students of rome: total war

CHAPTER 7

Students of Rome: Total WarJan Frode Hatlen

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology

INTRODUCTION

Computer and console games are now an important partof many students’ lives, and for many of them such gamesare the most important media of history. The possibilityof learning something from computer games has been indi-cated by many scholars, included some in this volume (fur-ther comments on this matter will be made below). Here Iintend to focus mainly on how students experience and con-sume history by playing this and similar games, and whatsort of “history” the game Rome: Total War (2004) medi-ates. While other studies, which I return to, have focusedon the games and media itself, my object of study is thestudents. Their views and reflections on games and his-tory will be discussed in relation to studies on games,gamers and the potential that games have as an educa-

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tional tool and as an instrument to immerse oneself in thepast.

Rome: Total War (abbreviated RTW) is an award win-ning and highly appraised empire-building strategy game.161

It combines real-time tactics with turn-based strategy. Thereal-time tactics are played out in pitched battles and involvemaneuvering your troops in a battlefield normally viewedfrom above (though you are also able to close up on theaction on the ground level). In the strategic mode you buildyour career as leader of one of three factions, or leadingRoman households of the Roman Republic: the Julii, the Bru-tii and the Scipii [sic].162 Your goal is to conquer 50 prov-inces, develop them in pursuance of popular support (pro-viding food, water, entertainment and so on), and finallyconquer Rome itself and become emperor.

Important additions to RTW are the modifications whichare available, the two most important being Rome: TotalRealism (2005, henceforth abbreviated RTR), a modifica-tion which has been very successful and popular and hasappeared in gaming magazines, and Europa Barbarorum(2005). These modifications were, according to the teambehind RTR, developed by an international team of skilledindividuals with a passion for history. The essence of thesemodifications is to provide a realistic approach to Rome:Total War’s often lacking historical merit.163

161 A more elaborate account of the game and genre may be found in Ghitaand Andrikopoulos (2009: 109-126).162 Many readers will of course recognize the erroneous Latin: the correctplurals of Brutus and Scipio are Bruti and Scipiones.163 http://www.rometotalrealism.org (accessed October 1, 2010). Theotherwise anonymous team that developed RTR included Ghita andAndrikopoulos (2009 n.160).

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Greek and Roman Games in the Computer Age


These modifications correct historical inaccuracies and addfeatures to the game to make the context more authen-tic. Verbal commands have been translated from English toancient languages, maps have been corrected and historicalfactions and battle locations have been added. According tothe developers, the objective is to immerse and educate theplayer.164

APPROACHING STUDENTS

Rome: Total War is very popular among students inTrondheim who study Roman history. My discussion hereis based on recorded interviews with six male students (stu-dents A-F) who have played Rome: Total War a great dealand a female student (student G) who had little knowledgeabout RTW but still had some interesting and informativethoughts regarding this issue. I also held a meeting with agroup of 20 students to discuss some of the topics whichappear in this article. In addition I will draw on many inter-esting and informative discussions with students, both in andoutside the classroom. Most of these talks focused on the stu-dents’ relationship with Rome: Total War, but other gameswere discussed as well, and the students also used non-stu-dent friends to exemplify their opinions.

The choice of RTW was largely made by chance. Notbeing a gamer myself, I asked my students what games theyplayed – with RTW being a common answer – and my curi-osity was piqued further when hearing about the modded

164 Ghita and Andrikopoulos (2009: 120).

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Students of Rome: Total War


version, RTR. In particular, I was interested in how gamerswho played these two games (RTW and RTR) view historyin general and in the games in particular. As the target audi-ence for RTW is wargamers, there is no necessary connectionbetween playing RTW and being interested in history. Onthe other hand, my interviewees are history students who arealso gamers who play RTW. It should therefore be worth-while to examine their views on history and RTW. The stu-dents were quite objective in their answers, something thatwas particularly noticeable in their descriptions of the gameand its goals.

My interest in the interviews has been how the studentsdescribe Roman society and how they view Romans throughgaming, as well as their views on learning through playingRome: Total War. As my goal has been to let them use theirown words as much as possible (they did not do so as muchas I wanted, though), I have not formulated my questions inthe same way in each interview. Instead each interview tookits own course, and so they vary in length (from 10 to 45minutes) and in content. The questions I had prepared forthe interviews were

(1) What is the plot of RTW and what are your goals whenyou play?

