“Discussing gaming narratives is to see the relationship between the gaming world and the real world. This explains the historical theories of visual culture, such as the relationship and the problems of representation”
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?
This essay intends to look into a franchise known as Call of Duty (COD) which due to its audience of primarily young adults includes controversial material, portrayal of criminal behaviour, gory scenes and graphical violence. COD franchise is one which has revenue in the hundred millions with its newest release BlackOps produced and distributed at “£130million” and receiving gross revenue of “£360million” in the first 24hours of release, suggesting its increasing success from its previous game Modern Warefare2 with “£310million” , £20million less than BlackOps.
The game focuses around different protagonists or ‘hero’ in the game, who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld. The antagonists or ‘villain’ are commonly a character that has betrayed the protagonist or their organization. The impacts caused by video games are far worse than movies because the audience are intimate and interactive with violence, they mentally carry out effects of violence. This suggests that the addition of video games and portrayal of war genre violence links to aggression becomes clearer. “Video games have also been studied for links to addiction and aggression.” By exploring a number of studies such as, G.Burtons 'More Than Meets The Eye' and James Newman’s ‘Playing with videogame’s’ its suggested that video games doesn’t necessarily contribute to these problems or furthermore several groups have argued that there are few scientifically proven studies to back up these claims, and that the video game industry has become a target for the media to blame for modern day problems.
However the media isn’t always responsible for the portrayal of narrative roles throughout gaming as it had become a factor that encourages young adults to strengthen this violent behaviour. “Those people who need that trigger, that little push” . Therefore is already involved in antisocial behaviour, the media will reinforce your violent behaviour and encourage you to commit crimes. Depending on individuals social and even possibly their economic background and whether they’ve come from a stable background. Therefore would be able to deal with it, however you can become a bystander as you can get desensitised, this is when repeated exposure of violence makes the audience less sensitive.
Narrative stereotypes also have representation of “human behaviour in a new urban environment” Initially narrative roles in the COD franchise are stereotyped as a physically powerful British/American stereotypical male, who come from a high economical background and are very intelligent. A degree of unrestricted narrative, the ‘other half', can also be used to effectively build suspense, as the audience are anticipating events the character has no knowledge of. ”The born criminal made existing ethnic and racial categories.” Suggesting narrative roles in war genre games are noticed to have become the ethnic other becoming violent and irrational.
A highly respected theorist, Vladimir Propp also had his theory of narrative roles and said that ‘characters and actors have the narrative functions of villains hero donor father and false hero.‘ Meaning there is always a narrative role in any action and would be based on these forms of roles. This is relative in gaming as each role has a link to a character in the Call of Duty franchise. The hero realises the need for the challenge and may view it as an irritation that’s holding up the main goal. Importantly, they must show the qualities of the hero, facing up difficulties as we all have to face tests in our own lifetimes. At last the villain is defeated in some way, often through direct combat, in which they may be killed or spared after pleading.
Video games such as Call of Duty have used males throughout its series of games. Which appeal to males as the character becomes aggressive, this is through the biological mindset of males in general, whereas women tend to be the passive audience, not being violent, more calm and rational. A first person shooting gaming institution like COD allows the player to roam around as the character then kill who and what they want allowing them to “Interact with the virtual environments in a more personal way” . This means that they’re “players with an opportunity to practice violent scripts” this causes players to feel the versions of depicting war and makes characters think that they are just as violent in games as they are in real life. “The tension the audience feels brings them as close as they’re going to get to the real thing”
While most debate has focused on how the female gender is portrayed in video games, little has been said about how the male gender is represented. It is important to discuss both genders as each play video games. It could be argued that it’s more important to discuss the portal of males in video games as they are, statistically, the largest demographic playing video games. “Unfortunately there has not been much literary or critical analysis of the representations of males in video games”. This is a weakness in gender theory and hopefully will be tended to.
Audiences use this as pleasure and can be beneficial to them. "It’s been argued that the aggressive content in video games could allow players to release their stress and aggression in a non destructive way, and would have the effect of relaxing them" . Some theorists such as James Newman and Cynthia Carter believe that ware genre video games like Call of Duty can cause high levels of addiction and aggression challenges this theory and allow audiences to pull away from reality to relieve stress and tension.
Theorist Stuart Hall said, 'Hollywood consistent use of cultural norms as narrative devices' suggesting its normal to see the same narrative roles throughout media texts likes gaming, the dominant white male as the hero and narrative roles in gaming. This can impact on the way in which audiences portray war genre games and can be the institutions way of portraying their games. ’Some Individuals/institutions always have greater power to portray how to react on situation’ Suggesting that issues and debates such as 'moral panics' will continue to shape the way audience portray power. Also how some institutions will act on moral panics and use scares such as 9/11 as a selling point, causing audiences to feed off the way heroes and villains are seen in reality rather than just in games.
Some theorists believe that the audience are passive and will immediately blame the media as a consequence, being responsible for all anti social behaviour and harden the youth to attend tasks of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds of opponents in a single game. Some theorists such as James Newman in their book ‘playing with video games’ believe that the audience are passive and will immediately blame the media as a consequence, being responsible for all anti social behaviour. Computer games harden the youth to attend tasks of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds of opponents in a single game. The way narrative roles are constructed in the Call of Duty franchise cause its audience to believe that it is ok to portray the ‘hero’ as a relentless killer, taking down anyone or anything that gets in their way, however the villain or typically social and ethnic ‘other’ are seen as less violent but somehow portrayed as the bad guy in war genre games.
Fazan Mohammed argues a historical and moral opinion: "A lot of people make the excuse that this is just entertainment”, However Nicky Campbell states “there’s been more murder, mayhem, controversy and war caused by people reading the Holy Scriptures than watching/ playing this video game“ . Blaming the institution because by the Call Of Duty franchise showing its audience one narrow type of imagery to war genre games, audiences are expected to believe it, therefore ‘ we may judge what is or is not real based on what is shown to us’ . This fits into my title as it would suggest how the audience portrays narrative roles. Therefore implying games and television shows Muslims for example to be terrorists and evil all the time or the 'other' than the audience will begin to believe this giving the audience a Marxist view on the villain in war genre games.
