Reconstructing WWII Trauma Memory of Germans Through COTS C-RPG Gameplay Among Whomever Forgets: A Theoretical Proposal Using Battlefield V: The Last Tiger

In Germany, the trauma of World War II (WWII) and the Holocaust remain the core component of cultural memory, reinforced through critical reflection and legislation. However, on Chinese social media, inappropriate behaviours by Z-generation netizans including the trivialization of the Holocaust and the use of Nazi symbolism, highlights a significant cultural memory gap, indicating inadequacies in current intercultural instructions in China. Addressing this, the study examines the theoretical potential for the deployment of Commercial Off The Shelf Computer based Role-Playing Games (COTS C-RPGs) as medium for bridging this gap through experiencing cultural memory in the lifelike context.
Specifically, this research analyses the 30-minute-single player campaign The Last Tiger from Battlefield V, investigating how its comprehensive storytelling perspectives with first person narrator and immersive gameplay with showcase the cruelty of WWII enable individuals from non-German cultural backgrounds to internalize German society’s collective trauma and tapped the limitations of videogames’ capabilities of performing memories proposed by Kingsepp (2018). By embodying the Panzer VI (Tiger tank) commander Müller and experiencing his psychological struggles and introspection from North Africa to the eve of Köln’s liberation by Allied Armies, the player’s empathy toward historically contextual trauma is developed. Feedback in the players’ community further confirms this interactive narrative effectively encourages affective engagement and nuanced discussion. 
Employing an autoethnographic approach, my co-author with less gameplay experience and I as an experienced player document detailed personal gameplay experiences respectively and make comparisons. Complemented by previous research on related discourses, we present triangulated critical discussions through textual analysis. The findings suggest that COTS C-RPGs can address limitations of current used didactic media in the Chinese context, especially regarding intercultural of historical trauma and help reconstruct cultural memories among certain groups. Such an approach is particularly necessary in China and carries broader significance in other non-German cultural communities for combating fading WWII memories and the resurgence of right-wing extremism in Europe.