(2) What is realistic/un-realistic in the play?(3) How do you see Antiquity through the game?(4) What conditions in Roman society do you not get any

insight in through the game?(5) Which elements from Roman culture come through in

the game?(6) What made you commence your studies in Classics

(did this or any other game have anything to do withit)?

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(7) What do you learn by gaming? Does RTW give anyperspective on Roman society that you miss in your studywork?

All of these questions were not asked to all the informants,but all the issues were in some way or another discussed withall the students, including the group I met with in the audi-torium.

I am fully aware that there are a number of methodo-logical difficulties in this survey. One obvious point is thelow number of students interviewed, but a more interestingmethodological point is to be found in the whole situationin which we found ourselves. To look a bit behind theiranswers I asked them what they did not learn from playingthe game; when answering, the students seemed to becomevery conscious that they were speaking with their lecturerand were quick to highlight issues such as women and cul-ture. Although I had given them a syllabus which included alecture and texts on Roman women, I have not consciouslytaught them that social or cultural history is more importantor “scientific” than military history (though subconsciously,of course, I may have given that impression). One of thestudents answered “women” on this question, even beforeI had finished posing it. My interpretation of this situationwas that the student was maneuvering between popular his-tory and his expectations of “academic” or “professional”history. This may have led to “name dropping” women asan important topic in Roman history. The student told methat his topic in Roman history was political theory and theclientela model. His interest for Roman history had begunwith RTW, which made him most curious about the Romanlegions and the military system, but as a student his interestsshifted towards more theoretical political history. Neverthe-

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less, by doing the interviews more like a conversation andnot so much as an examination, I believe that the studentswere quite honest in their answers.

This article is by no means exhaustive, but is merely a pre-liminary survey of our students in Trondheim in which thereare some issues that I suggest should be given proper atten-tion in the future.

TALKING TO STUDENTS

Most of the students I talked with were interested in ancienthistory before they played RTW, and the launch of RTWallowed them to combine their passion for computer gameswith their passion for history. A few of them argued eagerlythat such games may be a good way to introduce young peo-ple and kids to ancient Rome, but that was not the case forthem. Student B suggested that the game might be used inteaching military history, but was apprehensive about rec-ommending it as an educational tool in general. Student Chad chosen a course in Roman history as an elective subjectpartially because of RTW, but he would not pursue Romanhistory further. Student D was clear that he chose to studyRoman history because he wanted to know more aboutRoman society after playing RTW:

For me, this [sc. playing strategy games] was a start of learningsomething about a subject, such as for instance Antiquity.

Student E, on the other hand, despite having taken a coupleof courses in classics and Roman history, did not see RTW asan educational tool, nor did it influence his choice of studies;

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for him computer games are pure entertainment. StudentsA, F and G chose to study history (history of art in the caseof student G) in order to follow up on their interests, whichthey also like to explore in computer games, but they didnot agree that their academic interests were a result of theirplaying historically situated computer games.

A good simulation game should by definition be as real-istic as possible. How important is realism and authenticityfor students? These aspects are not easily measured, some-thing that become apparent in discussions with the students.The students differ slightly on their views on realism andhow it affects game enjoyment. For example, one studentcomplained that the consul Marius’ military reforms in thebeginning of the last century BC were placed in the wrongcentury in the game; another student held that the very inclu-sion of these reforms demonstrates that RTW is a very real-istic game. One student (student B) said that realism is notthe most important aspect and that he accepts that the gamedeviates from facts, but that a game is more enjoyable themore authentic and realistic it is. He also contended that acompromise between reality and fiction is necessary to makea good PC game. Another student (student C) said that theoriginal (RTW) is very un-realistic and historically incorrect,but extremely entertaining.

