Dr. Felix Zimmermann is a program manager for games culture, civic education and extremism at the Federal Agency for Civic Education.
He studied communication science, history, and public history in Münster and Cologne. From 2018 to 2022, he was a doctoral fellow at the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne. His dissertation on atmospheric experiences of the past in digital games was published with Büchner (Marburg, Germany) in early 2023.
Current focus of work:
– Gaming and historical/civic education
– Gaming and extremism, especially right-wing extremism
– Game developers as a target group for political education
From 2013 to 2015, he was active at the campus radio station “Radio Q” at the University of Münster. 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 was honorary managing director of the Radio Jazz Research association. From 2016 to the end of 2020, he was a member of the Steering Committee of the research group Geschichtswissenschaft und Digitale Spiele (Historical Science and Digital Games). He has been working for the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb since mid-2022.
(Last edited: July 2023)
References
(English-language publications only. See full publications list here.)
Bonner, Marc / Backe, Hans-Joachim / Zimmermann, Felix (eds.) (2023): “The Genre Buster – On Terminology, History, Worldbuilding and Gameplay of the Immersive Sim”, in: PAIDIA, 17. May 2023, https://paidia.de/sonderausgabe-immersive-sims/
“Virtual Realities. Atmospheric Experience of the Past in Digital Games.” Interview with Rudolf Inderst for New Books Network, 26.03.2023, https://newbooksnetwork.com/virtuelle-wirklichkeiten
Aguilar Rodríguez, Jimena / Alvarez Igarzábal, Federico / Debus, Michael S. / Maughan, Curtis Lee / Song, Su-Jin / Vozaru, Miruna / Zimmermann, Felix (eds.) (2022), Mental Health | Atmospheres | Video Games. New Directions in Game Research II. Bielefeld: transcript, https://www.transcript-publishing.com/978-3-8376-6264-1/mental-health-atmospheres-video-games/?number=978-3-8394-6264-5 (Open Access).
Zimmermann, Felix (2022), “Conclusion: Toward an Atmospherology of Digital Games”. In: Jimena Aguilar Rodríguez / Federico Alvarez Igarzábal / Michael S. Debus / Curtis Lee Maughan / Su-Jin Song / Miruna Vozaru / Felix Zimmermann (eds.): Mental Health | Atmospheres | Video Games. New Directions in Game Research II. Bielefeld: transcript, 241–252, https://www.transcript-publishing.com/978-3-8376-6264-1/mental-health-atmospheres-video-games/?number=978-3-8394-6264-5 (Open Access).
Zimmermann, Felix (2022). “Ethical Boredom in the Wilderness: Treating Red Dead Redemption 2 as an Ambience Action Game.”
In: Meinel, Dietmar (ed.), Video Games and Spatiality in American Studies. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 51-70, https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110675184/html.
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/
