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

Historical Accuracy of Video Games

Some developers of video games set in historical contexts have gone to great lengths to ensure accuracy by undertaking extensive historical research to correctly present the historical record and facts (Ghitta & Andrikopoulos, 2009). For example, the Assassin’s Creed series’ developers use extensive research to present convincing depictions of the past (Poole, 2018) including the architecture, weaponry, and clothing (Chapman, 2013). Another example is the Total War video game series, most of which are set in historical contexts and are targeted at players with good historical knowledge, whose developers also use extensive research (Spring, 2015) to achieve a high level of historically accurate detail (Ghitta & Andrikopoulos, 2009). The Assassin’s Creed and Total War series also both often include an encyclopedia or database with information about the historical places, artefacts, and people depicted in their games (Spring, 2015). A further example of a video game that strived for historical accuracy is L.A Noire, a film-noire inspired game set in Los Angeles in 1947. During its development, over 180,000 documents included newspapers, photographs, and police records (Spring, 2015) were examined by the researchers and game developers to ensure the game’s depiction of the period was recreated accurately. Thus, some game developers go to great lengths to ensure there is at least some historical accuracy within their games.

However, research into players’ perception and value of historical accuracy is still limited, albeit with some foundational studies. Copplestone (2017) conducted 156 interviews with cultural-heritage practitioners, video game developers, and players, and found that 94% of the players felt the importance of accuracy in games depended on the genre or style of the game, while 54% of game developers felt it was never important. Balela and Mundy (2016) also conducted interviews with video game developers who reported that research and accuracy were not important unless they produced a tangible benefit for their games, while Whitaker (2016) claimed that in-depth research is rare in video games. The results of Copplestone’s (2017) and Balela and Mundy’s research (2016) suggest a disconnect in the importance of historical accuracy in the video game industry between developers and players.

The desire of players for more historical accuracy is evident with the creation of the Rome Total Realism mod for the Rome Total War video game. A video game mod (short for modification) is a player created change to the original video game, ranging from altering the aesthetics to adding content or to completely changing the game setting (Postigo, 2007). The Rome Total Realism mod was the last type of mod and is known as a total conversion mod. The mod changed the placenames, names of military units and weapons, the native language of each faction or nation, the type of units that could be trained, and the geography to more closely matched the time the game was set (Ghitta & Andrikopoulos, 2009). Classical historians were involved in its creation to ensure it contained the accuracy that players desired (Ghitta & Andrikopoulos, 2009), and the players who created and installed Rome Total Realism found increased accuracy added to their fun and gameplay enjoyment. However, developers of the original Total War series, including Rome, ignored historical accuracy if they felt it got in the way of fun and gameplay (Ghitta & Andrikopoulos, 2009).

Likewise, players of Europa Universallis set themselves challenges, such as only conquering nations conquered historically by the nation they are playing as (Chapman, 2013), and work is underway to alter the map of Europa Universallis II to better represent the historical landscape of the Balkan region of Europe from the 15th to 19th century (Apperley, 2018). Moreover, the popularity of the History Respawned podcast, which critiques and analyzes historical video games, indicates players’ desire for historical accuracy in video games. For example, listener response to the first History Respawned podcast, which examined Assassins’ Creed IV: Black Flag, was enthusiastic with requests for an even longer podcast and more in-depth analysis (Whitaker, 2016). Players listen because they wanted to know if the settings of the historical video games they played were accurate and they wanted to get that information from historical practitioners (Whitaker, 2016). Whitaker (2016) notes that as long as the genuine historical expertise can comfortably and readily be consumed, then players will value it.

