Battlefield 1942 is a good example. It is arcadey, but the weapons they use - at least until the Secret Weapons expansion - were really used on the battlefields of WWII. The maps, while scaled down dramatically, do bear a great resemblance to real WWII battlefields. The game is fun, and people play it for fun, but at the same time - whether they realize it or not - they've also learned a little bit about their past. Call of Duty 2 again drew on actual historical WWII accounts and made a very fun game. Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 takes it a step further. Like the cult-hit television series Band of Brothers, it is based on the actual exploits of the 101st Airborn. UbiSoft produced a blockbuster WWII fighting game and dared to promote it as "one of the World's Most Authentic World War II Videogames." Unfortunately, it seems, right now, the only area where we see some thought given to history is in the WWII shooter crowd.
Perhaps this hails a sad trend - it seems as if history is being lost. I've talked to high-school students who didn't know what a Nazi was. Rome is a foreign concept to too many people. It is the responsibility of society as a whole to make sure future generations, not just stuffy historians at the local college, remember the past. Yet, doing so requires they want to learn, and that is why I look to the entertainment industry to pass along this knowledge to the masses.
So far, games are extremely behind the other major mediums in relating history. In television, we routinely see period-piece dramas, documentaries and even have The History Channel. In movies, bio-pics are all the rage, and we can look to smash hits like Braveheart, blending fact and fiction, and credit them with at least getting people interested. Besides WWII, it just does not seem games have held up their end of the bargain, which is a shame, as games are the medium best equipped to do it.
I challenge developers to consider the past when they create their next project. Our society has been dreaming of time-travel for centuries. Videogames offer us the best opportunity to metaphysically explore that past. In books, TV and movies, we're taken there, but through the eyes of others. In a game, the eyes of the character - if done well - are your eyes. You cannot lose sight of the main focus of a game: fun. However, I am not so jaded to believe people do not want to learn and explore their past if they can have fun doing it. As games grab more of our society's attention, they take it away from areas that had previously preserved history in the minds of the average person. In doing so, game developers take on part of the responsibility, and not only give a generally accurate portrayal of the past, but also make sure people can learn a thing or two from their game.
Dana "Lepidus" Massey is the Lead Content Editor for MMORPG.com and former Co-Lead Game Designer for Wish.