Student A emphasized precisely the importance of real-ism and authenticity in the experience of gaming Antiquity.His interest lay in mods, particularly RTR and Europa Bar-barorum. This student was at the time of the interview play-ing RTR, which he felt was better than the original becauseof the work done to make the mod more historically correct:

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In the original game, it’s all about war and it’s about littleelse. It doesn’t have the historical characters, the names areadmittedly in Latin, but … Whereas if you take a look at themodified version, you’ll find for instance the Roman cursushonorum, which each character follows, also when non-his-torical characters enter the game, they get various positions,for example as clergy, one can be a plebeian or a patrician,just about anything. […]

He emphasized in particular that the modified version ofthe game has original languages: the characters talk Semitic,Greek, Latin and so on. The student underlined the correct-ness of these features by telling me that the people behind thismodification are highly educated people. Student A’s view-point, in other words, is that a modification made with theaid of scholars must be closer to how the past really was.This takes him as a player closer to the past reality, which isa better experience. In the student’s own words, “the gameis ten times better”.

Another student also stressed how “real” the game is bypointing out how historical knowledge is helpful in the gameand how realism is key to enjoying the game:

The playability is exceptional … If you watch the HistoryChannel and see what tactics were employed [in battles] andrun the same tactics, it will work.

Student A shared these ideas. He actually waited to play thegame until the mods were available. The way he expressedhis fascination for the game is interesting, because it relatesso clearly to his fascination for history:

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Q: How important is realism for you when you play?Student A: It’s very important, it’s the only reason I play …

I wouldn’t play it if it wasn’t historically correct.Q: But you’ve played the normal version of Rome: Total

War as well?Student A: Yes, but I didn’t care much about it, I waited

until the modifications came …Q: Why is it more fun to play when it is historically correct?Student A: Why is it fun to study history? I don’t know…

it’s something about the lost world, which one can take partin …

For this student, we might say that this form of “virtualtime travel” is an escape and that realism is important tomake the “journey” believable. This was more evident inhis explanation of what improvements of RTW appear inRTR:

They have modified the language, the stuff which is writ-ten, the uniforms of the soldiers, historical buildings, by con-tacting universities and talking to professors so that the ava-tars speak Semitic, Latin and Gaelic and so on.

The way of appreciation of realism varies, however. Mostof the students emphasized that the game must firstly beentertaining, secondly historically correct. In their opinion,a game may be entertaining but not historically correct, butbeing historically correct does not necessarily make the gameentertaining. If, however, the game is both, this makes itsomething out of the ordinary.

It was interesting to hear how the students identified withthe creators of both games and believed that these creatorsshare their interest for ancient societies. Several of the inter-viewees were very keen to emphasize that the modifications

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are made by academics. This legitimization and elevation ofthe mods may also be seen on RTR’s webpage.165

I was curious to find out what made the modificationsso “realistic”. The students emphasized three aspects whichimproved the modifications’ accuracy: (1) the army’s uni-forms and equipment, (2) buildings and (3) the career courseand timeline (how your avatars have to follow the cursushonorum and how the battles are in a historically correcttimeline).

The students were after the feeling of actually being aRoman commander. According to Student A,

It is an incredible feeling to maneuver many thousand troopsright there on the screen. The feeling of being the hero is alsoenjoyable … to win against all odds, beating Gauls and every-thing.

Another student (student F) said that the game is realisticby including many of the factual events, such as the mili-tary reforms of Marius, but it is unrealistic by having theseevents incorrectly dated. When I asked him if the game isaccurate with regard to cultural aspects, he answered that itreally is un-realistic. He was critical of how Romanizationfunctions in the game: if you conquer say a Gallic village andbuild an amphitheatre, then suddenly the inhabitants become“Roman”.

The learning aspects were also drawn into argumentsabout realism:

165 Ghita and Andrikopoulos (2009: 120) also stress that they have beenpart of a team of developers with a passion for ancient history.

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You can learn quite a lot from [playing] it. Perhaps not thingsthat are historically correct [sic], but you learn a lot about mili-tary units which were deployed… and a bit of the contexts of… it is those kinds of things that inspired me to study history,you might say.

Student A held similar views:

When one plays computer games, you do it because it’s fun,of course, but if you’re playing, why not learn something atthe same time? In the modifications you can read everythingthat actually happened when you’ve finished your turn, so forexample when you go from the winter of 272 BC to the spring271 BC, you learn everything that really happened that year.[…] For instance, in one of the modifications of Europa Bar-barorum, [named] Caesar, you get the exact same armies thatexisted at the time.

On the other hand, student E had the completely oppositeview: he did not care about the historical aspects of RTWand played only because of the real-time battle simulations.

