fullerton, “Documentary games: Putting the player in the path of history,” Playing the past: Nostalgia in video games and electronic literature (2008): 215–238; Dayna Galloway, Kenneth B. McAlpine, and Paul Harris, “From Michael Moore To JFK Reloaded: Towards a Working Model of Interactive Documentary,” Journal of Media Practice 8, no. 3 (2007): 325–339.

  12. 12.

    Jessie Cameron Herz, Joystick Nation: How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, And Rewired Our Minds (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Co., 1997); Timothy Lenoir, “All but War is Simulation: The Military-Entertainment Complex”, Configurations 8, no. 3 (2000): 289–335; Robin Andersen, and Marin Kurti, “From America’s Army to Call of Duty: Doing Battle with The Military Entertainment Complex”, Democratic Communiqué 23, no. 1 (2009). http://journals.fcla.edu/demcom/article/view/76373.

  13. 13.

    Nick Robinson, “Videogames, Persuasion and The War On Terror: Escaping Or Embedding The Military—Entertainment Complex?” Political Studies 60, no. 3 (2012): 504–522. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2011.00923.x; Marcia Landy, The Historical Film: History and Memory in the Media (London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011).

  14. 14.

    Matthew Kapell, and Andrew B. R. Elliott, Playing with the Past: Digital Games and the Simulation of History (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013).

  15. 15.

    Brenda Brathwaite, and John Sharp, “The mechanic is the message: A post mortem in progress,” in Ethics and game design: Teaching values through play, ed. Karen Schrier and David Gibson (Hersey, PA: IGI Global, 2010).

  16. 16.

    Battlefield series, developed by EA DICE (Redwood City, California: EA, 2002).

  17. 17.

    See International Committee of the Red Cross, 2013. “Video Games and Law of War”. icrc.org. https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/film/2013/09-28-ihl-video-games.htm and International Committee of the Red Cross. Video Games get Real (online video, September 29, 2013). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SlIJNgeuRc.

  18. 18.

    Battlefield 4, developed by EA DICE, Xbox 360 (Redwood City, California: EA, 2013).

  19. 19.

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, developed by Infinity Ward, Activision Xbox 360 (Santa Monica, CA, 2007); Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Developed by Infinity Ward, Activision Xbox 360 (Santa Monica, CA, 2009); Call of Duty: Black Ops, developed by Treyarch, Activision Xbox 360 (Santa Monica, CA, 2010); Call of Duty: Black Ops II, developed by Treyarch, Activision Xbox 360 (Santa Monica, CA, 2012).

  20. 20.

    Medal of Honor, developed by Danger Close Games (2010; Redwood City, California: EA), Xbox 360.

  21. 21.

    Cannon Fodder, developed by Sensible Software, PC (London: Virgin Interactive Entertainment, 1993).

  22. 22.

    Tony Mott, 1001: Video Games You Must Play Before You Die (New York, NY: Universe Publishing, 2013).

  23. 23.

    Kieron Gillen, “Retrospective: Cannon Fodder”, 2007. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/11/11/retrospective-cannon-fodder/.

  24. 24.

    Ibid.

  25. 25.

    Joel Snape, “Never Been So Much Fun: The Making of Cannon Fodder,” Eurogamer, December 4, 2013. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-12-04-never-been-so-much-fun-the-making-of-cannon-fodder.

  26. 26.

    Kieron Gillen, “Retrospective: Cannon Fodder”, 2007.

  27. 27.

    Battlefield 1, developed by EA DICE, PlayStation 4 (Redwood City, California: EA, 2016).

  28. 28.

    Ben Griffin, “Reinstall: Brothers in Arms”, 2014. http://www.pcgamer.com/reinstall-brothers-in-arms/. See also Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, developed by Gearbox Software, Xbox (Montreuil, Paris: Ubisoft, 2005); Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood, developed by Gearbox Software, Xbox (Montreuil, Paris: Ubisoft, 2005); Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, developed by Gearbox Software, Xbox 360 (Montreuil, Paris: Ubisoft, 2008).

  29. 29.

    Chris Suellentrop, “War Games,” New York Times Magazine, September 8, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/magazine/12military-t.html.

