Thursday 25 November 2010

How are the narrative roles of hero/villain constructed in popular video games such as the 'Call of Duty' and why are they more complicated than in earlier texts in the war genre?

http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/fa08/gmj-fa08-kavoori.htm

Gaming as Narrative
Galloway suggests that a key element in discussing gaming narratives is to see the relationship between the gaming world and the real world. He explains that historically the theories of visual culture refer to such relationship as the problematics of representation.

http://www.karsten-wenzlaff.de/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/wenzlaff-game-theory-and-terrorism.pdf

Difficulties of modelling terrorism in game theory
If we assume rationality of the terrorists, we can use game theory to identify the strategic interactions, such as dominant strategies and the issue of threats. Most ‘irrational’ notions of terrorism can be incorporated in the framework of game theory by adjusting strategies and pay-offs in the game. Game theory also allows uncertainty and behaviour under risk. And finally, it explains changes of behaviour when the rules of the game are changed.23 Modelling terrorism in game theory is complicated.

Terrorism is a complex social phenomenon, which makes it hard to identify the set-up the game. The political and economical implications are difficult to measure and therefore the pay-offs are difficult to state. The terrorism game involves decisions by different kinds of actors on multiple stages of the game, therefore the strategies are also difficult to assess. To come to terms with these difficulties, it is reasonable to look at the each sub-game of the whole game separately, identifying the different sub-games by the different participating players.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/ll3rvgmn5u7301d8/

Storytelling, people, computers, and digital communications are becoming increasingly interwoven. The idea of using procedural techniques to involve people in stories is enormously attractive, yet actually finding a way to create interactive fiction that achieves both artistic and commercial success remains elusive.


http://muslimreverie.wordpress.com/2009/07/25/whats-wrong-with-this-picture/

This was an ideal opportunity to shatter some stereotypes about Arab and Muslim villains. When I spoke to Jeffrey Katzenberg – a visionary producer – I asked him to include some reference to Arabs or Arab culture. He didn’t seem surprised that I mentioned it, which presumably means that it was discussed early on in the development of the game.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=4342804

A theory for role-playing simulation games intended to support analysts (and trainees) with generating and testing alternative competing hypotheses on how to influence world conflict situations. Simulated leaders and followers capable of playing these games are implemented in a cognitive modeling framework, called the Performance Moderator Function Server (PMFserv), which covers value systems, personality and cultural factors, emotions, relationships, perception, stress/coping style, and decision making. Of direct interest, as Section I-A explains, is codification and synthesis of best-of-breed social-science models within PMFserv to improve the internal validity of agent implementations. Sections II and III present this for leader profiling instruments and group-membership decision making, respectively. Section IV then offers two real-world case studies (The Third Crusade and SE Asia Today) where agent models are subjected to Turing and correspondence tests under each case study. In sum, substantial effort on game realism, best-of-breed social-science models, and agent validation efforts is essential if analysis and training tools are to help explore cultural issues and alternative ways to influence outcomes. Such exercises, in turn, are likely to improve the state of the science as well.

http://faculty.fordham.edu/andersen/andersen_WarAndVideo.pdf

This paper explores the collaboration between the Pentagon and the entertainment industries at the site of the popular interactive format, the war-themed video game. The commercial media industry is heavily invested in the research and development of digital technologies used to create simulations, graphics, and virtual worlds, which are also essential to the networked protocols of military training and weapons system.

With advances in digital computer-based technologies, war themed games make increasing claims to realism, authenticity and historical accuracy. Real war footage is frequently inserted into narratives and battlefield sequences. We compare the narratives of the experiences of gamers to narratives of recruits and soldier’s experiences of war. Though war themed interactive games are taking simulated battlefields to higher levels of realism, including more intense graphic violence, the thrilling excitement of entertainment replaces the emotional truth of war, a trend with highly negative consequences.

http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~bogost/courses/spring07/lcc3710/readings/jenkins_game-design.pdf

"Interactivity is almost the opposite of narrative; narrative flows under the direction of the author, while interactivity depends on the player for motive power”

"There is a direct, immediate conflict between the demands of a story and the demands of a game. Divergence from a story's path is likely to make for a less satisfying story; restricting a player's freedom of action is likely to make for a less satisfying game."

"Computer games are Not narratives....Rather the narrative tends to be isolated from or even work against the computer-gameness of the game."

Sunday 21 November 2010

How are the narrative roles of hero/villain constructed in popular video games such as the 'Call of Duty' and why are they more complicated than in earlier texts in the war genre?