The students thus disagree somewhat on how detailed thegame should be when it comes to realism. They do agree thatbecause the game takes you through many of the historicalchanges that occurred in ancient times, you are invited to livehistory. They seem very much to enjoy the idea of being aRoman, being a commander and actually conquering land,wealth and fortune.

The female student (student G) had little knowledge ofRTW and took most of her undergraduate courses in arthistory, but I have chosen to include her here because herthoughts were strikingly similar to the male students who

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played RTW. Her preferred historically situated computergame is Assassin’s Creed 2 (2009), a third person action-adventure video game which is set in Northern Italy dur-ing the Renaissance. The gamer plays the character Ezio,who is after revenge against the ruling families of Florence.Assassin’s Creed 2 (henceforth AC2) is played out in anopen world, with a non-linear gameplay, and involves his-torical characters such as Leonardo da Vinci and NiccolòMachiavelli.

There are not many similarities between RTW and AC2,but they are both set in a historical environment (AC2actually starts off in 2012 but the gameplay takes placemainly in the Renaissance). Despite the differences betweenthe interviewees in gender and preferences in games, studentG repeated many of the same views as the other interviewees.She said that it is more entertaining to play if the game has ahistorical setting, she cares about the accuracy of historicaldata, and she is eager to learn while playing. “I do actuallywant to learn something,” she emphasized, probably con-vinced that I would not believe her. She highlighted a senseof authenticity in buildings and the use of historical charac-ters as particularly important for her experience of the game.One of the most important reasons for her preferring AC2 toother games is the historical period, and in that respect theaesthetics are important to her. Without the historical “feel”of buildings and clothing she would not enjoy the game asmuch. She said she trusts the creators when it comes to theaccuracy of the game. This student was unfamiliar with mod-ding and did not know that some games have more realisticmods (such as RTR). She would not go to such lengths tomake a game more historically correct, but even with limitedskills in Italian she often plays the game in that language

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instead of English to make it feel more accurate. Despite thedifferences in the games and in social profile she is similar tothe other students in several ways, such as the importance ofauthenticity, the use of a PC game to escape from everydaylife into the world of your favorite historical period, and theeagerness to learn by playing.

I was also interested in what they think they can learnby playing Rome: Total War. Again, the students were quiteunison in their answers, enumerating several things one canlearn from it, such as architectural features and the historyand composition of the army. As student B noted:

The structure of the army is relatively realistic. I learned whatI know about the army from it [RTW].

Realism is also important for whether the students feelthey have learned something and gained a sense of history.Although playability is the most important for the majorityof gamers, realism is of great importance and interest for thistype of student/gamer. According to student D,

Realism is important in order to understand what wouldhave happened, that the tactics employed would haveworked.

When I asked student C if he played RTW to feel like hewas taking part in the action (a notion presented to me bystudent A), he was a bit reluctant to go that far.

Nah ... it’s more that I want to learn something by playingit. [I then asked what he learns by playing]. It’s more aboutlearning how a [Roman] commander would think.

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As mentioned above, I also asked them what they did notlearn from playing the game. In addition to their (perfunc-tory?) highlighting of women and culture, they also pointedout (and this seemed more important to them) that you donot learn much about the different emperors and that thetimeline is inaccurate in the official game. Two of the stu-dents reflected upon the possibility of playing with counter-factual history.

While one of the students (as shown above) emphasizedrealism as an escape, another student (student D) said that

The more realistic it is, the better it is. … The more realistic itis the more I learn from it. [When I play] I have to think howan army commander would think. … If one tries to do whatan army commander would do it is more exciting to play.

It is important to the students to use their historical knowl-edge to succeed in computer games. They get more satisfac-tion if they achieve their objectives in what they perceive tobe the Roman manner. This includes the view they have ofthe political arena. They know that the game provides aninsufficient overview of some of the political elements, butat the same time they do believe that cultural aspects may beincluded in the games. As student F pointed out, the strategygame Europa Universalis: Rome (2008) includes the char-acteristic networking (clientela and friendships) of Romanpolitics to greater degree, and he sees the political aspect ofthat game as more realistic than one finds in RTW.

