The Game Boy: One Step Forward, Modern Warfare Two Steps Back
Posted 11/05/09 at 02:30:00 PM by Nathan Grayson
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You’ve probably seen the headlines. They’re pretty hard to miss. After all, when two of mainstream media’s favorite buzzwords – “violent videogames” and “terrorism” – cross streams, things get messy. If you’ve somehow managed to position yourself smack in the eye of the media storm, however, here’s the story: Last week, someone leaked a scene from Modern Warfare 2 in which you, the player, take up arms and gun down some people. As a terrorist. And those people? Innocent civilians who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And I’m perfectly ok with that. Why? We’ll get to that in a bit.
What I do take issue with, though, is Infinity Ward’s treatment of the whole fiasco. Moments after every videogame blog on the planet’s normal programming was interrupted to bring you this special report, Infinity Ward issued a statement. “Players have the option of skipping over the scene,” it read. “At the beginning of the game, there are two ‘checkpoints’ where the player is advised that some people may find an upcoming segment disturbing. These checkpoints can’t be disabled.”
Which is PR-speak for: “We’re afraid that the mainstream media’s going to tear us to shreds for this one, but we’ve handily built in this failsafe. You’ll never take us alive! Mwahahahaha! *Rockets into the sky using a concealed jetpack*.”
See, while stirring terrorists, innocent slaughter, and videogames into the same stew may initially leave a bad taste in people’s mouths, I think Infinity Ward’s taking a big step in the right direction. It’s a shame, then, that they’re so quickly scrambling to cover their tracks.
Here's why I'm ok with the scene. Quite contrary to what many vocal critics are saying, the scene in question isn’t intended to glorify terrorism. Not even a bit. As your character sprays gunfire into the airport’s mortified masses, people scream and cry. There’s no swelling soundtrack, slow-mo, or utterances of “Boom, baby! Headshot!” from your comrades in arms. Just the terrified, regretful, grief-stricken emotions of a bunch of normal people spilling over and quickly drowning amongst a sea of blood and tears.
If causing this kind of massacre puts a smile on your face, it sure as hell isn’t because Modern Warfare 2 told you that terrorism is totally rad. It’s because you’re one seriously f***ed up individual.
Clearly, Modern Warfare 2’s killing spree is meant to make you feel like the scummiest sack of crap ever to stink up the earth. After it’s all said and done, you’ll probably be sick to your stomach. And that’s great! See, while games like Grand Theft Auto allow players to literally terrorize innocent civilians, it’s all just meaningless violence. After just one tiny cognitive leap, your brain’s performed the necessary mental gymnastics to avoid feeling guilty about any of it. In fact, many players even consider these “rampages” to be the most enjoyable aspect of the series.
Deus Ex used this device to
Submitted by tehR0XX0Rz on Sun, 11/08/2009 - 5:30am
Deus Ex used this device to great effect: Your collegues responded differently to you depending upon how you treated your enemies. In the greatest game ever programmed, I remember carefully carrying tranquilized enemies out of a building before blowing it up, just so my co-workers wouldn't think me a murderous psycho.
More games should incorporate this sort of moral insight into play, giving us all the chance to really think about our actions on a larger scale.
On the other hand, Rock Star was wrong for removing those Rampages from their games. The context was different than that described above: it was purely ridiculous and fictitious entertainment. The small minds who would censor it would also like to burn books, films and anything else they find objectionable. Rock Star should never bow down to small-minded demogogues.
Submitted by _lethe_ on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 8:17pm
I think it's a fantastic idea to bring up moral issues in video games. This may seem offensive to some, but it reminds me a bit of playing BioShock for the first time. There were many times in that game that I felt disturbed by the game and gameplay, and asked myself about the morals of killing human beings who had never done anything particularly evil, voluntarily, except get addicted to a substance that made you almost a god.
My point is, to have this kind of gameplay is controversial, and maybe over the top, but at the same time, it does serve a point and make the game that much more interesting - to a mature min. I do have to agree with some of the other commenters that a younger child might be negatively affected by this sort of thing, as well as games like BioShock or even zombie games, because of the mentality you slip into while playing. But if you can think and decide for yourself, this type of game/play should only provoke you into questioning morals and motives in a good way that most games never can or do.