Censorship is a factor in which media blames for the negative effects of the war genre games. The game industry is censored by the British Board of Film Classification, who is responsible for classifying ratings of video games. These are concerns include, sex, violence, criminal or harmful actions that can easily be imitated, horror, and drugs. “Regardless of the impetus behind regulation, there is evidence that suggests a failure of existing ratings systems to serve their purpose. Some games’ sales have been boosted by violence warnings and negative publicity ” meaning that any product you attempt to limit access to, will only cause more desire to obtain, therefore in some way banning games does not work. Research showed that game players under the age of 18 reported that they get parents permissions 83% of the time before purchasing a game.
Most of the films we see at the cinema are narrative films, films that tell a story. Even films which are factual often apply story methods to get this point across, therefore we are so steeped in the narrative tradition that we approach a film with certain expectations, whether we know anything about the story or not. There would be characters that interact with each other. To see a series of incidents, which are connected with each other’s problems and/or conflicts. Then ending to resolve the action or cast new light on what has happened.
The plot does not always show us events in strict sequential order i.e. the order in which they would have happened in real life. For instance, sometimes a flashback technique is used to show us what happened in the past or less frequently, a flash forward to events which have not yet occurred.
The companies who create these games also create simulation games for the army training them to shoot and kill, which believe it is effective. Ex-army psychologist Dave Grossman blames movies and video games. He believes films have desensitised children to the consequence of representations in video games have taught them how to portray characters and the violence teach them how to handle a gun. Psychiatrist Serge Tisseron argues that “just because a film has a murder scene it doesn’t mean people are going to commit the act… That overstates the power of the image and underestimates the role of parents.”
In relations the Call of Duty franchise uses a typical way of appealing to the audience. They use the hypodermic needle theory which suggests that the audience is passively shown what to believe and how to portray the sequence they see in video games. “The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences”. One of the ways this is done is through making the audience believe that the narrative roles constructed are the general way in which heroes and villains act within war and violence. For example with Call of Duty, the main character is predominantly a white male, tough, brave and smart allowing them to kill many of the opposition. Whereas the villain is shown to be a stereotypical ‘other’, usually Russian/Muslim, these characters are slow, not very smart and irrational. Institutions use the hypodermic needle to suggest to the audience that this is the way to portray heroes and villains in the war genre.
However the hypodermic needle is only one of the theories in which can be suggested. The Cultivation theory is also a theory in which fits the way narrative roles are constructed have become so successful in video games. “The Cultivation theory in its most basic form, suggests that television is responsible for shaping, or ‘cultivating’ viewers’ conceptions of social reality” . The combined effect of massive television exposure by viewers over time subtly shapes the perception of social reality for individuals and, ultimately, for our culture as a whole. This also shows that by showing panics on television such as the 9/11 scares and the institutions such as ‘Fox news’ and ‘CNN’ showing the American war heroes as saviors’ and anyone else as a villain, it means that consumers and game players of war genre games like Call of Duty are believed to think in the same way. However the new game play of ‘Calll of Duty Modern Warefare2’ level ‘No Russian’ despite the violence on Russians allow the character to play as a villain, allowing them to see the American soldiers and police as the villain. This challenges the ways in which the cultivation theory can apply to the study.
In conclusion the Call of Duty franchise does use the confrontational violence caused by the protagonist ‘hero’ in the narrative role as a unique selling point by acting on moral panics such as 9/11 bombings to suggest to the audiences that there is only one set narrative role that works in war genre games, allowing there to be a distinguished difference between the hero and villain in war genre games. Acting upon the ethnicity and storytelling of characters making war genre texts more complicated as they do not challenge the narrative character roles of the dominant white American male as the villain but always the hero, causing there to be one ethnic ‘other’ as the bad person.
Word count 2302
Bibliography:
Works Cited
Books
Burton, G. (1990). More than meets the eye: an introduction to media studies. London: E. Arnold publications
Torr, J. D. (2001). Violence in the media . San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press.
Cohen, S. (2002). Folk devils and moral panics (3rd ed.). London: Routledge.
Carey, J. W. (1988). Media, myths, and narratives: television and the press. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Sklar, R. (1993). Film: an international history of the medium. New York: H.N. Abrams. P
Houston law review (Symposium 2003. ed.). (2003). Houston, Tex.: Houston Law Review.
Newman, J. (2008). Playing with videogames. New York: Routledge.
It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt, Houston Law Review, Patrick Byrd
Websites
Gaming, Terrorism and the right to communicate. http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/fa08/gmj-fa08-kavoori.htm
Gender portrayal in video games.
http://www.geekink.co.uk/1/post/2010/09/gender-portrayals-in-video-games.html
No Russian
http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/English-Gentlemans-Quarterly/Oh-the-controversy-MW2-No-Russian-Fox-News-takes-a-stab
Gender Portrayal and narrative in games
http://www.geekink.co.uk/1/post/2010/09/gender-portrayals-in-video-games.html
Are games or films better at depicting war?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/sep/19/war-video-games-hennessey-sicart
Hypodermic Needle http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Hypodermic_Needle_Theory.doc/
Propps Theories http://www.brown.edu/Courses/FR0133/Fairytale_Generator/propp.html
Cultivation Theory
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Cultivation_Theory.doc/
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/customer/cust_procDigi.php
Social games for training analysis http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=4342804
Nicky Campbell
www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_posts.php?thread_id=167165
Serge Tisseron, Psychiatrist.
www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/violence_debates.cfm
Works consulted
• What’s wrong with games today http://muslimreverie.wordpress.com/2009/07/25/whats-wrong-with-this-picture/
• Video game violence
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4054177/Video-Game-Violence
• Social games and training http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=4342804
• Complex entertainment
http://faculty.fordham.edu/andersen/andersen_WarAndVideo.pdf
• Game narrative design http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~bogost/courses/spring07/lcc3710/readings/jenkins_game-design.pdf
• Has the violence in COD died down ? http://spawnkill.com/2010/10/25/call-of-duty-black-ops-violence-toned-down/
• Depicting war http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/sep/19/war-video-games-hennessey-sicart
• Not everyone is happy http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/nov/16/modern-warfare-2-record
• Demonizing Muslims in CODhttp://richardbrenneman.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/demonizing-muslims-on-screens-large-and-small/
• Antisocial networking http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9917199564
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Monday, 14 March 2011
WWW-
Follows typical codes and conventions of a game cover
Strong images which are attractive and eye catching
Layout is very creative and realistic compared to the expectations of an actual game cover
Colour scheme is well suited to text
Good conventions > game logos
Good contrast, everything is clear
Good editing and effects
Good use of mise en scene
Good lighting makes the characters look 3-dimensional
Photoshop shows good skills
Good graphic effects to show lighting
EBI-
Need primary pictures, pictures of the internet are strongly not suitable
Need to take own pictures > primary pictures with good quality with exciting and interesting shots.