From my viewpoint, there arose certain expectations afterlistening to the students. Most of the interviewees stressedthat they enjoy the feeling of “being” a Roman commander,and they emphasize realism as an intrinsic part of their

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gaming experience. It was therefore somewhat surprising tohear that character building is not that interesting to them,and that these students of history are not that interested inother ways of experiencing the past as realistically as pos-sible. They highlighted the conquering element of the gameas its intriguing and appealing feature, not the developmentof culture or the personalities of the avatars. As student Asaid, “I don’t feel like I have that much control over how mycharacter develops, anyway.” Character building is some-what underdeveloped in RTW, nor would every player nec-essarily consider this to be the most interesting part of such awargame. Still, from my point of view there is a discrepancybetween the emphasis on “being a commander” and the lackof interest in character building. I also asked most of the stu-dents if they are into “live action role playing” (“larping”),since the realistic experience of the past was of such interestfor them. Though many history students at our university arelarpers, none of these particular students had any interest inlarping. Their passion for experiencing the past as realisticas possible is in other words restricted to the virtual world.

GAMES AND HISTORY

There are many issues one may discuss after talking with stu-dents playing RTW and similar games, but I have noted threeaspects that I found particularly fascinating and that I suggestshould be explored properly. First, as others have also men-tioned, is the obvious possibility of creating an interest forhistory and other disciplines which deal with the past. Sec-ond, it is astonishing to see the belief many share that com-puter games not only can simulate the past, but that recrea-

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tions may give an “authentic” image of the past. I shall giveother examples of such optimism to substantiate this asser-tion. Third, and closely intertwined with the second point,is the question: What type of history are these students talk-ing of? I see great similarities between the responses frommy students and Kevin Schut’s (2007) analysis of history incomputer games, where it is suggested that (empire-building)games present a masculine history, dominated by economicaland military perspectives.

CREATING AN INTEREST FOR HISTORY

The most common notion concerning computer games andhistory is that historically situated computer games mayhelp recruit more students, and that young people166 playingsuch games will learn something from them, albeit subcon-sciously. Ghita and Andrikopoulos (2009) argue that “suchgames also have tremendous educational potential, acting,to a certain extent, as a commercial version of experimentalarchaeology”.167 They hold that RTW is effective as an edu-cational tool because of two factors: first, the game’s abil-ity to create further interest with the student, and second,immersion in the epoch and how the game demands that theplayer understands the mechanisms that lead to success. Intheir view, the player absorbs historical knowledge by play-ing Rome: Total War. The playful mode of the player will in

166 Bear in mind that there is nothing that suggests that computer games areplayed more by young people than those in their 30s, but in this case I amreferring to students and prospective students.167 Ghita and Andrikopoulos (2009: 114).

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other words make him or her more receptive to learning.168

Institutions are, however, not satisfied with students merelylearning something, we have particular topics and issues thatstudents are expected to know at a certain level. What, then,happens if RTW or a similar game is used as an educationaltool?

Andrew McMichael (2007) has shared his experiences inteaching students history where he has combined differentcomputer games, which have either a micro or macro level ofhistory. Curiously enough, even gaming was “painful” whengiven as homework, as “[i]t became work instead of play.So, instructors using PC games as a learning tool should notautomatically assume that every student will find the workany more fun than some other kind of assignment”. Anotherpoint he makes, which one perhaps could predict, is thathis student population skewed more to the males when hestarted his project.169

Another interesting study on the use of PC games in teach-ing history is that of Sasha Barab and Kurt Squire (2004),who have done a study on the PC game Civilization III(2001) in classrooms.170 They found that the game engagedthe students more in learning, inspired them to explore his-torical hypotheses, and helped them acquire important his-torical terms and knowledge of ethnography, geography andcausality. Studies such as Squire’s and McMichael’s stress the“learning by doing” aspect one may achieve by using gamingas a component in teaching.

168 Ghita and Andrikopoulos (2009: 114).169 A. McMichael (2007: 215).170 S. Barab and K. Squire (2004: 505-512). See also K. Squire (2002)(http://www.gamestudies.org/0102/squire/), and (2006: 19-29).

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The students I interviewed seem to support many of thenotions presented by Ghita, Andrikopoulos, McMichael,Barab and Squire. On the one hand, academic interests andpreferences of games often coincide, but for the most part,RTW did not guide the students to particular interests. Onthe other hand, they emphasized the possibility of learningsomething while playing, and although they themselves didnot find their interest for history through gaming, they dobelieve others might do so.

