Felix Zimmermann currently receives a scholarship from the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne for his dissertation on atmospheric experiences of the past in digital games. He is an expert on the depiction of the past in digital games and talks and writes about matters of public history and digital game culture since 2012.
He graduated in public history and communication sciences from the Universities of Muenster and Cologne. He is part of the executive board of the research group Geschichtswissenschaft und Digitale Spiele (Historical Science and Digital Games). His research interests include the depiction of history in popular culture, concepts and use of historical authenticity, non-functional and atmospheric spaces in digital games as well as representations of colonialism and the Holocaust in digital games.
From 2013 to 2015, he worked at the campus radio station “Radio Q” at the University of Muenster. With the video game magazine “Konsole” he was awarded the Campusradiopreis of the Landesanstalt für Medien NRW at the end of 2015. From October 2013 to September 2018 he held various positions at WDR 3, from October 2015 to September 2018 in the editorial department Jazz & World. From 2017 to 2020, he served as honorary managing director of the Radio Jazz Research association.
References
(English-language publications only. See full publications list here.)
Zimmermann, Felix (2022). “Ethical Boredom in the Wilderness: Treating Red Dead Redemption 2 as an Ambience Action Game.”
In: Meinel, Dietmar (ed.), Playing the Field II: American Studies, Video Games, and Space. Berlin: De Gruyter. [In print]
Pfister, Eugen / Zimmermann, Felix (2021): “‘No one is ever ready for something like this.’ – On the dialectic of the Holocaust in first-person shooters as exemplified by Wolfenstein: The New Order”. In: International Public History (Special Issue “‘How do we play this thing?’: Videogames and History”, ed. by Dany Guay-Bélanger). [In Preperation]
Zimmermann, Felix (2021). “A love letter to Harriet Davenport, the maddest of them all – The life of a Naturalist in Red Dead Online”. In: Spiel-Kultur-Wissenschaft, https://spielkult.hypotheses.org/3082
Zimmermann, Felix (2021). “Historical Digital Games as Experiences – How Atmospheres of the Past Satisfy Needs of Authenticity”.
In: Bonner, Marc (ed.), Game | World | Architectonics – Transdisciplinary Approaches on Structures and Mechanics, Levels and Spaces, Aesthetics and Perception. Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, pp. 19-34, https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/catalog/book/752?lang=en.
Pfister, Eugen / Winnerling, Tobias / Zimmermann, Felix (eds.) (2020): Gamevironments 13 (=Special Issue “Democracy Dies Playfully. (Anti-)Democratic Ideas in and Around Video Games”), https://www.gamevironments.uni-bremen.de/current-papers-and-archive/
Pfister, Eugen / Winnerling, Tobias / Zimmermann, Felix (2020). “Democracy Dies playfully. Three Questions – Introductory Thoughts on the Papers Assembled and Beyond”.
In: Gamevironments 13 (=Special Issue “Democracy dies playfully. (Anti)-Democratic ideas in and around video games”, edited by Eugen Pfister, Tobias Winnerling und Felix Zimmermann), 1-34, https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/400
Zimmermann, Felix (2020). “Introduction. Approaching the Authenticities of Late Modernity”.
In: Lorber, Martin / Zimmermann, Felix (eds.), History in Games. Contingencies of an Authentic Past. Bielefeld: transcript, pp. 9-22. Available at: https://gespielt.hypotheses.org/3890
Lorber, Martin / Zimmermann, Felix (eds.) (2020): History in Games. Contingencies of an Authentic Past. Bielefeld: transcript, https://www.transcript-publishing.com/978-3-8376-5420-2/history-in-games/?c=311000019
Zimmermann, Felix / Huberts, Christian (2019): “From Walking Simulator to Ambience Action Game – A philosophical approach to a misunderstood genre.” Press Start Journal, Vol 5 No 2 (2019): Special Issue: Walking Simulators, pp. 29-50, https://press-start.gla.ac.uk/index.php/press-start/article/view/126
Zimmermann, Felix (2017): “Wandering between worlds – Disguise as an act of liberation in Assassin’s Creed: Liberation.” The Ontological Geek, 12 January 2017, http://ontologicalgeek.com/wandering-between-worlds-disguise-as-an-act-of-liberation-in-assassins-creed-liberation/
