Workshop description and agenda Playing the Aggressor

Heidelberg, November 15–16, 2024 / Hybrid

Daimler and Benz Foundation and Heidelberg University

Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (HCTS), Room 400.02.12

Voßstraße 2, 69115 Heidelberg

• PD Dr. Ivan Sablin, Ladenburg Research Network “The Aggressor: Self-Perception and External Perception of an Actor Between Nations,” Daimler and Benz Foundation, Heidelberg University

  ivan.sablin@zegk.uni-heidelberg.de

• Dr. Florian Nieser, Heidelberg Center for Digital Humanities (HCDH), Heidelberg University

  florian.nieser@uni-heidelberg.de

The workshop analyzed video games that reconstruct, model, or draw inspiration from historical aggressors and aggression, with a particular focus on conquest, colonization, and resistance. It explored games where players engage in territorial expansion or resistance, spanning various genres including real-time strategy, grand strategy, and other turn-based strategies and tactical games, among others.

Three themes drove the workshop’s agenda:

1. Examination of the normalization and trivialization of historical aggression within gaming narratives. This involves considering how the perpetrators of conquest and occupation are depicted, such as the juxtaposition of military figures like Napoleon and Attila with civil historical figures like Gandhi in games like Civilization, and how behavior algorithms of player avatars or non-player characters inspired by historical figures are standardized. Additionally, scrutiny shall be given to the portrayal of perpetual conflict, as seen in series like Total War, which may inadvertently trivialize and standardize historical conflicts from the Crusades to World War II.
2. Investigation into how occupation and conquest mechanics in games are influenced by historical events and developments, regardless of the games’ settings. This includes analyzing the prevalence of nation-state models for territorial representation and the persistence of nineteenth and twentieth-century ideals of military organization across various historical epochs as well as fantasy or science fiction settings. For instance, even the Chaos legions in the Warhammer: Total War series are named and structured similar to modern armies. Exploration shall also extend to determining whether games like XCOM draw inspiration from WWII-era resistance or guerrilla warfare, whether titles like Stellaris presuppose modern-era colonialism in future space politics, and whether non-war survival games like Frostpunk rely on modern models of wartime economy and politics.
3. Exploration of alternatives to traditional conquest and occupation mechanics in historical strategy games. This involves considering economic strategies that may still perpetuate themes of expansionism and colonialism in a disguised form, but also established war games offering more choice in relation to play style, such as the more recent entries in the Total War series. The workshop also sought to move away from conventional AAA games and explore unconventional game mechanics, such as mercenary simulations exemplified by the Jagged Alliance series, which depart from the nation-state and modern military mechanics.

The workshop encouraged a diverse conversation among specialists in game studies, historians, social scientists, literary scholars, and developers. It also sought to transcend the medium and academic discourse by addressing community engagement with such games and modding.

Day 1, November 15, 2024

14:00–14:15 Opening Remarks

Prof. Dr. Thomas Maissen (Heidelberg University), Dr. Florian Nieser (Heidelberg University), and PD Dr. Ivan Sablin (Heidelberg University)

14:15–14:30 Presentation of the Database “Historical Video Games and Their References”

Sebastian Dörr (Heidelberg University)

14:30–15:30 Student Roundtable: “Scholar or Player? The Double Life of Historians in Video Games”

Chair: Sebastian Dörr (Heidelberg University)

Finn Jasper (Heidelberg University)

Nils Körner (Heidelberg University)

Markus Roth (Heidelberg University)

Mika Rück (Heidelberg University)

Vivien Schömel (Heidelberg University)

15:30–16:00 Break

16:00–17:15 Panel 1: Conquest Mode: Players between Heroes and Aggressors

Chair: Prof. Dr. Ilaria Porciani (University of Bologna)

Paul Csillag (European University Institute, Florence): “Get in, Loser, We’re Retaking Constantinople”: Byzantinism as a Trivialization of Mediterranean Imperialism in Video Games

Dr. Florian Nieser (Heidelberg University): Aggressor, Manager, and Tool: Reflections on the Conqueror Figure in Medieval Literature and Digital Games

17:15–17:45 Break

17:45–18:45 Roundtable: From Pixels to Battlefields: War in Games and Games in War

Chair: Lisa Fahrni (Heidelberg University)

Dr. Frank Reichherzer (Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr)

Dr. Ciril Bohak (University of Ljubljana)

Jon-Wyatt Matlack (University of Regensburg)

Amr Elashmawy (Heidelberg University)

Day 2, November 16, 2024

9:15–10:30 Panel 2: Virtual Worlds, Real Questions: History, Philosophy, and Psychology

Chair: Philipp-Thomas Wehage (Heidelberg University)

Egor Novikov (Heidelberg University): The Counterpoint of Total War and Regular War in Video Games and Political Philosophy

Andreas Wieser (University of Innsbruck) and Dr. Andrea Brait (University of Krems / online): History Is Written by the Player, Is It? An Analysis of the Perception of War-Related Topics in Video Games

10:30–11:00 Break

11:00–12:30 Panel 3: Playing with Reality: (Re)framing Conflicts and Politics

Chair: Daniel Weinmann (Heidelberg University)

Dr. Oleg Morozov (University of Cambridge): “RIP J-12”: Fandom’s Response to Russian Brutality in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), or How Participatory Cultures May Contribute to State Propaganda

Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler (University of Bremen): How to Deal with an Aggressor in Real Time? Digital Gaming as Part of Interpreting and Negotiating the Russian Invasion of 2022

Justus Raimann (Ruhr University of Bochum): Improving History? The Appeal of Alternative History Scenario Mods in Hearts of Iron IV and Their Implications

12:30–14:00 Lunch Break

14:00–15:30 Panel 4: Playing the Memory: Commemorating Events and Phenomena

Chair: Vilma Vaskelaitė (Heidelberg University)

Dr. Kenny Linden (Rutgers University / online): Mongols in Video Games: War, Trade, and the Other

Dr. Andrei Nae (University of Bucharest): Arthur Morgan as Colonial Savior? Simulating Manifest Destiny in Red Dead Redemption 2

Ivan Vasilev (University of Bonn): “Partisans 1941”: Constructing New National Narratives of WWII through the Prism of Modern Russian Game Design

15:30–16:00 Closing Remarks

Dr. Florian Nieser and PD Dr. Ivan Sablin