Own images instead of found images
Use own shots
Not meant to put release date on the cover
Use own images in order to show media skills
Make game cover for a new and up and coming game instead of an existing game
Average Grades
Media Language – B
Conventions – B
Creativity - B
Attention to Detail –B
Technical Proficiency – B
Follows typical codes and conventions of a game cover
Strong images which are attractive and eye catching
Layout is very creative and realistic compared to the expectations of an actual game cover
Colour scheme is well suited to text
Good conventions > game logos
Good contrast, everything is clear
Good editing and effects
Good use of mise en scene
Good lighting makes the characters look 3-dimensional
Photoshop shows good skills
Good graphic effects to show lighting
EBI-
Need primary pictures, pictures of the internet are strongly not suitable
Need to take own pictures > primary pictures with good quality with exciting and interesting shots.
Own images instead of found images
Use own shots
Not meant to put release date on the cover
Use own images in order to show media skills
Make game cover for a new and up and coming game instead of an existing game
Average Grades
Media Language – B
Conventions – B
Creativity - B
Attention to Detail –B
Technical Proficiency – B
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Self assessment
Attainment: D
Effort: 2/3
Indicative: C
Quality of writing:W
I believe that my attainment would be a D so far as I have put in SOME effort but I am also very aware that I can work harder and achieve more that a D/E which is why my indicative grade should be a C.
For my effort I believe that I do not put enough effort into my work, I become lazy and do not keep up to date with revision and class discussions.
I complete my homework on time and have done decent pieces of homework so far. However do not put as much effort as I should into my writen work and as a result I do not get the grades I should be getting.
Targets:
1) Complete storyboards and complete my production (viral campaign) to a high standard
2) Do more research on media theory and include this theory into ma critical investigation
3). Put more effort into my homework/research for production
Effort: 2/3
Indicative: C
Quality of writing:W
I believe that my attainment would be a D so far as I have put in SOME effort but I am also very aware that I can work harder and achieve more that a D/E which is why my indicative grade should be a C.
For my effort I believe that I do not put enough effort into my work, I become lazy and do not keep up to date with revision and class discussions.
I complete my homework on time and have done decent pieces of homework so far. However do not put as much effort as I should into my writen work and as a result I do not get the grades I should be getting.
Targets:
1) Complete storyboards and complete my production (viral campaign) to a high standard
2) Do more research on media theory and include this theory into ma critical investigation
3). Put more effort into my homework/research for production
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
critical investigation
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?
“discussing gaming narratives is to see the relationship between the gaming world and the real world. This explains the historically the theories of visual culture to such relationship with the problematics of representation” This quote can widely relate to the purpose of this essay which is to see how narrative roles are constructed in popular video games such as Call of Duty and how they can be challenged. This essay intends to look into a particular franchise known as Call Of Duty which due to its audience of primarily young adults include controversial material, portrayal of criminal behavior, gory scenes an graphical violence. The Call Of Duty franchise is one which can revenue in the hundred millions with its newest release ‘Black Ops’ produced and distributed at £130million and receiving a gross revenue of £330million in the first 5 days of its release, suggesting its increasing success.
The game focuses around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld. The antagonists are commonly characters that have been betrayed, the protagonist or their organization, or who has the most impact impeding their progress. I chose to look at video games since I believe their impact is far worse than movies because the audience are intimate and interactive with violence, they are mentally carrying out effects of violence. “Video games have also been studied for links to addiction and aggression.” I have explored a number of studies which have either have found that video games do not contribute to these problems or furthermore several groups have argued that there are few if any scientifically proven studies to back up these claims, and that the video game industry has become an easy target for the media to blame for many modern day problems.
However this is not always blamed on the media. I believe that the portrayal of narrative roles throughout gaming has become a factor that encourages young adults to strengthen this violent behaviour. “Those people who need that trigger, that little push”. So if an individual is already involved in antisocial behaviour the media will reinforce your violent behaviour and encourage you to commit a crime. I agree with this statement I believe it depends on an individual and whether they have come from a stable background. If so they will be able to deal with it, however you can become a bystander as you can get desensitised; this is when repeated exposure of violence makes the audience less sensitive.
While most debate has focused on how the female gender is portrayed in video games, little has been said about how the male gender is represented. It is important to discuss both genders as each play video games. It could be argued that it is more important to discuss the portal of males in video games as they are, statistically, the largest demographic playing video games.
“Unfortunately there has not been much literary or critical analysis of the representations of males in video games”. This is a weakness in gender theory and hopefully will be tended to.
Audiences use this as pleasure and can be beneficial to them. "It has been argued that the aggressive content in video games could allow players to release their stress and aggression in a non destructive way, and, in fact, would have the effect of relaxing them" . This suggests that although some theorists believe that video games like Call of Duty can cause high levels of addiction and aggression, it can challenge this theory and allow audiences to pull away from reality so that they can relieve stress and tension.
A quote by Stuart Hall, 'Hollywood consistent use of cultural norms as narrative devices' suggesting that its normal to see the same narrative roles throughout media texts likes gaming, the dominant white male as the hero and narrative roles in gaming. This can have a large effect on the way in which audiences portray war genre games and can be down to the institutions way they portray their games. ’Some Individuals/institutions will always have greater power to portray how to react on situation’ (Howard Becker).This suggests that issues and debates such as 'moral panics' will continue to shape the way in which the audience will portray power. Also how some institutions will act on moral panics and use scares such as 9/11 as a selling point.
However this can also be blamed by the institution because by the Call Of Duty franchise showing its audience one narrow type of imagery to war genre games, audiences are expected to believe it. ‘To say we may judge what is or is not real based on what is shown to us’ . This fits into my title as it would suggest how the audience portrays narrative roles. How if games and television shows Muslims for example to be terrorists and evil all the time or the 'other' than the audience will begin to believe this.
