Don’t Know Much About History…

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 6, 2012

On the way to Le Havre from Paris, we stopped in the city of Rouen and visited a little Joan of Arc museum there. Rouen was where Joan was executed back in 1431, and this year marks her 600th birthday. I picked up some interesting tidbits about her and her era that I didn’t know, such as the use of seals on letters or decrees. The more important the person, for example, the larger their seal generally was. The church used more oval seals, while nobility and royalty used circular seals.

Not exactly something that I foresee making its way into a game anytime soon, but it was still something interesting to file away.

But this made me think a little bit about historic authenticity in games. In some games – albeit usually with a niche audience (like wargames, or simulators) – authenticity is pretty important. Those little details can make or break a game. If you mess up the deployment or strength of this cavalry regiment, watch out! But those gamers are, sadly, on the decline, as they get ignored and starved out of the hobby in favor of the “mass market”

Then you have role-playing games.

Let me say up-front that I’ve never met historic or any other kind of authenticity in an RPG that didn’t strike me as fascinating. I mean, I enjoy this stuff. I study it myself for fun. Used well, it truly enhances the game. I’ll tell ya, as a game, Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption wasn’t really that great, but I was riveted from the get-go by the depiction of Medieval Prague. I have no idea how authentic it was, but it felt right. No, not the city layout, but just the feel, the setting, the mood. The memory of the first city (and, to a lesser degree, the second – Vienna) kept me playing when the game started otherwise lagging.

But in spite of having no memorable negative experience with “historic authenticity” or anything of the sort, any game advertising that as a feature leaves me cold. Yawnsville. I completely ignored Nethergate for the longest time for this reason. There are probably other reasons why I never gave Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader a second glance when it was new.

There’s something about advertising a historical background that makes me think of Junior High school history class. It’s not even that these games would imply “low magic” – I’m okay with that in fantasy games. And I’m okay with it in non-fantasy RPGs. Maybe it’s that I really have studied too much medieval history, and the idea of living in anything resembling an “authentic” medieval world doesn’t sound like much fun.

Maybe it’s just me. But considering the poor sales of those games that have gone after that route, I don’t know that I’m totally alone here. What do you think? Would an RPG boasting “historical authenticity” for any era be a deal-maker for you, or would it actually be something of a turn-off?

Filed Under: Game Development - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

Andy said,

I enjoy learning about history (minored in History, too), so in my case, yes, more historical accuracy is always good. Part of why I love Darklands is that they really tried to root it in a specific time and place instead of making up their own secondary world.
Tom H. said,

Deal-maker – but then I’ve done historical reenactment, and gamedev, and have a plot sketch for a historical CRPG or two simmering away on the back burner.

In my book:
Darklands = win.
Nethergate = win.
Lionheart = fun ideas, too much clicky clicky.

What else has there been in the subgenre?
Jacob said,

I think you missed a wrinkle. If they’re emphasizing “historical accuracy” then it means they *aren’t* emphasizing “fun”. Games have to make trade-offs all the time and the reality/fun axis is universal (with different games mapping out different trade-offs for different purposes). A fun game has to be close enough to reality for us to relate to, but otherwise needs to shape its own “reality” to deliver the intended fun. Someone advertising “historical accuracy” is pretty much admitting that they opted for more real and hence less fun.
Charles said,

The mindset when taking on an RPG is to play a role different than my own person, and that is heightened if playing that role is done in a world different than the one I’m living in.

Historical accuracy suggests a minored escape experience. Probably on a subconscious level, and probably wrong too. Escaping to a realistic medieval world is still quite an escape, but there’s still “real world” stamped on it.
Spaceman Spiff said,

It was very interesting and complex developing the historical aspect Age of Kings. Balancing Historical accuracy with what could be represented in a game, and what parts belonged there gameplay-wise was not simple.

We found that sometimes a specific culture/country would teach something in *their* history books/classes that was different that what the rest of the world taught/believed to be true. Actually had a political incident in South Korea about our depiction of ancient events.
hexagonstar said,

I’d love some RPGs with a more historically authentic context, especially if it’s not fantasy but for example something like a vampire hunter RPG. Another idea is a stealth game like Thief. I could even think of an RPG into that Jeanne d’Arc fits as a main role. Now that would be something great!
LateWhiteRabbit said,

I think Jacob got pretty close to the crux of the problem with a game advertising historical accuracy. If your game is set in a historical time period, being accurate is EXPECTED – and picking that as a blurb for the game probably means the features to create blurbs about were awfully scarce.

Blurbs should be stuff like:
“Battle with Joan of Arc army in 15th century France and help end the Hundred Years War!”

“Jump in and out of any soldier to go where the action is thickest!”

Saying the equivalent of:
“We were really, really careful to get all the details of 15th century France right” just erodes confidence. I mean, if you are making a game set in the 15th century, shouldn’t it be a GIVEN that you’ve done the research? Advertising historical accuracy is like bragging you didn’t screw up basic steps in the process.

It’s like a baker advertising that he put extra effort into following the cake recipe. Just the fact he mentions something like that would make you question trying his cake.
Attila said,

As long as we don’t mean realism when we say historical accuracy I’m 100% in favor of it. I say this because obviously making your character go to the washroom isn’t fun.

Darklands wasn’t necessarily realistic, but the historical accuracy shows. The mythological figures all pertain to Germany and that adds a seriously awesome atmosphere.

Jagged Alliance 2 isn’t necessarily realistic, but there does seem to have been a lot of effort put into the guns for the game. That’s awesome.

Finally, with Rome: Total War I just had to play the Europa Barbarorum Mod. The amount of historical accuracy in that game was awesome and just added to the immersion. Having all the soldiers named in their native language really added to the atmosphere.

I would absolutely love to play a proper historical Greek/Roman open world rpg…Titan Quest doesn’t count. I mean how cool would it be to gain wealth, fame, and power in Ancient Rome. You could work your way through the politics to become Consul, or even Emperor. Or perhaps you could be a praetorian in the legion and work your way up to General. You could get captured as a slave and sold to be a gladiator. In fact, I have yet to find a properly well developed gladiator game.

If anyone knows any immersive Greek/Roman games or a Gladiator game let me know, please. I’m aware of Age of Decadence.
Barry B said,

Personally, I wouldn’t care if they advertised as being true to history, incredibly lifelike, or remarkably nonlinear: I would want to play a demo or see the thing on Youtube to get a feeling for whether the walk matched up to the PR talk. In far too many cases, it doesn’t.

As for history, it can be implemented in many different ways that add really nothing to a game. On the other hand, Darklands did a magnificent job of in effect “growing” a game out of history–the history, as Herodotus would recognize, which is part of a people’s culture, rather than getting a good mockup of a 1234 helmet. The music was period-accurate. The battles were with types a person living in the medieval German States would recognize as their enemies. The monsters were the monsters that haunted their dreams, not ours. The RPG mechanics were there, but cleverly subverted to fit the time/place. You didn’t have a priest in your party: your people gained piety, and could use it to pray to select saints who had effects, etc.

That’s my kind of history in a game. I don’t expect to see it again any time, soon.