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Reply To: Is it time for some more critical analysis of rule sets

August 4, 2019 at 11:42 am #1421622

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What worries me, with lack of accuracy in a historical subject, isn’t just that it informs the wrong decision making process in game design, is that it also incorrectly presents a historical subject to those buying it.

For me, a historical topic comes with a duty of care to its history. Presenting incorrect history as fact, covered with the caveat ‘it’s just a game’, is something I personally cant stand. I come from a viewpoint of one having studied and taught history for a time, and perhaps take the need to present it as accurately as possible a little more seriously than is needed. Perhaps it isn’t needed, perhaps it doesnt matter, but when it’s wrong, and then presented as fact, we are altering historical fact.

That to me never seems a good way to go about things.

It’s also worrying as the material and research is available for most things. These days it’s far harder to plead ignorance on a historical topic due to lack of sources than it once was.

The whole ranting online in forums at North Korean figures with SKS carbines is an example where a little research is a dangerous thing.

History is an actual event. If it’s a war, then people lost lives in such events. Therefore some degree of respect should be afforded to its presentation. But that’s only my personal mantra, and once the history is treated with respect, I’m still playing toy soldiers.