{"id":123200,"date":"2021-02-18T13:02:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T12:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=123200"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:24","slug":"this-scientist-researched-ww2-games-for-his-phd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/02\/18\/this-scientist-researched-ww2-games-for-his-phd\/","title":{"rendered":"This academic researched WW2 games for his PhD"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pieter Van den Heede\u2019s dissertation Engaging with the Second World War through Digital Gaming<\/em> comes out of a combined passion for history and for video games. He was awarded a PhD for this research last week: \u201cGames can help to develop a more nuanced and critical concept of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

What did you focus on exactly in your research?<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cMy dissertation deals with how games enable people to learn about the Second World War: how is the conflict represented in games, and how do people reflect on their engagement with these games? Over the past few decades, there has been a lot of research into how we think about the Second World War, and public perception of this period. The debate often centres on things like monuments and remembrance days. Recently, there has been a growing interest in popular culture \u2013 which my own research also ties into. Gaming is one of the most prominent forms of cultural expression around today \u2013 and even more so during the current pandemic.\u201d<\/p>

Which approach did you take?<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cI focused on three distinct aspects: the marketing that has been set up around these games, the games themselves and how people assign meaning to the activity of playing them. For the latter aspect, I interviewed gamers at LAN parties \u2013 large-scale events where people get together to play video games. I asked them what it meant for them to play games set during WW2. In the case of the games and the marketing, I performed interpretative research. The research into the gamers was more qualitative in nature: social-scientific research that made use of focus group interviews.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018In Call of Duty: WWII you play an American GI. At the end you discover a concentration camp, which you can also walk around in\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Do you feel a personal fascination for these subjects?<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cYes, it\u2019s a combination of two things that I enjoy a great deal. History has always been a passion of mine, as have games. As a historian, I wanted to continue as a researcher and I was an enthusiastic player of video games, including war games. I ran into this specific combination when I was doing my master degree. I continued exploring the theme in my thesis \u2013 and now my dissertation.\u201d<\/p>

What were your key findings?<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cAs far as marketing is concerned, you can see the industry increasingly switching to a model where people keep<\/em> playing a particular game. In this context, companies put a lot of work into \u2018community engagement\u2019 \u2013 via social media platforms, among other things \u2013 where game developers also share short documentaries and interviews with experts. This includes a lot of historical discourses. In many cases, they have strong technical focus: how a particular gun works exactly, or a tank.<\/p>

\u201cGames tend to heavily perpetuate old myths about the Second World War. For example, in the game The Saboteur<\/em> you play a member of the French resistance. Over the course of the game, you gradually inspire the French population to join you in your fight. This is a spin on the myth of France as a centre of resistance \u2013 a story that was propagated in the post-war period by Charles de Gaulle, among other people.<\/p>

\u201cWhat was interesting in the gamers\u2019 case is that they can have a \u2018positive negative experience\u2019. In Call of Duty: WWII<\/em>, for example, you play an American GI. At the end you discover a concentration camp, which you can also walk around in. This means that you\u2019re confronted with the horrors of war within the setting of a game. During the game, players may feel overwhelmed by this. But afterwards they feel it has enriched their perception of the Second World War.\u201d<\/p>

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

How can your research be considered relevant to society?<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cBased on my conclusions, you could say that while games perpetuate myths about the war, they also communicate historical content. We should therefore take this medium more seriously. You could do more with games in the context of education, for instance, or focus your efforts on designing games that promote a more meaningful engagement with the Second World War. Then games can help to develop a more nuanced and critical view of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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