Key words

Synonym 1

Synonym 2

Synonym 3

Call Of Duty

Medal Of Honour

Battlefield

Prototype

Representation

Hero

Villain

Ethnicity

Violence

Aggression

Graphics

Moral panic

War

Terrorism

Post 9/11

Arabs

Stereotype

Muslims

Terrorism




Academic study claims violent gaming reduces stress ?
http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/215790/academic-study-says-violent-games-reduce-stress/

Christopher Ferguson concluded that violent video games could actually combat anger and depression, two groups were given a violent game to play (Hitman: Blood Money or Call of Duty 2), one was given a non-violent game (Madden 2007) and a final group was told they wouldn't be able to play any games due to a malfunction.

The player - Why games merit academic study
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/sep/08/the-player-naomi-alderman

it's easy to disparage academic papers, but games are a growing part of our culture

Views on muslims in Call Of Duty
http://gamebattles.com/forums/t/3550110.html

Well the serial killer that was attacking in my hometown was a muslim. If I understand right, they hate all infidels and wish to kill all infidels. The United States and the people of it are infidels to them making us enemies naturally. So the hatred is mutual if this is the case

Anti Call of Duty, Social Networking
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9917199564

Has Call of Duty violence Toned down ?
http://spawnkill.com/2010/10/25/call-of-duty-black-ops-violence-toned-down/

“It was a contextual kill where you were twisting the neck. It was too much. The throat cutting nasty, but that was worse.” Because of this, Treyarch had to scale back and tailor the game to a more acceptable range.

Has this game toped the Cal Of Duty war Franchise ?
http://www.su-spectator.com/entertainment/raising-the-b-a-r-with-cod-black-ops-1.1782855

.
Overall, Call of Duty: Black Ops is the next true step in the series, not just another nameless entry. Any of the three main game modes could be packaged as separate games, but you get them all for one price of entry

Too much violence ( treyarch)
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2010/10/22/black-ops-violence-too-much-treyarch/

There were situations going too far. It was a a contextual kill where you were twisting the neck. It was too much. The throat cutting is nasty, but that was worse.”

Is this Depicting War ?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/sep/19/war-video-games-hennessey-sicart

‘The tension the audience feels brings them as close as they’re going to get to the real thing’

Not everyone is happy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/nov/16/modern-warfare-2-record

with such a high profile, controversy – and some stiff condemnation – was always inevitable.
BBC's religious affairs programme, The Big Questions, where it drew predictable criticism from Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders.



Call Of Duty +War representation +Muslims

Demonizing Muslims on screen
http://richardbrenneman.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/demonizing-muslims-on-screens-large-and-small/
n times of crisis, the perfect scapegoat is the alien Other, the being on whom we project our own darkest and most unacceptable impulses as well as our accumulated frustrations and rage.

Gaming - muslim point of view ( debates )
http://towardsmecca.com/2008/02/08/call-of-duty-4-a-muslim-point-of-view/


Banned Games Due To Violence And Representaion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games

Cuba - the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops is gaining much controversy as there is a mission were the player can assassinate Fidel Castro.
Russia -Banned because violence and cruelty
Dubai - violence agianst muslims

Monday 15 November 2010

Gender potrayal
http://www.geekink.co.uk/1/post/2010/09/gender-portrayals-in-video-games.html

Views on muslims in Call Of Duty
http://gamebattles.com/forums/t/3550110.html

Anti Call of Duty, Social Networking
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9917199564

Call of Duty falls into common stereotypes of masculinity, particularly in World War II cultural media. That is, brotherhood, loyalty and a grim determination to see it to the end. The player is surrounded by average men in an extraordinary situation. And they all, including the player, need to adapt to that. The one thing that shines through the brightest is the fact key NPCs will do anything to ensure the safety of the player and other NPCs. In an interesting turn of events, the player is almost bestowed with this same mentality. By seeing the NPCs doing such things, the player is positioned to also perform the same sort of acts to protect the men around them. This brotherhood is a key aspect of most masculine based cultural media. While the mentality and personality of the characters in Call of Duty conforms to male stereotypes, the physical representations aren’t.

The characters that the player comes into contact with, both allies and enemies are average guys. Some are tall. Some are short. Some are skinny. Others are muscly. The men in Call of Duty cover a large range of masculine body-types once again cementing in the mind of the player that these men are ‘just like them.’ With the main demographic of first person shooters being men this is not surprising. To assist with immersion, Call of Duty ensures that the characters the player comes into contact with are average day guys they could see everyday in their real world lives.

Sunday 14 November 2010

New Controversy

A video game developed in the US that challenges players to assassinate former Cuban president Fidel Castro has provoked an angry response from Cuba.

Call of Duty: Black Ops, which went on sale in the UK this week, is set during the cold war, with gamers taking on the role of a special operative as he saves the US from a communist plot, travelling between Cuba, Vietnam and Russia.