Narrative stereotypes also have representation of “human behaviour in a new urban environment” Initially narrative roles in the Call Of Duty franchise are stereotyped as a physically powerful British/American male, who come from a high economical background and are very intelligent A degree of unrestricted narrative, the ‘other half', can also be used to effectively build suspense, as the audience are anticipating the events to come, of which the character has no knowledge..”The born criminal made existing ethnic and racial categories. The rhetoric of class was often coupled with nativism and buttressed by science” More recently narrative roles in war genre games are noticed to have become the ethnic other who becomes violent and irrational.
Censorship is a factor in which media blames for the negative effects of the war genre games. The game industry is controlled by the BBFC, British Board of Film Classification, who are responsible for classifying ratings of video games. These are concerns include, sex, violence, criminal or harmful actions that can easily be imitated, horror, and drugs.“Regardless of the impetus behind regulation, there is evidence that suggests a failure of existing ratings systems to serve their purpose. Some games’ sales have been boosted by violence warnings and negative publicity ” suggesting that any product you attempt to limit access to, will only cause more desire to obtain, therefore in some way banning games does not work. Also research showed that game players under the age of 18 reported that they get parents permissions 83% of the time before purchasing a game.
Some theorists believe that the audience are passive and will immediately blame the media as a consequence, being responsible for all anti social behaviour. Computer games harden the youth to attend tasks of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds of opponents in a single game.
A highly respected theories, Valdamir Propp also had his theory of narrative roles and said that,‘ characters and actors have the narrative fuctions of villiens hero doner father and false hero.‘ This quote suggests that there is always a narrative role in any action and would be based on these forms of roles. This is relative in gaming as each role has a link to a character in the Call of Duty franchise. The hero may realize the need for the challenge and may view it as an irritation that is holding up the main goal. Importantly, they must show the qualities of the hero, facing up difficulties as we all have to face tests in our own lifetimes. At last the villain is defeated in some way, often through direct combat, in which they may be killed or spared after pleading.
Most of the films we see at the cinema are narrative films, films that tell a story. Even films which are factual often employ story methods to get this point across, therefore we are so steeped in the narrative tradition that we approach a film with certain expectations, whether we know anything about the story or not. There would be characters that interact with each other. To see a series of incidents, which are connected with each other’s problems and/or conflicts. Then ending to resolve the action or cast new light on what has happened.
The plot does not always show us events in strict chronological order i.e. the order in which they would have happened in real life. For instance, sometimes a flashback technique is used to show us what happened in the past, or less frequently, a flash forward to events which have not yet occurred.
The companies who create these games also create simulation games for the army training them to shoot and kill, which believe it is effective. Ex-army psychologist Dave Grossman blames movies and video games. He believes films have desensitised children to the consequence of representations in video games have taught them how to portray characters and the violence teach them how to handle a gun. Psychiatrist Serge Tisseron argues that “just because a film has a murder scene it doesn’t mean people are going to commit the act… That overstates the power of the image and underestimates the role of parents.”
Fazan Mohammed, The British Muslim Forum, argues a historical and moral opinion: "A lot of people make the excuse that this is just entertainment”, but Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister of the Nazi Germany said, ' However Nicky Campbell states; “hasn’t there been more murder, mayhem, controversy and war caused by people reading the holly scriptures than watching/ playing this video game“
Video games such as Call of Duty have continuously used male characters throughout its series of games. Therefore may appeal to males as the male character becomes aggressive, this is through the biological mindset of males in general, whereas woman in this case tend to be a passive audience in game play, not being as violent but more calm and rational. Also by using a first person shooting game like Call of Duty, institutions are able to let the player roam around as the character making then kill who and what they want which allows them to ’Interact with the virtual environments in a more personal way’ . This means that they are then being able to 'players an opportunity to practice violent scripts' this causes players to feel the versions of depicting war and makes characters think that they are just as violenct in games as they are in real life. “The tension the audience feels brings them as close as they’re going to get to the real thing”
Some theorists believe that the audience are passive and will immediately blame the media as a consequence, being responsible for all anti social behaviour. Computer games harden the youth to attend tasks of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds of opponents in a single game. The way narrative roles are constructed in the Call of Duty franchise cause its audience to believe that there
In relations to theories, the Call of Duty franchise uses a typical way of appealing to the audience. They use the hypodermic needle theory which suggests that the audience are passively shown what to believe and how to portray the sequence they see in video games. “The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences”. One of the ways this is done is through making the audience believe that the narrative roles constructed are the general way in which heroes and villains act within war and violence. For example with Call of Duty, the main character is predominantly a white male, tough, brave and smart allowing them to kill many of the opposition. Whereas the villain is shown to be a stereotypical ‘other’, usually Russian/Muslim, these characters are slow, not very smart and irrational. Institutions use the hypodermic needle to suggest to the audience that this is the way to portray heroes and villains in the war genre.
Cultivation theory is also a theory in which fits into why the way narrative roles are constructed have become so successful in video games. “The Cultivation theory in its most basic form, suggests that television is responsible for shaping, or ‘cultivating’ viewers’ conceptions of social reality” . The combined effect of massive television exposure by viewers over time subtly shapes the perception of social reality for individuals and, ultimately, for our culture as a whole. This also shows that by showing panics on television such as the 9/11 scares and the institiuions such as ‘Fox news’ and ‘CNN’ showing the American war heroes as saviours and anyone else as a villain, it means that consumers and game players of war genre games like Call of Duty are believed to think in the same way. However the new game play of ‘Calll of Duty Modern Warefare2’ level ‘No Russian’ despite the violence on Russians allow the character to play as a villain, allowing them to see the American soldiers and police as the villain. This challenges the ways in which the cultivation theory can apply to the study.
Word count 2289
“discussing gaming narratives is to see the relationship between the gaming world and the real world. This explains the historically the theories of visual culture to such relationship with the problematics of representation” This quote can widely relate to the purpose of this essay which is to see how narrative roles are constructed in popular video games such as Call of Duty and how they can be challenged. This essay intends to look into a particular franchise known as Call Of Duty which due to its audience of primarily young adults include controversial material, portrayal of criminal behavior, gory scenes an graphical violence. The Call Of Duty franchise is one which can revenue in the hundred millions with its newest release ‘Black Ops’ produced and distributed at £130million and receiving a gross revenue of £330million in the first 5 days of its release, suggesting its increasing success.
