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Contested site
Vijećnica was targeted because the cultural identity it reflected was contested.
They describe it as a site of national and multicultural significance.
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- 01The authors state that Vijećnica was targeted because the cultural identity it reflected at the time of the conflict was a contested issue.See it on page 8
- 02The authors argue that the game presents the library mainly as a navigational aid or source of cover rather than as a site where meetings and discussion took place.See it on page 18
- 03The authors argue that the fictional framing of the game creates an ambiguity that can deflect criticism of its depiction of real destruction.See it on page 13
- 04The authors argue that the realist simulation style makes intangible aspects of heritage far more difficult to represent than the conceptual simulation style does.See it on page 19
- 05The authors argue that the game's ludic pressures can lead players to treat the library as a military resource, which they see as an uncomfortable echo of its destruction.See it on page 17
- 06The authors note that the destruction was intended to erase collective memory, and cite Bevan's term 'destruction of memory' for this act.See it on page 8
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Summary
The paper, by José Antonio González Zarandona, Adam Chapman, and Darshana Jayemanne, was published in the Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association in November 2018. It examines the National and University Library in Sarajevo, housed in the Vijećnica building, and how its 1992 destruction has been represented across media. The authors analyse the representation of the library (post-reconstruction) in Act 2, 'Ghost of Sarajevo', of the videogame Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, a playable flashback set in the player character's military career. The method is a case study drawing on heritage scholarship and game studies.
The authors describe the building as a contested site of national and multicultural significance. Citing Bakaršić (1994), they report that over 1,200,000 volumes and 600,000 serials were lost to the flames in August 1992. They argue that the game presents the library merely as a prop and primarily as a navigational aid, and that its relation to national identity and the conflict is not included.
The authors identify three difficulties: the 'gamer mode' that reduces the building to shooter mechanics, a naive reconstructionist epistemology, and the exclusion of conflicting meanings about the site. They also note that the game's fictional framing offers an ambiguity that can deflect criticism. The study concludes that the library's depiction shows how heritage sites strain against the formal pressures of games.
