Thanks to Rock, Paper, Shotgun, I found this article. It’s worth reading, even if you aren’t a history major. Essentially, it examines Assassin’s Creed III’s interpretation of the American Revolution, and what that means for video games and for history.
My answer? Nothing. The largely plausible events in Assassin’s Creed III are far superior to what the History Channel has become. My view of video games has always been like my view of historical books, movies, or songs: if they raise awareness, they have accomplished their mission. If it inspires somebody to become a historian, it’s good. If it convinces somebody to go the library and check out a book, it’s good. Hell, if it even gets somebody to talk about history in a bar, that’s good too. I applaud Ubisoft for hiring an honest-to-G_d historian (and curse them for not choosing me), in an effort to get on top of things. So, ultimately, as both a gamer and a historian, I have to say this is good.
I am here to pronounce that it is a good idea in general. I learned a surprising amount from John Ellis’s Civilization II mods (especially his Hundred Years War and Colonization mods) and led me to gain additional context when learning about these things in actual history texts and courses. Granted, you have to understand that in a video game, they’re going to dramatize history and twist things to make the story more interesting. As such, it is important to note, for example, that we did not send in one dude to kill robo-Hitler; that was actually a team of seven people.
Comment by Kevin Feasel — March 18, 2013 @ 4:44 pm
I think it’s exciting that Black Mage AND Chrono from Chrono Trigger both like this post.
Comment by Tony Demchak — March 19, 2013 @ 3:29 am