The First World War in Computer Games

135 Pages·2015·1.993 MB·English

by  Chris Kempshall (auth.)

The First World War in Computer Games
DOI: 10.1057/9781137491763.0001
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DOI: 10.1057/9781137491763.0001
The First World War in
Computer Games
Chris Kempshall
University of Sussex, UK
DOI: 10.1057/9781137491763.0001
© Chris Kempshall 2015
Foreword © Esther MacCallum-Stewart 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015978-1-137-49175-6
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saff ron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Th e author has asserted his right to be identifi ed as the author of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fift h Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
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Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN: 978–1–137–49176–3 PDF
ISBN: 978-1-349-50454-1
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
www.palgrave.com/pivot
doi: 10.1057/9781137491763
This book is dedicated to my Nan who died in December 2014,
before its completion. Whilst neither the First World War
nor computer games were necessarily her ‘thing’, she always
showed interest in them because they were mine. She never
failed to show enthusiasm and support for my work and
research and, as a result, this title – my first published book –
is dedicated to her memory.
DOI: 10.1057/9781137491763.0001
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Foreword viii
Esther MacCallum-Stewart
Acknowledgements xiv
Introduction: Opening Up a Digital Front 1
1 ‘You Provide the Pixels and I’ll Provide
the War’ – Computer Games, Cinema
and Narrative 17
2 ‘Good God, Did We Really Send Players
to Fight in That?’ – Landscape and
Chronology in First World War Games 39
3 ‘It Takes 15,000 Casualties to Train
a Player General’ – Combat in First
World War Games 58
4 ‘They Will Not Be Able to Make Us
Play It Again Another Day’ – The End
in First World War Games 82
Conclusion: ... To End All War Games 96
Bibliography 105
Index 116
vi DOI: 10.1057/9781137491763.0001
List of Illustrations
1.1 Great War Mod – background and objectives
for France 23
1.2 Verdun 1914–1918 – fighting at Argonne 28
2.1 V erdun 1914–1918 – fighting at Flanders 45
2.2 V aliant Hearts – bodies in the mud 46
2.3 Valiant Hearts – Vimy Ridge 47
3.1 The Great War Mod – effects of battle 65
3.2 V erdun 1914–1918 – going over the top at
Picardie 71
3.3 Verdun 1914–1918 – map table 73
4.1 V aliant Hearts – Emile’s journey to the
firing squad 92
4.2 Valiant Hearts – graveyard ending 93
DOI: 10.1057/9781137491763.0002 vii
Foreword
12 August 1914.
My Dearest Daughter
I started military training today. I hope everything is well at
the farm and the neighbours are able to help you finish the
harvest in time.
Don’t worry, I will be back soon.
Emile1
‘The game’s storytelling isn’t always as cohesive as it should
be ... but these are minor blemishes on a visually beauti-
ful game that deftly moves between moments of joy and
moments of tragedy, and ultimately doesn’t shy away from
the fact that “great” is just about the last thing any war
should be called’.2
In 1979, the comic Battle Action started to run what is
now perhaps the most famous comic strip about the First
World War; Pat Mills’ Charley’s War.3 Battle Action itself was
a fairly typical war comic that told tales of combat and
derring-do. Stories included Rat Pack, which was based on
the Dirty Dozen, Johnny Red, about an air ace and Darkie’s
Mob, set in Burma. Most stories took place during the
Second World War and followed a fairly similar pattern of
hard-bitten soldiers defeating the odds, the Germans and a
seemingly unlimited series of impossible (and sometimes
implausible) situations.
Charley’s War would superficially seem to fit well within
this structure – Charley Bourne is a young working
class volunteer who enlists in 1914 to fight for the British
Expeditionary Force. However, Mills had a rather different
viii DOI: 10.1057/9781137491763.0003
Foreword ix
agenda from the more traditional war stories in Battle Action. Charley’s
War is resolutely anti-war, telling the story of Charley’s struggles, which
are more often against vicious officers, ghastly conditions, infighting
amongst his battalion and a lack of proper equipment. The comic paints
the First World War in a mercilessly unfavourable light, with both Mills
and artist Joe Colquhoun relying heavily on first-hand accounts, images
and records of the war itself, rather than the narrative versions of it. Mills
himself often cites the scene where Charley returns to his trench with a
bag. When he is confronted by a senior officer, demanding to know what
is inside, he simply says ‘My mate, sir. My mate Ginger’.4
While we are well used to seeing the First World War recounted
through literature, poetry and theatre, it is often portrayed in a very
specific, formulaic light. Popular culture, however, often takes a more
contradictory, difficult route. In the 1980s, comics about the First World
War were virtually unheard of, because they were heavily constrained
by mythological readings of the war, and of comics themselves, both
of which refuted the idea that comics (fun, lighthearted, for children)
could portray such serious topics as the war (terrible, hellish, piteous).
However, inspired in part by Mills’ writing, and the growth of comics
as an important artistic medium in subsequent years, the First World
War is now a relatively popular subject amongst comic book writers and
artists because of the diverse artistic styles and perspectives available.
James Bacon says of Charley’s War that it pioneered this approach, allow-
ing the creators of historical war comics to strive for accuracy over more
popularist, mythological ideas.
‘Mills does in one sentence what he did every week for six years. He
makes one question, makes one think, ask what one knows, and under-
stands, and ultimately makes the reader do some research and form their
own opinion’.5
Comics are also able to express differing representations of the war
because a culture of experimental, thoughtful work by independent
artists and writers has evolved within this genre. Previously constrained
by their own depictions of a more vainglorious, even ecstatic version
of conflict, there is now a recognition that reworkings such as Mary
and Bryan Talbot’s Sally Heathcote: Suffragette,6 which discusses the role
of suffrage during the war, or the panoramic, meticulous vision of Joe
Sacco’s The Great War,7 provide important and diverse contributions to
the comics genre. In the years since Charley’s War, comics have developed
to the extent that these are seen as important, meaningful contributions,
DOI: 10.1057/9781137491763.0003