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Abstract:
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While considering the role of media in shaping and examining histories , we must also grapple with formal limitations in approaching and understanding the past . The thesis aims to bring video games into critical conversations regarding history , memory , and nostalgia by considering the similar and unique perspectives the medium can bring alongside film , television , radio , and literature . Player positionality and interactivity within the unconventional , non -linear game storytelling form allows for different engagements with history . Focusing on the futuristic , post -apocalyptic role -playing game Fallout 3 (2008 ) , this study interrogates the game’s nuanced presentation of genre as a cultural mediation of the past , the negotiation of memory with history , and our problematic assumptions about technology and narratives of progress . While the study finds games may provide rewarding and potentially critical explorations of history , the self -reflexive nature of video gaming emphasizes the medium’s possibilities , limitations , and implications as a cultural product shaped by the very forces constructing history . |