Submitted by snapple00 on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 10:12pm
Have you played Fallout 3?
Man when I got to the underground cave run by children, I spent 2 hours buying ammo and arming myself with the biggest weapons only to realize the game wouldn't let you blast their smiling faces.
I've never once made a second thought about right and wrong in a video game, because I know I can just hit 'quick load' and do it again a different way.
But seriously, the Fallout 3 thing was a let down.
Submitted by snapple00 on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 8:12pm
Call of duty has a single player campaign?
Submitted by _lethe_ on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 8:18pm
Are you... serious? Or am I just too tired to make sense of a joke?
Submitted by MuppetMower on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 8:23pm
The biggest part of the game is the multiplayer. I didnt play the missions in COD4 until about a year after I bought it. Multiplayer is what COD4 is known for.
www.game-central.org
Submitted by DarkSlayerKi on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 8:01pm
See, I think this points out an interesting thing that we, as gamers should note. Just because a game says to do something, doesn't mean we have to do it. Just because the game plops you in the controls of a terrorist doesn't mean you have to squeeze that firing trigger. As much as Infinity Ward is being hailed as "Horrible people" for doing this, we're really the ones at fault. We're the ones so trigger happy, we don't think, "Hey, I probably don't have to shoot anyone here." The only way they're really forcing anyone to do this is if the objective is "Kill X number of civilians." I mean, this is purely conjecture, but from videos on the internet, your buddies seem fairly into killing people, which means you can probably be the imitator of the group, standing idly by and making "Bang Bang" noises, hoping your buddies don't notice you're not shooting. That then puts you into a different perspective. Maybe there are terrorists who really don't want to kill innocent people, and are just there because they've been mandated to, which then devolves into the whole "Do we have to do what we're told" thing. I agree that Infinity Ward should have left this in the game, unskippable and all. Human nature is disgustingly violent, and atrocities are committed by all countries in the sake of some sort of beliefs, albeit political or religious. Why can't we, just for once, play around in the uncomfortable, "bad guy" shoes.
There was a game that did in fact harp on being really evil or just plain ol evil, where your choices were either, "Steal soul and kill person or make them your slave." Sure, you didn't shoot anyone, but you could set them ablaze, which is a horribly excruciating way to die, or you could just outright smack them with your sword. People cried out over the game right? No? Because its what we really want to do.
Submitted by smashingpumpin on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 6:51pm
You guys are fully aware that there are millions of susceptible
"tweens" and "preteens" raised from irresponsible parents playing
unappropraite games such as this right? It's one of those things were no
data could prove the stats but you just know the numbers are REAL. Oh
well, I guess I give credit to IW for not putting any kid and tot
pixels you could kill at the airport (based on the video i've just
watched anwyays).All in all its just a game, but for a kid's
mind, it's a strong unintended brainwasher which glorifies violence in its pure
form, shooting innocent strangers you've never met and never had a beef
with. Let a tween with an abusive father (broken family or something
like that) play this part and it doesn't take a non-psychiatrist to
figure out he'll have more than 50% chance of being violent later in
life.Just for sarcasm's sake, imagine a mod that would change all the civilan skins on that airport to darker colored skin lol. And yep that unintentionally answers your question why zombies on zombie games don't receive much criticism, no matter what race they graphically depict, they're all frickin zombies! anyways, FOX news here we come!
P.S. Im not Liberman's son nor have an abusive father lolz.
_______________________________________________
he's pwning with a trackpad? oh really? oh reheheheeally?
Submitted by dylanwinn on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 6:49pm
Its just a game people. The whole point of a game is to make us look deeply into our moral values while simultaneously horrifying us by putting us into situations that we wouldn't be able to handle (and often just wouldn't happen) in real life. Anything can and will happen in a game, and this is what makes games the most beautiful form of art ever conceived, in my opinion.
Submitted by jcseely on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 12:49am
And here I thought the whole point of games was having fun.