Student A’s particular enthusiasm for mods is interesting,but the learning outcome is perhaps greater for those whoactually participate in the process of modding. Yasmin B.Kafai (2006) has made a distinction between two approachesto the creation and use of games in education. The first isinstructivism, where games – often commercial games suchas those I have referred to here – teach students by usingentertaining elements to keep them interested. Kafai ques-tions if we really “need games to ‘sweeten’ the learning of dif-ficult ideas”171 and favors constructionism. Constructionisminvolves providing students with tools to develop their owngames “[r]ather than embedding ‘lessons’ directly in games… and to construct new relationships with knowledge in theprocess”.172 Elisabeth R. Hayes and Ivan Alex Games (2008)have followed up on that thread and pointed to the poten-tial learning outcome of modding.173 Although instruction-

171 Y. B. Kafai (2006: 37).172 Kafai (2006: 38).173 E. R. Hayes and I. A. Games (2008: 319). See also H. Postigo’s studydemonstrating the importance of ‘modders’ in the industry and of partici-pation as a motive for the work modders do (2007: 300-13).

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ist perspectives on education and games may have potential,both these studies, as well as McMichael’s emphasis on learn-ing by doing, suggest that mods may certainly be informa-tive, but the learning outcome is probably greater for theircreators than their players. Ghita and Andrikopoulos arguethat historically correct games give gamers the opportunityto immerse themselves in history. Student A seemed to meto be exactly the type of student and gamer who enjoyedthis immersion in history. On the other hand, our discussiondid not reveal how much learning resulted from it, althoughhe demonstrated that he had learned the names of militaryranks in the Roman legions and pieces of the legionaries’weaponry.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF HISTORY?

If students do in fact learn history from computer games,what kind of history do they learn? Kevin Schut has pointedout that for decades, history as a discipline has tried to com-pensate for previous history, which dealt almost exclusivelywith white men from the elite of Western societies, by focus-ing on other groups and areas.174 The creators of historicallybased computer games have ignored these trends. To reachyour goal in most games, you will need to succeed withintwo spheres which are stereotypically perceived as masculine:economy and warfare. Controlling a civilization, both in PCgame series such as Civilization and Total War, is foundedupon economy – keeping the inhabitants happy within your

174 K. Schut (2007: 221).

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world depends on how much you spend on them, and yoursuccess depends on your ability to create commerce, con-struct buildings and balance income and expenses. The domi-nant feature within both series, however, is war and warfare– after all, in Rome: Total War your aim is to conquer asmuch land as possible.

Because of the systematic character of computers and com-puter games, history mediated by games becomes equally sys-tematic. The characters in the game are likely to have definedroles and to be somewhat “flat” and static. Student A’s lackof interest in the development of characters is not surprisingif we consider Schut’s point. History is furthermore pres-ented as a development in a clear chain of cause and effect,leaving out more coincidental factors.175 Schut also showshow games are more about playing within a historical spacethan about playing out historical events, or in other words,they are not intended to reconstruct history but to “exist”within a historical time and space.

In short, Schut argues that computer games present historyas masculine, as highly systematic and simplistic with refer-ence to causality, and focused on spatially oriented interac-tivity. The picture Schut draws is however not entirely nega-tive, as he also points out the dynamic characteristic of games– in contrary to a book, a game does not have its historyentirely predetermined. It is easier to play with counterfac-tual history in a game than in a book.176

Schut’s analysis of empire-building games fits well withmy students’ perception of what is historically correct. For

175 Schut (2007: 223).176 Schut (2007: 229).

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the game to be historically accurate, buildings, weaponry,dates and names must be historically correct, something thatshows the students’ belief that realism and authenticity areclearly linked with factuality. One could argue that this viewis not held exclusively by students, as many historians favorsimilar notions of history. Ghita and Andrikopoulos alsofocus on getting the facts straight in order to make RTR morerealistic, giving the immersive and subtle educational effectthey aspire for:

[T]he team’s purpose was not only to create a good game,but also to take advantage of this opportunity to arouse theplayer’s interest in several aspects of the era in question, andmake them feel immersed in it while enjoying an intense gam-ing experience. Education is achieved subtly, providing correctinformation to a public that, although very much interestedin the subject, might not be attracted to the institutional envi-ronment of the classroom.177