Despite the value players place on historical accuracy, some video games have been found lacking in accuracy and fidelity to the historical record. Strategy games, such as Civilization, have been criticized for reducing the culture of a civilization or nation to buildings and structures (Poole, 2018), and for taking a Western-centric approach to the history it depicts (Ford, 2016; Voorhees, 2009). Strategy games take place over a long period of time with the player’s goal to expand their original faction or nation by gathering resources, constructing buildings, and interacting with or conquering other factions (Apperley, 2006; de Zamaroćzy, 2017). Strategy games set in historical contexts are inherently inaccurate because the player effectively decides how history unfolds and which nations are conquered. Therefore, inevitably they will not follow the historical record (Schut, 2007) because the moment players start to play, history will not be accurately represented (Peterson et al., 2013). Furthermore, video games that use a historical war for their setting, for example, World War Two, often sanitize the gameplay by not realistically depicting the impact of war such as the effect of gas or severe wounds (Campbell, 2008). The Assassin’s Creed and Total War games are not immune from being criticized. For example, Assassin’s Creed II has inaccurately dated a plague (Poole, 2018) and removed landmarks, or depicted them with their modern appearance in the reconstruction of Renaissance Italy (Ghitta & Andrikopoulos, 2009), and the Total War series has not presented the military units and weaponry, or the cities and regions accurately within the first game in the series set in ancient Rome (Ghitta & Andrikopoulos, 2009). However, Chapman (2013) notes such historical inaccuracies can be found in any entertainment medium that presents historical contexts, and that focusing on historical accuracy is simplistic because it requires large amounts of effort with little tangible benefit (Chapman et al., 2017). Functionally, it is difficult to create a video game with narrative, art, and combat that are strictly accurate considering the level of research and detailed historical records required. An alternative approach is to focus on the player and their experience and enjoyment of their gameplay, and how the historical authenticity and accuracy may impact on this experience for good or for worse. This approach can lead to deeper understandings about their influence on players.

Historical Authenticity of Video Games

Authenticity in historical fiction and media has often been used interchangeably to mean accurate (Harris, 2017) but more recently has been taken to mean creating a history that is not necessarily factually accurate but creates a “true” history, even if there are factual inaccuracies or modern anachronisms. For example, although set in Tudor England, Hilary Mantel’s heavily researched Wolf Hall novels use modern language to make them accessible for her modern readership (Harris, 2017). However, prior research in the marketing and psychology disciplines has defined historical authenticity as something that can be evaluated using evidential standards, and traced to its origin, author, or provenance (Dutton, 2003; Newman, 2019). This disconnect between disciplines regarding the evolution of historical authenticity could be one reason for confusion regarding its meaning. However, as Poole (2013) notes, authenticity has always had a broad range of meanings.

In video games, historical authenticity (also known as selective authenticity) has been described as a form of artistic license in which historical representation is blended with audience expectations to create an authentic historical experience and immersive gameplay (Salvati & Bullinger, 2013). Therefore, historical authenticity is socially constructed and results from players expectations and perceptions (Fless et al., 2016; Umbach & Humphrey, 2018). Indeed, it also would be possible for a game with a high level of historical accuracy to be considered historically inauthentic by players if its historical fidelity ran counter to their expectations (Newman, 2019). A game utilizing historical authenticity focuses on feel and experience over strict factual accuracy and carefully chooses which historical elements will be foregrounded and which will be absent to ensure the feel and experience are created, as well as entertaining gameplay (Salvati & Bullinger, 2013). As such, combat could be streamlined or altered so it is not strictly accurate, while other elements of the game such as the narrative would more closely follow historical record. As with Harris’ (2017) exploration of authenticity in historical fiction, developers are aware of historical inaccuracies in their games when using historical authenticity, but these inaccuracies are carefully chosen to still communicate historical meaning and create enjoyable gameplay. Therefore, historical accuracy may be considered as remaining factually accurate to the time period, while historical authenticity involves remaining true to the time period (Harris, 2017; Wallace, 2005). Indeed, given that historical records are rarely, if ever, complete and non-biased, and the complications this poses for those utilizing history within media and fiction (Tambling, 2010), historical authenticity as outlined by Harris (2017) would appear the only logical and possible approach to historical fiction that wishes to base itself upon real events.

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. 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. Koski’s (2017) analysis demonstrates how video games do not have to be strictly accurate, indeed they can combine history and fantasy to reflect on and critique history (Koski, 2017). However, the lack of explicit research into historical authenticity means there is little understanding of how players perceive and understand the concept or if they consider it distinct from historical accuracy. This research responds by exploring player understandings and evaluations of historical authenticity and historical accuracy using the Assassin’s Creed series of video games.

Research Context

The Assassin’s Creed series of games, developed and published by Ubisoft, started in 2007 with the release of the eponymous Assassin’s Creed. There are 12 main games in the series, with the most recent one, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, released in November 2020 (after this research was conducted). There are also a further nine side-games for portable consoles, and one further game, Assassin’s Creed Liberation, that started as a side-game but has been increasingly regarded as a main game. Most of the main games have lengthy extra downloadable content released that provides players with several more hours of self-contained content. The Assassin’s Creed main games are open-world action-stealth games that also include some elements of the role-playing genre including a focus on story and characters. Selling more than 155 million games worldwide since their first release (Ubisoft, 2020), the series has spawned books, collectables, action figures, clothes, stationery, and other tie-in merchandise such as mice and keyboards. This long-running series was purposely selected as the research context because players have had sufficient time to familiarize themselves with the games, play them, and analyze their historical content. Furthermore, the series is one of the most popular and prominent examples of a video game series set in various historical contexts.