The game focuses around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld. The antagonists are commonly characters that have been betrayed, the protagonist or their organization, or who has the most impact impeding their progress. I chose to look at video games since I believe their impact is far worse than movies because the audience are intimate and interactive with violence, they are mentally carrying out effects of violence. “Video games have also been studied for links to addiction and aggression.” I have explored a number of studies which have either have found that video games do not contribute to these problems or furthermore several groups have argued that there are few if any scientifically proven studies to back up these claims, and that the video game industry has become an easy target for the media to blame for many modern day problems.
However this is not always blamed on the media. I believe that the portrayal of narrative roles throughout gaming has become a factor that encourages young adults to strengthen this violent behaviour. “Those people who need that trigger, that little push”. So if an individual is already involved in antisocial behaviour the media will reinforce your violent behaviour and encourage you to commit a crime. I agree with this statement I believe it depends on an individual and whether they have come from a stable background. If so they will be able to deal with it, however you can become a bystander as you can get desensitised; this is when repeated exposure of violence makes the audience less sensitive.
While most debate has focused on how the female gender is portrayed in video games, little has been said about how the male gender is represented. It is important to discuss both genders as each play video games. It could be argued that it is more important to discuss the portal of males in video games as they are, statistically, the largest demographic playing video games.
“Unfortunately there has not been much literary or critical analysis of the representations of males in video games”. This is a weakness in gender theory and hopefully will be tended to.
Audiences use this as pleasure and can be beneficial to them. "It has been argued that the aggressive content in video games could allow players to release their stress and aggression in a non destructive way, and, in fact, would have the effect of relaxing them" . This suggests that although some theorists believe that video games like Call of Duty can cause high levels of addiction and aggression, it can challenge this theory and allow audiences to pull away from reality so that they can relieve stress and tension.
A quote by Stuart Hall, 'Hollywood consistent use of cultural norms as narrative devices' suggesting that its normal to see the same narrative roles throughout media texts likes gaming, the dominant white male as the hero and narrative roles in gaming. This can have a large effect on the way in which audiences portray war genre games and can be down to the institutions way they portray their games. ’Some Individuals/institutions will always have greater power to portray how to react on situation’ (Howard Becker).This suggests that issues and debates such as 'moral panics' will continue to shape the way in which the audience will portray power. Also how some institutions will act on moral panics and use scares such as 9/11 as a selling point.
However this can also be blamed by the institution because by the Call Of Duty franchise showing its audience one narrow type of imagery to war genre games, audiences are expected to believe it. ‘To say we may judge what is or is not real based on what is shown to us’ . This fits into my title as it would suggest how the audience portrays narrative roles. How if games and television shows Muslims for example to be terrorists and evil all the time or the 'other' than the audience will begin to believe this.
Narrative stereotypes also have representation of “human behaviour in a new urban environment” Initially narrative roles in the Call Of Duty franchise are stereotyped as a physically powerful British/American male, who come from a high economical background and are very intelligent A degree of unrestricted narrative, the ‘other half', can also be used to effectively build suspense, as the audience are anticipating the events to come, of which the character has no knowledge..”The born criminal made existing ethnic and racial categories. The rhetoric of class was often coupled with nativism and buttressed by science” More recently narrative roles in war genre games are noticed to have become the ethnic other who becomes violent and irrational.
Censorship is a factor in which media blames for the negative effects of the war genre games. The game industry is controlled by the BBFC, British Board of Film Classification, who are responsible for classifying ratings of video games. These are concerns include, sex, violence, criminal or harmful actions that can easily be imitated, horror, and drugs.“Regardless of the impetus behind regulation, there is evidence that suggests a failure of existing ratings systems to serve their purpose. Some games’ sales have been boosted by violence warnings and negative publicity ” suggesting that any product you attempt to limit access to, will only cause more desire to obtain, therefore in some way banning games does not work. Also research showed that game players under the age of 18 reported that they get parents permissions 83% of the time before purchasing a game.
Some theorists believe that the audience are passive and will immediately blame the media as a consequence, being responsible for all anti social behaviour. Computer games harden the youth to attend tasks of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds of opponents in a single game.
A highly respected theories, Valdamir Propp also had his theory of narrative roles and said that,‘ characters and actors have the narrative fuctions of villiens hero doner father and false hero.‘ This quote suggests that there is always a narrative role in any action and would be based on these forms of roles. This is relative in gaming as each role has a link to a character in the Call of Duty franchise. The hero may realize the need for the challenge and may view it as an irritation that is holding up the main goal. Importantly, they must show the qualities of the hero, facing up difficulties as we all have to face tests in our own lifetimes. At last the villain is defeated in some way, often through direct combat, in which they may be killed or spared after pleading.
Most of the films we see at the cinema are narrative films, films that tell a story. Even films which are factual often employ story methods to get this point across, therefore we are so steeped in the narrative tradition that we approach a film with certain expectations, whether we know anything about the story or not. There would be characters that interact with each other. To see a series of incidents, which are connected with each other’s problems and/or conflicts. Then ending to resolve the action or cast new light on what has happened.
The plot does not always show us events in strict chronological order i.e. the order in which they would have happened in real life. For instance, sometimes a flashback technique is used to show us what happened in the past, or less frequently, a flash forward to events which have not yet occurred.
The companies who create these games also create simulation games for the army training them to shoot and kill, which believe it is effective. Ex-army psychologist Dave Grossman blames movies and video games. He believes films have desensitised children to the consequence of representations in video games have taught them how to portray characters and the violence teach them how to handle a gun. Psychiatrist Serge Tisseron argues that “just because a film has a murder scene it doesn’t mean people are going to commit the act… That overstates the power of the image and underestimates the role of parents.”
