Playing with the memory of Iraq War: Memory-making potentials in the video game Six Days in Fallujah
Viitasaari, Pinja (2025)
2025
Master's Programme in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2025-12-11
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025121111522
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025121111522
Tiivistelmä
As video games have become an established part of popular culture, they have also become an increasingly important medium of memory. The purpose of this thesis was to study how the self-proclaimed “world’s first documentary video game” Six Days in Fallujah portrays the Iraq War in the Early Access version of the game. Drawing its theoretical framework from cultural memory studies and game studies, this thesis examines how memory making in games happens via narrative persuasion, procedural rhetoric and other tools shaping the player’s experience.
The data included two story missions from the campaign of Six Days in Fallujah and other in-game material, four trailers of the game and walkthrough videos of the analysed missions. The game was played with an assistant familiar with FPS (first-person shooter) games. Methods used to analyse the data were narrative analysis and ludonarrative analysis. These methods enabled the study of underlying ideologies, values, meaning and memory on multiple semiotic dimensions.
The results indicate that the memory-making potentials stemming from Six Days in Fallujah produce memory that emphasises the Marines' experience on the battlefield instead of humanising the local people. The narrative persuasion and genre conventions of FPS games were used to reinforce US official military memory instead of challenging it. Consequently, an on-going ideological justification for the global War on Terror was produced. However, the commemorative and documentary element of the game separates it from mainstream shooter games that let the player excel as a hero who changes the course of history.
This thesis contributes to the understanding of video games as a medium of cultural memory characterised by ideological complexity and unpredictability. In addition, this thesis touches on the political use of memorial games. More research is needed on the possibilities of virtually re-enacted and experienced memory.
The data included two story missions from the campaign of Six Days in Fallujah and other in-game material, four trailers of the game and walkthrough videos of the analysed missions. The game was played with an assistant familiar with FPS (first-person shooter) games. Methods used to analyse the data were narrative analysis and ludonarrative analysis. These methods enabled the study of underlying ideologies, values, meaning and memory on multiple semiotic dimensions.
The results indicate that the memory-making potentials stemming from Six Days in Fallujah produce memory that emphasises the Marines' experience on the battlefield instead of humanising the local people. The narrative persuasion and genre conventions of FPS games were used to reinforce US official military memory instead of challenging it. Consequently, an on-going ideological justification for the global War on Terror was produced. However, the commemorative and documentary element of the game separates it from mainstream shooter games that let the player excel as a hero who changes the course of history.
This thesis contributes to the understanding of video games as a medium of cultural memory characterised by ideological complexity and unpredictability. In addition, this thesis touches on the political use of memorial games. More research is needed on the possibilities of virtually re-enacted and experienced memory.