Research Design

There were two stages of research, both involving qualitative analysis of datasets. The methodological approach adopted involved qualitative analysis because it is considered a particularly appropriate method for investigating online communities (Kozinets, 2002). The first stage was exploratory and involved the collection and analysis of 959 comments downloaded from online threads hosted on several Assassin’s Creed online forums with multiple forums selected to ensure different points-of-view and populations were considered. The second stage involved a qualitative survey posted on the Assassin’s Creed subreddit, which received 88 complete responses. The Assassin’s Creed subreddit was selected because it attracted a large number of posters who were likely to have played the games sufficiently to be familiar with them and to have formed opinions about their presentation of history. Furthermore, online communities attract the most devoted audiences of media (Mittell, 2015).

The analysis of the dataset (959 downloaded comments) in the first stage of the research found that players of the Assassin’s Creed games differed in their opinions of the historical accuracy of the games. Some players believed the games should be historically accurate, while others believed facts could be changed to enhance gameplay and fun. Furthermore, some players were well-versed enough in history to identify when the games were not historically accurate. Based on the findings of the first stage of the research, the survey questions for the second stage of the research, the online survey, were developed. These questions sought to understand how players believed history should be presented in video games and if players understood the difference in meaning of historical accuracy and historical authenticity. The survey questions were developed to explore and prompt further information about the findings from the analysis of the first dataset.

Data Analysis and Validity

Thematic analysis, following the guidelines and methods established by Braun and Clarke (2006), was used to explore the major themes derived from the first stage and second stage datasets. Thematic analysis was selected for both datasets because it is a flexible method applicable across a range of theoretical approaches (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and suitable for the multi-disciplinary nature of video games research (Hjorth, 2011). It was used to explore players’ perceptions of historical accuracy and historical authenticity as it has been used to understand how people feel, think, and behave in specific contexts (Guest et al., 2012). A theoretical, rather than an inductive approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was undertaken to provide a nuanced account of specific themes related to historical accuracy and historical authenticity, as thematic analysis’s flexibility can become a limitation if the research is not sufficiently focused (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The analysis was an iterative and continuous process. Comments and survey answers were returned to and re-examined to refine codes and groupings as the analysis progressed and to consider their collective meaning (McCosker et al., 2004). All of the comments were first read before analysis commenced to ensure appropriate familiarization (Åkerlind, 2012; McCosker et al., 2004). The coding involved taking on the role of active story interpreters, which requires immersion in the context surrounding the data to explore and decode it, and an understanding of the cultural insights of the phenomenon being investigated to ensure a valid analysis (Burgess & Jones, 2020; Reid & Duffy, 2018). The adoption of the active story interpreter role meant that the researchers’ immersion into the data context allowed for greater insight, for example, understanding sarcasm, slang, jokes, implicit meanings, and references (Scholz & Smith, 2019), as well as a more accurate representation of the feelings expressed by the posters (Mittell, 2015). The immersion involved the researchers playing multiple Assassin’s Creed games, watching YouTube videos about the games, lurking on forums, and reading news articles that discussed the series. Peer debriefing was used to validate the thematic analysis and the codebook created as part of the analysis (Creswell & Miller, 2000).

Respondents’ Definition of Historical Accuracy

Respondents explained their understandings of historical accuracy as being a truthful (16 comments) and factual depiction of a historical context (38 comments). For example, “how true to known fact the events depicted in the games are” (What actually happened theme). Respondents believed for a video game to be considered historically accurate, developers required knowledge of the historical facts and they needed to undertake historical research to ensure a correct and truthful portrayal through the game (34 comments). For example, one respondent noted that depictions should be: “Based on real occurrences, which can be retraced via historical records. Stories that try to be historically accurate, are true to all events that happened and do not add elements” (Historical facts and research theme). Another respondent noted that events should closely: “(…) align with historical records” (Historical facts and research theme). Thus, respondents understood historical accuracy to mean how factually a video game was presenting the historical record and facts (35 comments) (Ghitta & Andrikopoulos, 2009). As one respondent explained, historical accuracy is when: “(…) a piece of media tries to recreate a historical setting as accurate as possible in every way, from clothes, language, events, characters, etc.” (How accurate and Accurate setting and events themes).

