Pieter van den Heede on ‘De Nacht van de Wetenschap’: games can help us understand wartime

Van den Heede conducts research into the cultural representation of wartime through the ages. In the interview, he explains how stories about the past, including those about war, unconsciously shape our perception. “To find out what really happened and thus gain a proper understanding of the past, an inquisitive and investigative mindset is absolutely essential. Is what I thought I knew actually how things were?”

Balls of wool

When developing historical narratives, Van den Heede likes to use the metaphor of balls of wool. “Our brains are pattern recognisers; they want to follow lines. That is why, at first glance, those balls of wool look alike, just as we often think of historical events. But if you start to unravel them, you discover that they are highly complex and very different from one another. And that is what you do as a historian: you question all the lines rather than taking them as a given. A history study is therefore a fine example of how to encourage people to adopt a questioning perspective when drawing new insights from the past.”

Narratives as we know them

Van den Heede is investigating how narratives about war are reflected in video games, what we can learn from them, and how we can view them critically. Many games are a social or challenging activity that often reaffirm the familiar narratives about war as we know them. One example is the game ‘Call of Duty’, which perpetuates the heroic image of the American liberator.

But according to Van den Heede, war games can also contribute to an understanding of wartime. And these are not so much the shooters, but a new kind of game that simulates a social situation. He cites a Danish game set in an occupied town in 1945, in which you must navigate your way to rescue a loved one from prison. As a player, you experience first-hand the uncertainty of the occupation.

Behaviour in wartime

Van den Heede believes this is a strong point. He explains: “For a long time, historical writing took a very static view of this subject, categorising people by status, such as perpetrator, victim or bystander. But when we trace people’s life trajectories during wartime, they often do not fit into those categories. It became increasingly clear that, in such situations, behaviour was in fact dynamic: people took on different roles, depending on the situation they found themselves in.”

It is logical and easy for us to tell ourselves stories framed as ‘we were good, they were bad’. And there are games that do just that. “But then you miss out on a lot. Occupation has an effect on people.” Van den Heede quotes from a book by Timothy Snyder: “A person can only be human in human circumstances.” By this he means that people need institutions to protect them. When those circumstances disappear – for example, during war – uncertainty and unexpected behaviour arise. That is a key insight that serves as a corrective to often simplistic tales of heroism.

“Games can help bring that uncertainty and dynamism back into how we think about wartime. It’s also a bit of self-criticism: it makes you think about how you yourself would act in such times. So we do need that institutional context.”