Examining the relationship between perceived realism and enjoyment in historical video games

Research on historical video games has often used the term ‘realism’ to refer to the plausibility or accuracy of a game’s reconstruction of history, but previous research on games has understood realism as a multidimensional concept and connected it to players’ perception and experience during gameplay. The present study investigates players’ perceived realism (i.e., the extent to which an audience perceives a media text as realistic) of historical video games, based on a multidimensional measurement scale previously validated in the context of shooter games. The study further examines whether perceived realism positively relates to players’ experiences of enjoyment of historical games. Specifically, this study analyzes three games from the Assassin’s Creed (AC) series: Assassin’s Creed 1, Assassin’s Creed Unity and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. By conducting an online survey among 1317 respondents, this study found that the five-dimensional structure of perceived realism (i.e., simulational realism, freedom of choice, character involvement, perceptual pervasiveness, and social realism) holds for historical video games. Differences in perceptions of social realism, perceptual pervasiveness, and freedom of choice between the three AC games were also observed. Finally, perceptual pervasiveness and character involvement were identified as strong predictors of enjoyment in historical games, supporting similar findings in shooting games and claims that perceived realism is an important antecedent of players’ enjoyment experiences. This study contributes towards further validation of the perceived realism scale across game genres, while also pleading for a systematic use of the multidimensional term ‘realism’ in historical game research.