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The central research question in this thesis is, simply put: “how does Hearts of Iron IV, through its aesthetics and gameplay, deal with Nazism?” Hearts of Iron IV’s setting, after all, demands a conscious approach to Nazism as an ideology and a historical concept. In the game, a certain view of Nazism is expressed through its aesthetics and game mechanics. My analysis will look at how various aspects of the game come together to form a coherent representation of the Nazi ideology and Hitler’s Third Reich. As there has been a notable level of engagement from some white supremacists with Hearts of Iron IV, understanding the way in which the game portrays Nazism might contribute to build an understanding of how such groups engage with digital culture.

I would note that while the game does have some significant appeal among contemporary white supremacists, as I will document later in this chapter, this does not necessarily mean that the game itself is in some way inherently sympathetic to Nazism. Right wing extremists will project their ideology onto different media whether there are grounds for doing so or not. One example of this is their past admiration for Taylor Swift. When she did not to endorse Hillary Clinton for president in 2016, “alt-right trolls adopted her as an Aryan ideal” (O'Neil, 2019). This worship of Taylor Swift from right wing extremists is perhaps best summarised in the following quote from one of their bloggers: “Taylor Swift is a pure Aryan goddess, like something out of classical Greek poetry. Athena reborn.” (quoted in O'Neil, 2019).

Their adoration for Swift lasted until 2019, when she explicitly denounced them. In an interview with Rolling Stones, she said that “There’s literally nothing worse than white supremacy. It’s repulsive” (Hiatt, 2019). Following this she immediately fell out of favour with those groups. This series of events demonstrates how white supremacists are ready and willing to take any media, such as the stardom of Taylor Swift and the lyrics in her songs, and read it as a positive endorsement of their movement as long as it does anything less than explicitly denounce them.