However, a mission in which players try to kill a young Castro has sparked a fierce response from the Cuban government.

"What the United States government did not achieve in more than 50 years, it now tries to do virtually," said a story on the government-run cubadebate website .

It said the game glorified real US attempts to kill Castro – there have been 638 attempts on the former leader's life, according to one of his bodyguards.

In 2006 Fabian Escalante, the former head of Cuban intelligence services, revealed how plots ranged from an exploding cigar that was intended to blow up in Castro's face to a fungus-contaminated wetsuit that would infect him with a chronic skin disease.

Perhaps the most fanciful plot involved planting explosives inside a mollusc shell painted in bright colours in the hope that Castro might be drawn towards it while scuba diving in the Caribbean.

In a section of Call of Duty: Black Ops set in Havana, players gun down enemy combatants while pursuing Castro, who was president of Cuba for 49 years before resigning in 2008.

"This new video game is doubly perverse," the article on cubadebate said. "On the one hand, it glorifies the illegal assassination attempts the United States government planned against the Cuban leader … and on the other, it stimulates sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents."

It is not the first military-style shooter game to generate controversy this year. Medal of Honor was banned from US military bases before it went on sale last month because it let players take on the role of Taliban fighters battling US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. Developer Electronic Arts later changed the name of the combatants from Taliban to Opposing Force.

Reviewers of Call of Duty: Black Ops, which retails at around £50 in the UK, have been unfazed by the challenge of gunning down one of the primary leaders of the Cuban revolution. The game was given five stars by the Guardian.

Not everyone is happy..

Yes, the Modern Warfare 2 juggernaut just continues to batter its way through the video game agenda. UK industry news sites including GIbiz are proclaiming that Infinity Ward's FPS shifted 1.78m units in its first week on British shelves, grossing around £67m and shattering the £39m record previously held by GTA IV.

However, with such a high profile, controversy – and some stiff condemnation – was always inevitable. Yesterday, the game was debated on the BBC's religious affairs programme, The Big Questions, where it drew predictable criticism from Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders. Fazan Mohammed of the British Muslim Forum is quoted on news site MCV as suggesting:

"You can't equate it with watching TV or a movie or reading a book. This is a much more intimate experience. You're mentally playing out the effects of violence. A lot of people make the excuse that this is sport – that it's just entertainment. But Joseph Goebbels – the propaganda minister of Nazi Germany – said his entertainment did more for the German people, in terms of creating the psyche for war and hostility towards others, than the speeches of Adolf Hitler. The idea this is entertainment is not justification whatsoever."

Meanwhile, it's also being reported on gaming websites that the title has been recalled from shop shelves in Russia, allegedly due to its depiction of the country as a terrorist stronghold. We're seeking confirmation on that right now.

In other news, Modern Warfare 2 has enjoyed mixed fortunes with UK newspaper columnists. In a startlingly sexist and outdated piece for the Telegraph, Hannah Betts wonders whether the game should carry a "relationship health warning", opening her piece with the line:

"Something momentous took place in The World of Men this week, something that those living in The World of Women – that is, largely, The Real World – may yet be unaware of."

The article, which conveniently ignores strong statistical evidence that 40% of gamers are adult women, prompted a tirade of angry comments, including the succinct: "Female. Played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Finished it. Do your research. Open your eyes."

As for the whole video game violence angle, Michael Moran over at the Times was more receptive to Modern Warfare 2 than the BBC's panel, seeking to distance the experience of playing CoD from the real business of war:

"I believe that the grisly imagery of the Modern Warfare 2 level 'No Russian' will teach more that it corrupts. I don't doubt that when the next Columbine or Virginia Tech massacre occurs some commenters will inevitably try to link it with Modern Warfare, but simulated guns don't kill people, real ones do. The NRA bears more responsibility than Infinity Ward."

5 links on guardian

Call Of Duty : Black Ops Upsets Cuba With Castro Mission

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/nov/11/call-of-duty-black-ops-cuba-castro

CoD: Are all the kids right ?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/09/call-of-duty-black-ops

Hollywood Style
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/nov/09/call-of-duty-black-ops-launch

Not Everyone is happy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/nov/16/modern-warfare-2-record

Are they depicting War ?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/sep/19/war-video-games-hennessey-sicart

Thursday 11 November 2010

Infinity Ward / activision change in power



How Arabs and Muslims are Portrayed in Western Games

The distortion of the Middle Eastern reality has undergone a watershed change since 9/11,” the columnist says about recent war games:

The player controls American or broad Western coalition forces, while enemy units are controlled by the computer. The ‘enemy’ is portrayed with a set of broad, schematised attributes like head cover, loose clothes and dark skin etc. The narrative links the characters to “international terrorism and/or Islamist extremism.