Fazan Mohammed, The British Muslim Forum, argues a historical and moral opinion: "A lot of people make the excuse that this is just entertainment”, but Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister of the Nazi Germany said, ' However Nicky Campbell states; “hasn’t there been more murder, mayhem, controversy and war caused by people reading the holly scriptures than watching/ playing this video game“
Video games such as Call of Duty have continuously used male characters throughout its series of games. Therefore may appeal to males as the male character becomes aggressive, this is through the biological mindset of males in general, whereas woman in this case tend to be a passive audience in game play, not being as violent but more calm and rational. Also by using a first person shooting game like Call of Duty, institutions are able to let the player roam around as the character making then kill who and what they want which allows them to ’Interact with the virtual environments in a more personal way’ . This means that they are then being able to 'players an opportunity to practice violent scripts' this causes players to feel the versions of depicting war and makes characters think that they are just as violenct in games as they are in real life. “The tension the audience feels brings them as close as they’re going to get to the real thing”
Some theorists believe that the audience are passive and will immediately blame the media as a consequence, being responsible for all anti social behaviour. Computer games harden the youth to attend tasks of murder by simulating the killing of hundreds of opponents in a single game. The way narrative roles are constructed in the Call of Duty franchise cause its audience to believe that there
In relations to theories, the Call of Duty franchise uses a typical way of appealing to the audience. They use the hypodermic needle theory which suggests that the audience are passively shown what to believe and how to portray the sequence they see in video games. “The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences”. One of the ways this is done is through making the audience believe that the narrative roles constructed are the general way in which heroes and villains act within war and violence. For example with Call of Duty, the main character is predominantly a white male, tough, brave and smart allowing them to kill many of the opposition. Whereas the villain is shown to be a stereotypical ‘other’, usually Russian/Muslim, these characters are slow, not very smart and irrational. Institutions use the hypodermic needle to suggest to the audience that this is the way to portray heroes and villains in the war genre.
Cultivation theory is also a theory in which fits into why the way narrative roles are constructed have become so successful in video games. “The Cultivation theory in its most basic form, suggests that television is responsible for shaping, or ‘cultivating’ viewers’ conceptions of social reality” . The combined effect of massive television exposure by viewers over time subtly shapes the perception of social reality for individuals and, ultimately, for our culture as a whole. This also shows that by showing panics on television such as the 9/11 scares and the institiuions such as ‘Fox news’ and ‘CNN’ showing the American war heroes as saviours and anyone else as a villain, it means that consumers and game players of war genre games like Call of Duty are believed to think in the same way. However the new game play of ‘Calll of Duty Modern Warefare2’ level ‘No Russian’ despite the violence on Russians allow the character to play as a villain, allowing them to see the American soldiers and police as the villain. This challenges the ways in which the cultivation theory can apply to the study.
Word count 2289
Bibliography:
Books
Websites
Books
- Burton, G. (1990). More than meets the eye: an introduction to media studies. London: E. Arnold
- Cohen, S. (2002). Folk devils and moral panics (3rd ed.). London: Routledge.It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt, Houston Law Review, Patrick Byrd, pg 406
- Graeme Burton, Arnold publications, 'More Than Meets The Eye'Carter, Cynthia, and C. Kay Weaver.
- Violence and the media . p137
- Thomas H. Pauly, P 777-78
- Robert Sklar, P 275.
- Houston Law Review, Patrick Byrd, pg 406
- Newman, James. Playing with videogames., 2008, pg 91
Websites
- Gaming, Terrorism and the right to communicate.
http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/fa08/gmj-fa08-kavoori.htm - No Russian
http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/English-Gentlemans-Quarterly/Oh-the-controversy-MW2-No-Russian-Fox-News-takes-a-stab - Gender Portrayal and narrative in games
http://www.geekink.co.uk/1/post/2010/09/gender-portrayals-in-video-games.html - Are games or films better at depicting war?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2010/sep/19/war-video-games-hennessey-sicart - Hypodermic Needle
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Hypodermic_Needle_Theory.doc/ - Cultivation Theory
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Cultivation_Theory.doc/ - http://www.bbfc.co.uk/customer/cust_procDigi.php
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Task 6
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?
Given the power of globalisation in gaming, war on terror has become a factor that fits into the narrative roles of games allowing them to be so successful. Neither the historical nor the technical side of the narrative roles in games such as Call Of Duty have changed over years and has continued to cause new debates and controversies as institutions such as the Call Of Duty franchise continues to challenge the way in which Terrorism and the non social norm or ‘other’ can be portrayed, resulting in a dominant white British/American ‘hero’.
The way the media represents "terrorists" has a direct impact on society itself. Gaming in media has just as much to do with this than TV and films does. Audiences supporting institutions such as the Call Of Duty franchise show "terrorists" and like to link Islam directly with terrorism to get their views across to the public.
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?
Given the power of globalisation in gaming, war on terror has become a factor that fits into the narrative roles of games allowing them to be so successful. Neither the historical nor the technical side of the narrative roles in games such as Call Of Duty have changed over years and has continued to cause new debates and controversies as institutions such as the Call Of Duty franchise continues to challenge the way in which Terrorism and the non social norm or ‘other’ can be portrayed, resulting in a dominant white British/American ‘hero’.
The way the media represents "terrorists" has a direct impact on society itself. Gaming in media has just as much to do with this than TV and films does. Audiences supporting institutions such as the Call Of Duty franchise show "terrorists" and like to link Islam directly with terrorism to get their views across to the public.
Task 5
(Introduction- a brief description to my independent study)
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?
Given the power of globalisation in gaming, war on terror has become a factor that fits into the narrative roles of games allowing them to be so successful. Neither the historical nor the technical side of the narrative roles in games such as Call Of Duty have changed over years and has continued to cause new debates and controversies as institutions such as the Call Of Duty franchise continues to challenge the way in which Terrorism and the non social norm or ‘other’ can be portrayed, resulting in a dominant white British/American ‘hero’.
1.Do the Media representations of cultural roles have an effect on the narrative role controversy and how? Including Call Of Duty narrative construction and previous games such as Doom2 terrorist attack challenging it.
2.The media effects of the controversy on the audience ( will audiences believe what they see in games such as Call of Duty based on their narrative roles)
3.The influence of media technology and the digital revolution
4.The impact of news values on the audience
5. Moral panics in gaming and what they suggest to its audience
6. Hypodermic Model
The effects of the audience from which the media injects messages directly into the minds of the viewers. Making the audience believe what they expect to see or can relate to from previous games.
10. Hegamony
The beliefs and values, established by the dominant culture in society. Informing the audience about roles both dominant and passive in gaming and how they use this in narrative roles.
Moral effects
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.
11. Conclusion –Can the narrative roles of games such as call of duty be challenged, have they changed a lot from earlier war games from the same franchise and more.
(Introduction- a brief description to my independent study)
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?