Submitted by MuppetMower on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 4:13pm
The fact that you play as a terrorist(we think its a terrorist) is interesting. I may play it on a friends 360. I wont buy it for my PC though. IW is totally fucking over PC users, and if you buy this game you are essentially driving a nail into PC gamings coffin. They took out dedicated servers in MW2 and already id has jumped on the bandwagon to do the same for Rage. If you like PC gaming do not buy this game for PC.
www.game-central.org
Submitted by Ace of Spades on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 2:46pm
This is the most OVERHYPED game of all time! Infinity Ward is brainwashing you dumbasses that killing people as a terrorist in a video game is alright because its just a game. Then they want you to see the atrocities of terrorism by being a terrorist and shooting the living shit out of people. Are people fucking stupid enough that they don't know the atrocities in the first place and need a game to show them? I guess so. Like what the fuck is up with people now and video game developers? The only reason this game is getting good reviews is because the massive majority of video gamers play shooters and are fucking hooked on it. But if it was a game of Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport 3, then it wouldn't get all the attention that a shooter would.
Also your article was full of shit on how Infinity Ward did the right move by putting this scene or game mode or whatever it is. You said that in GTA its all mindless voilence because you don't know who you are killing. But in CoD: MW 2, in the airport area when you're a terrorist, the violence makes sense because you know who you are killing, which is innocent people. Like WTF? Its still mindless violence in the end! You gamers won't care and will just keep playing and go triger happy. Infinity Ward just put that part and was like "OK, we don't have anything good left. Lets just fuck up innocent civilians now.
I willing to bet money that you CoD fanboys wouldn't even enlist in the Marines because you are all too chicken shit to go through Boot Camp and then go to actual war, where you'll shit your pants because its the real deal and not a game where you can come back to life over and over. You all think that war is a fucking adventure, but its not and Infinity Ward portrays it as if it was a fun adventure. Sure its easy for them to do that because they've never been through the situation and never will.
Anybody that plays this game is freaking mindless as to where video games are going. Have you've seen the movie, "GAMER." Well it tries to say where video games are going and that in the future people only play shooting games, but with real people. But the people controlling the person in the game and the people watching the don't care because its not them getting blasted to pieces. They just "ahhh" and "oooo" in excitement, just like how video gamers are going to be reacting in excitement when they play CoD 4 MW2 since its just a game they are not the ones getting fucked up. But what if the spectators and the gamers from "GAMER" and the people who play CoD4 MW2 were all suddenly thrown into war? Then yeah they will start bitching and crying and shitting themselves because "they" are in it and can die at any milisecond.
I have a lot more to rant about this freaking game, but I won't since you all just want to get on with shooting each other.
Submitted by spentnickles on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 7:37am
I'll try to keep your comments in mind as I'm shooting up some terrorists...
I hope you sleep well at night under your blanket of ignorance.
Gamer was one of the stupidest movies I have EVER seen.
If I were driving in Gran Turismo and had the option to RUN OVER terrorists, trust me, I would...and I promise that I WOULD BE raving about it...
I think you're probably just upset because mommy won't buy it for you because it's rated "M". Well, when you get to be old enough you can make those decisions for yourself. Until then, leave the grown-ups to talk amongst themselves...and try not to interrupt. Now take this case of C-4 and go play.
Submitted by Florian on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 4:48pm
First off, I just need to say thanks to Ace of Spades. You actually got me to register on MPC just so I could respond to your RANT! Where do I start. I think you really need to re-read the article..... The "scene" makes the game better because it adds an element to the game that other games don't. It's there to get your emotions into the game. To hate terrorists and to give you the desire to kill them all. That is something that GTA and many other games don't do. It gives you that extra drive and anger in a game to finish it. Have you seen The Kingdom??? The "scene" has nothing to do with brainwashing us. Everybody that wants the game now has wanted it LONG before any footage surfaced. COD MW was a GREAT game. Then, COD WAW releases and leaves us with a sub par game. All we can do after that is wait for IW to release the next true installment of the COD saga. Overhyped, I think not...... Judging from your previous comments, you should probably calm down before you write anything on the internet. Oh, by the way, Macs are great because they are RELIABLE, not "shiny". I could also rant more about your negative posts, but I'll just let you get on with shooting yourself in the foot....... ;)
Submitted by oczdude8 on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 4:23pm
to quote you "But what if the spectators and the gamers from "GAMER" and the people who play CoD4 MW2 were all suddenly thrown into war? Then yeah they will start bitching and crying and shitting themselves because "they" are in it and can die at any milisecond."- this is exactly y people play video games. It is entertainment. Plus, killing "people" in a game is nothing new. Have you lived under a rock for ur life? in movies, games, commercials, and even cartoons people die. does it mean that its real? no. does it mean if i play guitar hero im a douchbag becuase i cant play guitar and will shit my pants if a good guitarist played? no.
