Play The History Video Game
I remember playing Dynasty Warriors (DW) on Play Station 2 (PS2) for first time when I was about 14-year-old. Dynasty Warriors 3 was my first and I been played the rest of the sequels from Dynasty Warriors 3 to 9.
When I first playing DW3, I don’t know that it was based on Romance of the Three Kingdom (ROTK) which based on true history. ROTK story started in about 169 AD and ended in about 280 AD. More about ROTK; when Han Emporor was in control for 400 years have ended caused by chaotic and a lot of wars. The ROTK involved the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Dong Zhou’s Tyranny, warlords and nobles’ conflicts, Liu Bei’s ambition, the Battle of Red Cliffs, starting of the Three kingdom, and End of the Three Kingdoms. I found out about ROTK after Dynasty Warriors 4 released and I noticed the years, stories, and characters are almost same between DW3 and DW4. Then I started to read the DW4 encyclopedia and learn more about many different characters and officers; when they born, their most achievements or failure and their death. I read Guan Yu’s little history and didn’t take it as serious until I started to notice a statue of him in real life by went to china store, restaurant, etc.
Guan Yu is part of China’s culture. That’s how I am learning about China history which is why I ask myself. Is video game with history worth to spend money on? Will players learn the history by playing it? How is that different between reading the book, watching documentary and playing video game?
“Historical Games are important, So Why Don’t We Crowdfund them more?”
Griffiths explained that game developers use Kickstarter as fund to help with their video game they want to release. But unfortunately, he said it’s about 12 to 9 success to failure rate (3:1) and most of the video game are based on World War II. Is that because players like to play and count the kills? I don’t think so, because there are still other video games that based on war yet, it will be Role Play Genre (RPG, example: Kingdom Come: Deliverance), action (Example: Assassin Creed), hack and slashing (example; Dynasty Warriors), and adventure (example: Crimes & Punishments which is based on Sherlock Holmes). Some video games are success, and other failed like few Griffiths gave his examples; Fritz: a German soldier while in World War I, Legion 1917: tactical strategy set during Russian Civil War, 1979 Revolution: Black Friday: Navigate the gritty world of a Revolution, and more to list. They are not have First-Person Shooter (FPS) which is most popular genre, and they have very good story based on history. Yet, they often canceled due to time ran out. My point is some historical are great, just try get the right audience and the right time.
For example, I don’t know about China history until I am playing DW and starting to learn much about events between 169 to 280 AD in China. Assassin Creed was popular as well because it was open world, sneaking, college the info and assassin. But it is based on true event in the Third Crusade (1189–1192). The player doesn’t follow the true history, but the player will collect the notes, listen/involved the discussion, and events around the player. It’s close enough to feel that they are in the history and seeing what going on. Also, most Non-Player-character (NPC) in Assassin Creed have the names that exist in the Third Crusade history. That can give players some reasons to studying about the Third Crusade history and learn by playing through the Assassin Creed video game. The Call of Duty and few other FPS video games are great for war series like the World War I, II, Civil War, etc. Other video game that is not FPS are the Civilization series which are turn-based that based on true famous people like George Washington, Alexander the Great, Elizabeth I, etc. The story is focusing the players leads a civilization from prehistoric times into future on map. It is not historical event but have all famous persons as leaders for civilization. There is worth money to pay for where you can learn the history and play the game at same time.
How does playing the video games compares to reading book or watching the movie?
The different are the players are get involving in the history and feel like they are seeing many things while they are playing. The team of arXiv wrote the article to support the idea “Each module in the course began with a learning and discussion session, followed by an introduction to the chosen game.” Then they compare with other sources like read book or watch movie of history events. “The games also gave students a better experience. ‘Most of the students report that learning history through a video game has a critical immersive component” (arXiv 2018). That’s different when you are reading the history book, sometimes it’s hard to remember, like the World War II, it’s not probably to remember which are allies and Axis. Also, they don’t experience how people were struggle with the resources, geography, political and economic. However, audience watching the movie about the history can learn one or other few facts and most of it are focus on the plots and drama. It’s not very dependable unless it’s documentary which have good information but only pointing the important parts. Because they don’t have enough time to do teach everything in less than 1–3 hours. For the video game, they can learn about history AND have fun do it. Often, the players feel related to the character they are controlling. That are because each decision we make are affect the character and/or other NPC and it can give players feeling between character and events. We can walk through the character we are playing and learning much around them.
That’s my medium, that is how I am learning the China history and about Guan Yu through the video game.
Then I research on some of them to learn more about true history in China’s Three Kingdom history. I am feeling that it’s great money and time to spend. The history can be in different genres which match the gamers’ preference, like Assassin Creed, Call of Duty, or my favorite, Dynasty Warriors. It is great way to get players to learning much more about the history and have fun compare to books and films. It’s great way to get the gamers to enjoy playing and learning about history at same time. Just like hit two birds with one stone.