Given the power of globalisation in gaming, war on terror has become a factor that fits into the narrative roles of games allowing them to be so successful. Neither the historical nor the technical side of the narrative roles in games such as Call Of Duty have changed over years and has continued to cause new debates and controversies as institutions such as the Call Of Duty franchise continues to challenge the way in which Terrorism and the non social norm or ‘other’ can be portrayed, resulting in a dominant white British/American ‘hero’.
1.Do the Media representations of cultural roles have an effect on the narrative role controversy and how? Including Call Of Duty narrative construction and previous games such as Doom2 terrorist attack challenging it.
2.The media effects of the controversy on the audience ( will audiences believe what they see in games such as Call of Duty based on their narrative roles)
3.The influence of media technology and the digital revolution
4.The impact of news values on the audience
5. Moral panics in gaming and what they suggest to its audience
6. Hypodermic Model
The effects of the audience from which the media injects messages directly into the minds of the viewers. Making the audience believe what they expect to see or can relate to from previous games.
10. Hegamony
The beliefs and values, established by the dominant culture in society. Informing the audience about roles both dominant and passive in gaming and how they use this in narrative roles.
Moral effects
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.
11. Conclusion –Can the narrative roles of games such as call of duty be challenged, have they changed a lot from earlier war games from the same franchise and more.
Task 4
when finding further links to help my investigation i was able to note some of the best theories in which will be included when writing my work.
Violence
This is not only done through influences of media but also how gaming violence and narrative roles influence how the audience portray things.
here are many things society as a whole and individuals can do to appease or inflame the issue, however each argument has a counter argument and a counter argument will exist for that and so on.
Because it is an issue of such heated debate with no answer or possibility of an answer should we just leave the issue be and choose not to address it further? Or should we make the issue widely known so society is more aware of the role the media can play. Or perhaps we should leave it to the media to publicise that. After all the media does have a strong influence.
Hyperdermic Needle
This is a theory in which suggests that the Media somehow 'injects' the audience on what they should belive, how they should act and what their veiws should be portrayed. ( as a syringe injects drugs into the body )
- draws attention to the power of the media producers over its audiences and how they are able to forcefeed infomation/views in which the audience should believe/trust
- It makes audiences seem 'passive' and 'powerless'
Does it influence us ?
Many theorists believed that the increase in violence was a direct result of violet images being shown in cinema through the Hyperdermic Needle theory. One such theorist stated that the new found media was manipulating the mainstream masses and deliberately causing crime and violence for financial gain. Although this argument has been cast aside man times it always returns in modern society when there is a severe outbreak of violence on TV.
These are links in which help both back up the ways in which narrative roles are contructed and also how they can be challenged giving me both sides to a arguement.
( 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.
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.
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’
Violence, War, and Call of Duty 4
"Is it a coincidence that the game came out in 2007, when in January that year an extensive BBC poll found that 73% of the global population disapproves of the war in Iraq?"
"The game even periodically presents quotes on the subject of war and violence (usually when you fail in the single player). Among them are Yassar Arafat: “Whoever stands by a just cause cannot possibly be called a terrorist.” Bertrand Russel: “War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” Erasmus: “War is delightful to those who have not yet experienced it.” And what is Call of Duty 4 but an experience - and therefore, a potential deterrence - of war? Whatever Call of Duty 4 may be, it is certainly not an advertisement for actually being in the situations it places the player. The atmosphere is tense at the best of times. Nowhere is safe on the battlefield as bullets sing through even the densest wall. Even the best player must die multiple times - what of the real life soldier? "
"Is it a coincidence that the game came out in 2007, when in January that year an extensive BBC poll found that 73% of the global population disapproves of the war in Iraq?"
"that games do incorporate powerful psychological techniques to create a compulsion loop, but without these there would be no substance to a game."
Gaming addiction: myth, medical condition or moral panic?
http://www.infowars.com/violence-in-video-games-and-the-baghdad-massacre/
"Shooting dogs, beating children and murdering innocent civilians are dwarfed by the amount of unmitigated evil game developers are having their heroes portray."
Does game violence make teens aggressive?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16099971/ns/technology_and_science-games/
“Based on our results, I think parents should be aware of the relationship between violent video-game playing and brain function.”
Is Media Violence a Problem?
http://www.enotes.com/media-violence-problem-article
“Fear of being victimized by violence.” Constant exposure to violence in the media may lead people to believe that violence is everywhere and that they should be afraid. Researcher George Gerbner has described this as “Mean World Syndrome.”
"Children’s exposure to violence in the mass media, particularly at young ages, can have harmful lifelong consequences."
The Influence of Media Violence on Youth
http://psi.sagepub.com/content/4/3/81.abstract
"media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts."
"Media violence produces short-term increases by priming existing aggressive scripts and cognitions, increasing physiological arousal, and triggering an automatic tendency to imitate observed behaviors."
Finally these are the links in which have helped me find some issues and debates that will back up the narrative roles and how they have not yet been challenged in the war genre games such as the Call of Duty franchise.
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
http://www.york.ac.uk/education/research/cresj/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.
when finding further links to help my investigation i was able to note some of the best theories in which will be included when writing my work.
Violence
This is not only done through influences of media but also how gaming violence and narrative roles influence how the audience portray things.
here are many things society as a whole and individuals can do to appease or inflame the issue, however each argument has a counter argument and a counter argument will exist for that and so on.
Because it is an issue of such heated debate with no answer or possibility of an answer should we just leave the issue be and choose not to address it further? Or should we make the issue widely known so society is more aware of the role the media can play. Or perhaps we should leave it to the media to publicise that. After all the media does have a strong influence.
Hyperdermic Needle
This is a theory in which suggests that the Media somehow 'injects' the audience on what they should belive, how they should act and what their veiws should be portrayed. ( as a syringe injects drugs into the body )
- draws attention to the power of the media producers over its audiences and how they are able to forcefeed infomation/views in which the audience should believe/trust
- It makes audiences seem 'passive' and 'powerless'
Does it influence us ?
Many theorists believed that the increase in violence was a direct result of violet images being shown in cinema through the Hyperdermic Needle theory. One such theorist stated that the new found media was manipulating the mainstream masses and deliberately causing crime and violence for financial gain. Although this argument has been cast aside man times it always returns in modern society when there is a severe outbreak of violence on TV.
These are links in which help both back up the ways in which narrative roles are contructed and also how they can be challenged giving me both sides to a arguement.
( 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.
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.