Presenting truth and facts was considered necessary as one respondent explained: “Historical accuracy is how close and truthful the game (or movie, book...) is to the real events the work is supposed to take place in as in how the people dress, talk, the objects they have” (True and Accurate setting and events themes). Another noted that to be considered accurate the media should: “use historical sources, and source criticism and other historical methods to come to a story close to the truth” (True and Historical facts and research themes). Thus, respondents appeared to have quite high standards for a video game, or other media, describing itself as historically accurate. A small number of respondents noted that historical accuracy can exist on a scale (8 comments), and one respondent reported accuracy as being authentic to the historical setting, rather than factual. However, overall respondents expected the developers of a historically accurate video game to have consulted sources, engaged in research, and ensure a truthful and accurate portrayal.

Respondents’ Definition of Historical Authenticity

Interestingly, a noteworthy minority of respondents (38 comments) believed that historical accuracy and historical authenticity were not different from each other. For example, one respondent noted that “It is hard for me to tell the difference between historical accuracy and historical authenticity. I see them as pretty much the same thing.” (No different theme). Others noted that historical authenticity required the: “Historic period to be 100% same as real life,” “solid evidence to back up what is presented,” and that “historical authenticity is history that has been proven true” (All no idea theme). This contradicts the description of historical authenticity as a blending of historical representation with audience expectations (Salvati & Bullinger, 2013), often with historical inaccuracies, but ones that are carefully chosen to still communicate historical meaning (Harris, 2017). Thus, the literature’s definition of historical authenticity appears not to align with many respondents’ understanding of the concept. Therefore, developers who describe their video games as historically authentic, as the Assassin’s Creed developers have done (Nielsen, 2017; Williams, 2015), are using a term that for some respondents, and potentially players, implies greater historical fidelity than the developers intend.

Overall, the majority of the respondents (53 comments) identified historical authenticity as including embellishment, changes, and focusing more on the look and feel of a historical era and setting than absolute accuracy. Conjecture and theories could be added, even if they did not have a strict basis in the historical record (12 comments). However, there was a view that historical authenticity still needed to be reasonable, meaning it involves: “Artistic liberties which, even though historically inaccurate, are still within the realm of plausible and fitting with the specific setting” (Includes embellishment and Look and feel is accurate themes) and: “there is a degree of creative discretion involved, but the historical information is portrayed as close to accuracy as possible” (Includes embellishment theme). Limiting the number of inaccuracies and ensuring the overall “feel” was correct was important to the respondents (35 comments). For example, one respondent described historical authenticity as: “capturing the overall feel of the time period while possibly sacrificing some accuracy for the sake of better flow of the narrative/gameplay. However, these changes cannot be so big as to completely lose the feel of the place depicted” (Look and feel is accurate theme).

Proposed Definition of Historical Authenticity

Respondents thus viewed historical authenticity as retaining many factual details, but that it also allowed for some speculation, changes, and additions. The overall setting should feel correct and convey the look and feel of the historical context of the time. Therefore, respondents still expected that historically authentic meant a fairly accurate depiction of the setting and facts and so did not include radical changes and inaccuracies. Drawing on the understandings of historical authenticity as presented by the respondents, and the literature by Salvati and Bullinger (2013) and Harris (2017), the following player-centric definition of historical authenticity is presented:

1. Using historical (selective) authenticity to develop video games means that the overall appearance and significant details of the depiction of a historical context are historically accurate, and thus align with the historical records and facts. However, historical authenticity does allow for some artistic license in the form of speculation, changes, or additions that are still grounded in the historically accurate record to present an accessible narrative.

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

Respondents’ Views on Developers Utilizing History

There was agreement that the game should still be fun (11 comments) and that “the developers should stay as close as possible [to historical fact] unless doing so would hinder the gameplay or story” (Limited changes for gameplay and story theme). There were a range of comments that accepted that developers could and should make changes for alternate history or fantasy games (9 comments). For example, respondents noted that “unless a major part of the gameplay is creating an alternative history, or there’s a major sci-fi/fantasy element making the historical accuracy unimportant, developers should strive to make their games as accurate as possible” (Limited changes for gameplay and story theme). However, respondents mostly thought changes should be limited (24 comments), respect the past (13 comments), and be disclosed (6 comments), revealing the tension that respondents have about accuracy. They desire historically accurate games but understand, and will accept, they cannot be entirely historically accurate and will require the use of historical authenticity. The sentiment analysis further confirmed this with 51 respondents agreeing that “in general video game developers should minimize changes to history,” while a further 19 felt it depended on the game, substantiating the high standards expressed previously where respondents believed historical authenticity should be based on historical record and utilize historical facts (Copplestone, 2017).

