ABSTRACT
This chapter considers three aspects of videogame production that circumscribe their presentation of history: mechanics, compression, and hindsight bias. Each restriction has counterparts in other media forms, but the interactive nature of videogaming particularly makes the first one stand out from its predecessors. The underlying mechanics of two games, for instance, whether it is turn-based or continuous-action, may differ even though the historical theme is similar. Conversely, two games with markedly different themes may share the same underlying mechanics. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanics of a game often influence how it portrays the past. Human physical limitations and the purpose of games as entertainment also limit how they present history. In order to provide game balance and maintain player interest, videogames compress space and time. Using ship speeds and life expectancies as examples, this chapter demonstrates how various game series have approached these challenges. Finally, this chapter uses geographic knowledge and technology trees as examples of hindsight bias. This problem is sometimes inherent, since we know what happened, and it’s difficult to simulate the ignorance that past societies had of their future. However, hindsight bias also results from the difficulty of imagining what alternative paths history may have taken