killing people is bad, no matter if their terrorists or not. if a marine sees a terrorist buying groceries, hes not ganna blow his head of, hes going to arrest him. so really, there no difference between this game and other shooting games.
Submitted by MuppetMower on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 4:09pm
Obvious troll is obvious. Your rant was almost not retarded until you claimed that all COD fanboys were too scared to enlist. I know a bunch of people in the marines, army, and air force that play COD... so your argument is invalid. The rest of your rant is retarded. The fact that you actually watched GAMER and compare this to it is proof.
www.game-central.org
Submitted by armyguy298 on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 3:10pm
A totally useless rant and a waste of time reading it. Go to hell.
Submitted by Crazybillybob on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 1:04pm
I'm not sure but a Ducky and bunny modr might be fun.... I mean how many time have you seen Duckys with AK's attacking Bunnies with M-16's ?.... would be a fun Mod..... Oh wait, MW2 doesn't support mods...:(
Submitted by spentnickles on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 12:42pm
What a bunch of pansy-ass commies... I've played video games with the best of them, every COD, every Metal Gear, Every GTA, every Medal of Honor and have been a gamer since the Atari 2600 came out... Don't ruin a good story-line by "smoothing" things over for those that can't handle a little realistic type event (same goes for the idiots censoring Left4Dead II's cover art).
COD: MWII will be a great game. Don't bust my bubble by rambling about some pansy-ass whiny wuss's that can't "handle the truth". The world is a cold hard place, terrorism is real, let us have a little fun shooting the bastards (read: terrorists) that we might not get to shoot in real life...
Modern Failfair 2 is full
Submitted by nekollx on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 12:24pm
Modern Failfair 2 is full of softskins. Really it it shouldnt supprise anyone.
No dedicated server, 9v9 max, "checkpointed content" really all their missing is a "duckies and bunnies mode"
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Submitted by ocnier on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 3:57pm
Nekollx is completely right, this game is gonna tank in the long run because they cut "fun" out it for PC gamers. If you're a console guy, then you're set but otherwise everyone else is screwed. LAME!!!!!
Submitted by Axeman666 on Mon, 11/09/2009 - 12:52pm
Wow I’ve been playing cod mp right from the early days and I
can’t believe the decision to make the new and improved super sophisticated
next-level mp of a brand new 2009/10 cod game a 9vs9 early 90's throwback!I didn’t realise that the console versions were so far
behind in terms of mp ability that it is not possible for more players than
those involved in a Sunday league footy match at the park (11vs11!!!) to play
against each other! 9vs9 the future? – don’t make me laugh! Why bring the pc
version back 2 decades? Even 1987 MIDI Maze supported 8-a-side and that was the
first mp 1st prsn shooter invented!9vs9 – a more enjoyable and realistic experience – I’m in a
warzone, I’m in Afghanistan where troops are organised into 30-man combat platoons,
‘REALISM’ = absolute minimum of 30 a side capability for those who want it! Got
no problem with a 9vs9, hell a 1vs1 is all good if it turns u on! But as an OPTION
not as the ONLY choice! - it sure don’t do it for me and my mates anyways!!If I were chief: airstrikes and dogs would be dropped or at
least limited CHRIST!, bigger maps + vehicles would be a must, age 3+ deathmatches
would be banned, a proper system of rank would be implemented with single shot
kills to the leg – lol becoming a thing of the past.. hold on... it just occurred
to me... heard of Battlefield anyone? I may just be off 4good this time! -
someone plz remind me why I’m gonna stick with Activision and its ‘next gen’ mp
console raped game???
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