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Virtual reality offers a potential solution to enable visiting inaccessible cultural heritage sites. We present the design, prototyping and evaluation (n = 6) of a virtual visit to a historic graveyard. The Salla World War II graveyard is located in an inaccessible border zone between Finland and Russia. Our virtual graveyard, accessed through a head mounted display, aimed to create an as accurate as possible simulation of the Salla graveyard, including its atmosphere. Users are enabled to navigate the virtual graveyard and place a candle on a grave. Although the simulation was considered immersive, participants wished for more authenticity and details, e.g. being able to light the virtual candle. The work opens discussion on the need for dignity in the design of virtual experiences for sensitive cultural heritage sites. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI); User studies; Information visualization; • Applied computing → Arts and humanities.

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We present the design process for historical characters in a video game based on the local cultural history of the town Kemijärvi, Finland. The characters represented real people living in the town during the time period. Through an expert evaluation with 4 history experts, challenges in, e.g. authenticity, ethics, and narrative creation, were identified. The work provides insights to researchers and practitioners working on the development of games based around the topic of local history.

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