Play to remember: The rhetoric of time in memorial video games

Abstract

This paper examines video games that commemorate historical events, identifying ‘family resemblance’ features and specific rhetorical resources. We argue that the commemorative character of a game derives, typically, from four interrelated qualities: invoking a specific historical event, claiming a truthful representation, inviting empathic understanding, and offering players opportunities for reflection. Starting from the observation that time has an important role in achieving commemorative gameplay, we discuss several games in terms of narrative and procedural rhetoric, with focus on time-related mechanics. We propose a repertoire of design resources to assist the creation of meaningful games for remembrance.