Research

Modern Warfare Franchise

Representations & Sterotyping

Digital Arabs: Representation in Video Games

This article presents the ways in which Muslims and Arabs are represented and represent themselves in video games

How Arabs and Muslims are Portrayed in Western Games

The distortion of the Middle Eastern reality has undergone a watershed change since 9/11,” the columnist says about recent war games:
The player controls American or broad Western coalition forces, while enemy units are controlled by the computer. The ‘enemy’ is portrayed with a set of broad, schematised attributes like head cover, loose clothes and dark skin etc. The narrative links the characters to “international terrorism and/or Islamist extremism.

News Values

Fear of Muslim Other

Call Of Duty Controversy

COD - Airport Scare, Bans In Russia !

Back Ops

"I SOMETIMES play the last Call Of Duty with my godson, who wipes the floor with me, and I was already impressed. But this new game takes it to a new level."

The movement of the characters is spot on.

The way a trained soldier holds and fires a gun is very specific - and they've got the movement right, down to the last detail.

That is exactly the sort of conditions our troops were fighting under in Basra, Iraq.The game really gets across the frantic chaos of a firefight.

Moral Panic

Modern moral panic

The controversy just won’t stop. As has been explained a thousand times before, the airport massacre level in Modern Warfare 2 is skippable and doesn’t involve you having to shoot anyone at all; you can just hang back with the rest of the rabble and follow them through the mayhem. Not that it matters of course, because it’s just a game and no-one actually dies.

Moral Effects

Young People and Violence

Violence in gaming was the other factor in which had been researched and through this I was able to find that younger people use the violence they learn from gaming and apply them to society through ethnic/cultural differences.
“Knowledge about young people’s views on violence and acceptance of violence in different contexts has important implications for violence prevention initiatives, particularly those in schools. If young people’s acceptance of violence is linked to their understandings of appropriate gender behaviour then an inherent aspect of effective violence prevention will also be to destabilise existing gender norms and expectations.”

Effects on violent media on children

Recent research has shown that connections between children playing violent video games can cause later aggressive behavioral problems. In retrospect studies have also shown a twelve percent increase in aggressive behavior after watching violent television as well

Post 9/11

Concerns on violent behaviour due to games

Young children have difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy, which makes them more vulnerable to the effects of media violence. They may become more aggressive and fearful if they are exposed to high levels of violence in video games.

Censorship

Russia Bans

The Russian government pulled Modern Warfare 2 as a response to the Russian airport terror level, which we first revealed a few weeks back. But Russian gamers are also taking to gaming sites to attack developer Infinity Ward for its portrayal of their nation.

Ownership Control

Infinity Ward
Treyarch
Activision

One of the reasons why the owenership vary is because they compete with eachother through the Call Of Duty franchise. This allows them to make one game each year one after another making the next one better through competing. This evidently causes the game to become better which appeals to the Audience.

Sunday 7 November 2010

Further Research...

How to create a successful viral campaign

There is no real set order in which allows anyone to create the best viral campaign but there are different factors in which I have to take in account when creating one. Some of which have been found from the research above such as having good content by just being creative and including something that hasn’t been seen before. Creating some sort of conversation so that it has the ability to show that it will be talked about after the campaign has been seen. The length of the video so that people do not get bored over a clip to long or don’t understand it by it being to short. Finally one of the most important factors, the technical set-up of the video and if it Is easy to send and share to others. If this is not possible than the viral campaign would not be passed on and would become useless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoIPdRbPOmU

This is a viral campaign that was used for Ps4 which has not been released. This was smartly done as it shows that the capability of the consol is too good even for a gamer. However as the consol has not even been created yet the campaign suggests that it has. This would grab the audience’s attention and would suggest why it is effective.



Young people and violence

Violence in gaming was the other factor in which had been researched and through this I was able to find that younger people use the violence they learn from gaming and apply them to society through ethnic/cultural differences.
“Knowledge about young people’s views on violence and acceptance of violence in different contexts has important implications for violence prevention initiatives, particularly those in schools. If young people’s acceptance of violence is linked to their understandings of appropriate gender behaviour then an inherent aspect of effective violence prevention will also be to destabilise existing gender norms and expectations.”

The psychological effects of violent media on children

Violence applied to the younger age ?

View from researchers suggests that performing violent acts in video games may be more contributing to children's aggression than passively watching violent acts on television. According to this view, the more children practice violent acts.
On the other hand the makers of these violent types of media such as movies, video games and television argue that violent children are drawn towards these types of violent entertainmen



example of a viral campaign.