  30. 30.

    Randy Nelson, “Joystiq Interview: Six Days in Fallujah”. Engadget, April 13, 2009. https://www.engadget.com/2009/04/13/joystiq-interview-six-days-in-fallujah/.

  31. 31.

    David Jenkins, “Konami Drops Controversial Six Days in Fallujah,” Gamasutra, April 27, 2009. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23367.

  32. 32.

    Russ Pitts, “Don’t be a Hero – The Full Story Behind Spec Ops: The Line,” Polygon, August 27, 2012. http://www.polygon.com/2012/11/14/3590430/dont-be-a-hero-the-full-story-behind-spec-ops-the-line. See also Spec Ops: The Line, developed by Yager Development, Xbox 360 (Novato, CA: 2K Games, 2012), Xbox 360.

  33. 33.

    Chris Suellentrop, “War Games”.

  34. 34.

    M. R. Moore, “Adaptation and New Media”. Adaptation 3, no. 2 (2010): 179–192.

  35. 35.

    September 12th, developed by Gonzalo Frasca, PC (Newsgaming.org, 2003).

  36. 36.

    Unmanned, developed by Molleindustria, PC (Molleindustria, 2012); Killbox, developed by Biome Collective, PC (Dundee: Biome Collective, 2015).

  37. 37.

    This War of Mine, developed by 11-bit Studios, PC (Planegg, Germany: Deep Silver, 2014).

  38. 38.

    Valiant Hearts: The Great War, developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, PC (Montreuli-sous-Bois: Ubisoft, 2014).

  39. 39.

    Verdun, developed by BlackMill Games, PC (BlackMill Games, 2013).

  40. 40.

    Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War, developed by 777 Studios, PC (777 Studios, 2009).

  41. 41.

    Victoria II, developed by Paradox Development Studio, PC (Stockholm: Paradox Interactive, 2010).

  42. 42.

    David R. Hussey, “Commemoration, Video Games, And Remembrance Day”, posted November 11, 2014, accessed Dec 15, 2017. http://www.playthepast.org/?p=5026.

  43. 43.

    Elaine McFarland, Catriona M.M. MacDonald, and E.W. McFarl, Scotland and the Great War (East Lothian, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 1999).

  44. 44.

    “About – Partner Information,” greatwardundee.com, accessed February 8, 2018. https://www.greatwardundee.com/about/partner-information.

  45. 45.

    “Roll of Honour,” greatwardundee.com, accessed February 8, 2018. https://www.greatwardundee.com/roll-of-honour.

  46. 46.

    “Six Lives of WW1,” greatwardundee.com, accessed February 8, 2018. https://www.greatwardundee.com/#fndtn-sixlives.

  47. 47.

    Philip Warner, The Battle of Loos (Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1976).

  48. 48.

    Trevor Royle, The Flowers of the Forest: Scotland and the First World War (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2011).

  49. 49.

    “Loos: The Fallen Fourth,” greatwardundee.itch.io, accessed February 8, 2018. https://greatwardundee.itch.io/loos-the-fallen-fourth.

  50. 50.

    These include the story of a young deserter shot at dawn which led to the creation of a digital comic (available at: https://www.greatwardundee.com/the-home-front/shot-at-dawn) through to the networks of emigrants who returned to fight or those that developed to oppose the war.

  51. 51.

    “Resources,” greatwardundee.com, accessed February 8, 2018. https://www.greatwardundee.com/resources.

References

Ludography

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Acknowledgements

The research presented here was funded by the Nine Trades of Dundee through their internship programme and was part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Great War Dundee project. The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support and thanks all the partners of the Great War Dundee project.

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  1. Abertay University, Dundee, UK

    Iain Donald

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Correspondence to Iain Donald .

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  1. University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia

    Martin Kerby , Margaret Baguley  & Janet McDonald ,  & 

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Donald, I. (2019). Lest They Forget: Exploring Commemoration and Remembrance Through Games and Digital Technologies. In: Kerby, M., Baguley, M., McDonald, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Artistic and Cultural Responses to War since 1914. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96986-2_24

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