These findings emphasize the importance that the respondents place on accuracy and align with prior research into video game players and also consumers of other fictional media such as novels. It has been established that readers of historical fictional novels value accurate settings, fidelity to historical facts and records, and learning about history as they read, although they are aware that aspects are fictionalized (Saricks, 1999). Parallels can thus be drawn between readers of historical fiction novels and players of video games set in historical contexts regarding the value they place on historical accuracy. Therefore, developers should carefully consider the planning of their gameworlds and narratives to ensure that they contain historically accurate content, as desired and expected by players, in addition to their use of historical authenticity.

Respondents’ Views of the Historical Accuracy and Historical Authenticity of the Assassin’s Creed Games

Just as with players who desired a more accurate Total War mod and who listen to the History Respawned podcast, respondents in this study valued an accurate portrayal of history in games including Assassin’s Creed. The Assassin’s Creed developers are cognizant of this expectation and have frequently publicized their use of research and historians during the development of the series of games and make historians available for press interviews (Nielsen, 2017; Williams, 2015; Campbell, 2013). However, despite prior research (Ghitta & Andrikopoulos, 2009; Poole, 2018), the media noting the Assassin’s Creed series’ inaccuracies (Byrd, 2020), and the value and high standards respondents appeared to place on historical accuracy and authenticity, 77.3% of respondents in this study agreed that the series was very or somewhat historically accurate and 79.6% that the series was historically authentic. The similarity between these views alludes to the difficulty that some respondents have distinguishing between historical accuracy and historical authenticity.

Findings

There are multiple long-running and successful series of video games set in historical contexts that can be influential through their depiction of history due to the size of their audiences and the engagement they provide (Chapman et al., 2017). Therefore, understanding how players comprehend the historical information provided in these games is important. To respond to this important research area, this research explored how players of the Assassin’s Creed video game series understood the concepts of historical accuracy and historical authenticity. It was found that respondents understood historical accuracy to mean staying true to the historical record in terms of clothes, settings, and events, and valued this in video games. However, historical authenticity prompted more confusion with a minority describing it as the same as historical accuracy. Therefore, the use of the term by developers may result in players expecting greater historical fidelity than the developers intended. Respondents evaluated the Assassin’s Creed series as high on historical accuracy and historical authenticity, which would appear to be contradictory, but may have been influenced by marketing and publicity materials used by developers to present their research and accuracy as selling points for their games. The majority of respondents felt that historical authenticity allowed for some speculation and non-factual details, but overall, the game needed a strong grounding in facts and historical accuracy. As a result of the findings, a new player-based definition of historical authenticity in games has been presented. Lastly, it was noted that respondents generally preferred developers to minimize changes to history, and the value they place on historical accuracy mirrored that of audiences of historical novels.

This research was limited to investigating the views of the players of the successful, long-running Assassin’s Creed series of video games, which are set in various historical contexts. However, the findings would appear relevant to other video games set in historical contexts. Additionally, this research involved respondents from an online community, who are usually the most devoted and loyal players of a video game (Mittell, 2015). However, these communities and devoted audience members are becoming more common (Stein, 2015). Some confusion with the terms of historical accuracy and historical authenticity may have resulted from the survey being in English and the diverse range of countries of birth of the respondents. However, the majority of respondents were from English speaking countries and their responses did not suggest language-based confusion. Furthermore, differences in languages and linguistics should be considered by industry stakeholders when describing the approach taken to developing historically based games.

Future Research

Future research could explore how audiences of other media, such as film and graphic novels, understand historical accuracy and historical authenticity, and whether this aligns to the results of this research. How players of video games featuring other genres of history, such as counter-factual history, understand and value historical accuracy and historical authenticity could also be explored. Additionally, it is important to understand whether the degree of changes to historical representation in games could be quantified, and a threshold reached where a video game is no-longer recognized as historically authentic. How developers and video game journalists understand and differentiated between historical accuracy and historical authenticity could also be explored and compared to players’ understandings. Another area of investigation is how a player’s perception of historical accuracy and historical authenticity in video games might influence their behavior outside of play, and if games motivate players to learn more about the historical places and people they see in games. The impact of historians’ judgments concerning the historical accuracy and historical authenticity of a game, and the use of historians and academics in video game marketing campaigns on players’ evaluations of historical accuracy and authenticity are also further areas for research. Such research avenues would provide insights of how players evaluate and understand historical representations in video games and other media.