Posted May 11, 2011
HoneyBakedHam: The problem that I have with your topic (which means that there is a shortcoming in my thinking about it and not in your topic) is that i have a hard time thinking of many games that actually do a good job (or actually even try) of creating a realistic and accurate depiction of historical events.
Wraith: Games that feature a realistic depiction of a historical event are just a portion of the paper. Take for example the first two Call of Duty games. Those are based on actual historic battles, and while they feature an action-oriented slant, they are essentially a re-enactment of the battle. Obviously some of them are made for story telling, but consider the Pavlov's House mission and the fact that it actually happened. Then you have the games like Assassin's Creed and Uncharted that use a historical character or event and alter it for story telling. Masyaf is a real castle and was a home of the actual Assassin group during the Crusades. Robert de Sable was a real person, as was Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia). The difference in games like this is that they take a historical approach but stylize it. It's exactly as the Extra Credits article says, that approach is still going to reach out to a portion of the audience and have them research it on Wikipedia. Hell, even a game like Wolfenstein can facilitate research. Did you know the Kreisau Circle was a real group?
EDIT: This is going to be a long ass paper. I have to hit 6 pages minimum, but I JUST got finished with Assassin's Creed and I'm starting on Page 3. Spent almost two paragraphs showing the similarities between Al Mualim and Rashid ad-Din Sinan and some of the events of the game and their relation to the third crusade.
I try to never use 1 word when 10 will do :-)
Anyway, it sounds like you have a really good handle on the history angle and the connection to learning. I really do want to read it in the end. I imagine I'll learn more than a few things from it.
Despite the over 100 billions hours of History channel WWII documentaries, and the approximately 5 million video games set in WWII, I actually do not know any more about the period than the next reasonably smart guy who only took a few Western Civ classes.
I'm off to wiki the Kreisau Circle now... :-)