“It made me feel like I was there”. AARs di historical game: quale tipo di storia?

Abstract

Of the activities that originate in the historical game postgame, the writing of AARs has been relatively little studied. AARs (After Action Reports) are texts that users write reworking their game experiences, and when they relate to historical games, they can lead to unprecedented spaces where it is possible to understand how history circulates and is used within some online communities. By analyzing 47 AARs from the video game Total War: Rome II, and found on the Total War Center site, the present study aims to shed more light on this practice. In particular, it will investigate how users explore the past through the writing of such texts and address the main issues the practice poses for critical engagement with history

Keywords

• aar
• historical game
• public history
• total war center
• total war: rome ii