Perceived Finnishness Among Four Player Groups Through UnReal World

This paper examines how four groups of players perceive Finnishness in UnReal World, a Finnish survival game developed by Sami Maaranen and Erkka Lehmus that began in 1992 as a fantasy roguelike and was later reworked into a realistic open-world survival game set in pseudorealistic Iron Age Finland. The study uses qualitative interviews and draws on preliminary interviews with the game's developers to classify players into four categories: Finnish players, Finnish players living abroad, players with Finnish heritage whose connection to the language or culture has been fragmented, and players with no prior exposure to Finnish culture. The authors argue that while the game presents Finnish culture uniformly to all players, its interpretation varies with each player's background.

The analysis identifies three primary themes in the game's representation of Finnishness: nature, harsh life, and locality. Seasonal variation drives the core gameplay loop, requiring players to stockpile food and build shelter for winter, which the authors connect to romanticized myths of Finnish nature and resilience. The gamified depiction of hard survival is linked to the concept of sisu, a cultural ideal of stubbornness and endurance, paralleling its use in advertising and popular media. Locality is framed through Finland's position between East and West, reflected in the blending of Eastern and Western material culture, indirect references to Sámi peoples, and an aggressive eastern tribe, alongside gamified pre-Christian beliefs.

The authors position their work as preliminary, noting that their findings rely on interviews, forum data, and a questionnaire developed with the designers, with anonymity safeguards in place given the size of the player community. The study is intended to contribute to understanding how video games shape the construction and reproduction of national identity and cultural stereotypes. Its scope is limited to a single game and a qualitative framework, and the authors acknowledge openness to new research directions should significant findings emerge from the interview data.