Their starting point both as academics and as modders isphilology, so it is perfectly valid and understandable forthem to argue that they have helped make RTR more cor-rect by translating verbal commands into ancient languages,correcting the names of people and places, and so on. Sim-ultaneously, it is interesting to see that gamers, whether aca-demics or not, share a passion for immersing themselves ina historical period, but do not question how historical it isto immerse a 21st century person in a virtual, ancient world.Certainly, all media edit the picture they draw, and so no

177 Ghita and Andrikopoulos (2009: 120).

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game, film or book gives a complete picture of the past. Ibelieve, however, that history is about the people who livedin the past. The lack of discussion of the question of theactual human being who lived in the past among my stu-dents, as well as frequently in academic literature, is fascinat-ing. Perhaps gamers take it for granted that games are nothistory, but I believe the question deserves attention. Thereare examples that demonstrate, in my opinion, an exag-gerated optimism attached to computer games and history.Tracy Fullerton has for example looked into documentarygames, games the re-enact historical events. Her general viewon documentary games (she is both a game designer as wellas an educator) is positive, although, as she says:

[t]here are clearly some gating issues here. (…) how can gamesbased in fact deal with the inherent tension between theknowledge of an event’s outcome and the necessity of allow-ing a player agency to affect that outcome?178

Nevertheless, Fullerton still demonstrates that the agencyof historical individuals may quickly be forgotten. One ofthe games she looked at was the controversial game JFK:Reloaded (2004), where the player carries out the assassina-tion of John F. Kennedy and is given points for killing thepresident with the exact same gunshot wounds that killedKennedy, shot at the right time and right order, with pointsdeducted if e.g. the order is incorrect. The game designersrevealed to Fullerton that “their primary purpose in creatingthe game was to finally put to rest the conspiracy theories

178 T. Fullerton (2008: 236).

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that continue to surround the assassination”.179 Although thegame designers made the game in order to prove that LeeHarvey Oswald committed the assassination alone, Fuller-ton, after playing the game, is convinced that Oswald “couldnot have made those shots – at least not if this simulationis in any way accurate”.180 The optimism associated withcomputer technology in this case is fascinating. To me it ispuzzling that one can reach any such conclusion without fac-toring in human factors such as experience, luck, palm sweat,lighting, Oswald’s psyche, and so on.

CONCLUSIONS

Rome: Total War and modifications such as Rome: TotalRealism have great potential as educational tools and asmedia which can make history come alive. Players may, pre-dominantly through the mods, learn relevant vocabulary,facts of events, weaponry, buildings and so on, as well asacquire some basic information about some of the socialmechanisms in a culture such as ancient Rome. The students Italked with were passionate about the possibility of immers-ing themselves in a historical period they find exciting andinteresting, and they both used and advocated the in-gametext boxes which give further information.

Empire-building games such as these, however, have theirlimitations. They project a certain type of history which ismechanical and dominated mainly by economy and warfare.

179 Fullerton (2008: 227).180 Fullerton (2008: 229).

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Although there are vast amounts of text available in thesegames about the historical periods, these too have their focalpoint on materialistic history, as well as economic and mili-tary history, with a focus on weaponry, clothing and build-ings. The result is largely a masculine history and a lack ofhuman factors and coincidence.

The gender aspect is very interesting, particularly for ouruniversity (NTNU). The few master students we have withinAntiquity and Byzantine history are all male. It would beinteresting to find out if there is a link between gaming andthe choice to study history, and whether or not this is a trendat other comparable institutions as well.

Personally, I find that the games leave out precisely thatwhich makes history out of the past, namely the people. Willfuture scholars share a greater interest in the surroundingsof people in the past, rather than in the people themselves?The notion that games have an influence on new generationsof historians is not a farfetched idea. Steve Anderson hasfor example argued that TV, both factual oriented channelssuch as History Channel as well as (science) fiction, “hasplayed a crucial role in the shaping of cultural memory”.181

By now, academics – such as most of the contributors of thisvolume – are gamers as well as scholars, and their interest ingames influences their research. Therefore, history may wellbe standing before an era where at least historical consciencewithin the public may be changed, and if so, perhaps also atacademic institutions.

181 S. Anderson (2001: 20).

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