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’
Violence, War, and Call of Duty 4
"Is it a coincidence that the game came out in 2007, when in January that year an extensive BBC poll found that 73% of the global population disapproves of the war in Iraq?"
"The game even periodically presents quotes on the subject of war and violence (usually when you fail in the single player). Among them are Yassar Arafat: “Whoever stands by a just cause cannot possibly be called a terrorist.” Bertrand Russel: “War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” Erasmus: “War is delightful to those who have not yet experienced it.” And what is Call of Duty 4 but an experience - and therefore, a potential deterrence - of war? Whatever Call of Duty 4 may be, it is certainly not an advertisement for actually being in the situations it places the player. The atmosphere is tense at the best of times. Nowhere is safe on the battlefield as bullets sing through even the densest wall. Even the best player must die multiple times - what of the real life soldier? "
"Is it a coincidence that the game came out in 2007, when in January that year an extensive BBC poll found that 73% of the global population disapproves of the war in Iraq?"
"that games do incorporate powerful psychological techniques to create a compulsion loop, but without these there would be no substance to a game."
Gaming addiction: myth, medical condition or moral panic?
http://www.infowars.com/violence-in-video-games-and-the-baghdad-massacre/
"Shooting dogs, beating children and murdering innocent civilians are dwarfed by the amount of unmitigated evil game developers are having their heroes portray."
Does game violence make teens aggressive?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16099971/ns/technology_and_science-games/
“Based on our results, I think parents should be aware of the relationship between violent video-game playing and brain function.”
Is Media Violence a Problem?
http://www.enotes.com/media-violence-problem-article
“Fear of being victimized by violence.” Constant exposure to violence in the media may lead people to believe that violence is everywhere and that they should be afraid. Researcher George Gerbner has described this as “Mean World Syndrome.”
"Children’s exposure to violence in the mass media, particularly at young ages, can have harmful lifelong consequences."
The Influence of Media Violence on Youth
http://psi.sagepub.com/content/4/3/81.abstract
"media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts."
"Media violence produces short-term increases by priming existing aggressive scripts and cognitions, increasing physiological arousal, and triggering an automatic tendency to imitate observed behaviors."
Finally these are the links in which have helped me find some issues and debates that will back up the narrative roles and how they have not yet been challenged in the war genre games such as the Call of Duty franchise.
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
http://www.york.ac.uk/education/research/cresj/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.
Task 3
In this video you are able to see that the arcade game was based on an American game called doom which was originally owned by an American institution and was later brought by a British company and had created a sequel of Doom 2. This game had been based on a American ex soldier who had been let off due to his violent behaviour but is called back as the enemy being Russians who try to create zombies in tubes. The aim of this game is to complete a story that consists of the main character killing any Russian in which he sees and trying to find the laboratory in which they are trying to create these monsters.
This type of narrative role has increasingly occurred in games such as the gaming franchise in which I am currently studying which is the Call of duty franchise as they have continued to make Russians and Muslims as terrorist acting with high levels of violence for no apparent reason. This is a factor in which I have been looking at when doing my own study as it suggests that these cultures are seen as villains or the ‘other’ whereas American soldier have ALWAYS been seen as the hero and would be the character in the game who does nothing but the right thing. This game and franchise continues to carry the same trend of narrative role throughout its game play allowing its audience to believe that the villains in war games will never be American soldier/ loyal soldiers and any other culture against them would be automatically seen as villains. This can be because the call of duty franchise had been successful showing its audience exactly what they want to see meaning that if they have been successful with this type of representation of Russian/Muslim terrorist in their narrative role, they will continue to show it as it will deem to show an easy success rate.
This would have created more of a moral panic post 9/11 as it is now more effective and influential in how audiences represent violence from other cultures now than how they were portrayed back in the 1990s.
This Is genuinely because at this time the terrorist scare had not been as largely populated and the media had not hyped the negative representation of the ‘villain’ at this time. Terrorist in games had not been more than someone or something to kill before recent terrorist attacks. This is why it is so easy for games such as Call of duty to feed of the scares of terrorism, they are able to act accourdingly and make sure that narrative roles continue to show terrorism as it could be a realistic factor which bring audiences to believe that not only Is this possible but the ‘hero’ will always be the dominant white male (American) and the ‘other’ (terrorist) would be someone of another culture.
Task 2
Narrative as social practice
By Daniele M. Klapproth, Danièle M. Klapproth
The roles played by narrative discourse in alngelo western culture and within which social institution are these roles practived
Time and narrative, Volume 2
By Paul Ricoeur, Kathleen McLaughlin, David Pellauer
So the mediation that the narrative brings about as a quest cannot be simply a locial one, the transformation of the terms and their relations is really a historical one.
The Link Between Video Games and Violence
By Rahul Massey
The media whole heartedly are supporting the caused effects links between violent games and real life brutality, inspired by shooting games such as Doom, call of duty create levels of familiar violence.will portray power. Also how some institutions will act on moral panics and use scares such as 9/11 as a selling
‘To say we may judge what is or is not real based on what is shown to us’
This quote fits into my title as it would suggest how the audience portray narrative roles. How if games and television shows muslims for example to be terrorists and evil all the time or the 'other' than the audience will begin to believe this.
'If something is repeated often enough it will tent to be believed and remembered’
This also fits into my title production as it helps proove the relation to narrative roles and how they can be seen in the audiences eyes. This is because by games such Call Of Duty, narrative roles tend not to vary with the dominant white hero and minority passive muslim/russian villian. By continually showing this role
Academic study- 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.udience repeatedly the audience tends to believe this is true.
Film / Genre
Rick Altman
1990
British film institution
‘ Hollywood consistant use of cultural norms as narrative devices’
This suggests that it is normal to see the same narrative role through media having a dominant white male character as the hero and a villain being a other non norm which is usually according to contemporary games Russians and muslims
Stuart hall 78
‘Ethinic minorities are continually misrepresented by racial stereotypes’
This suggest that if a ethinic minority is seen in a negative way through generations it will continue to be seen this way and mean that stereotypes will continue to carry on.
Valdimir Propp
‘ characters and actors have the narrative fuctions of villiens hero doner father and false hero. ‘
This quote suggests that there is always a narrative role in any action and would be based on these forms of roles. This is relative in gaming as each role has a link to a character in the Call of Duty franchise.
Howard becker – moral panics
Some individuals and institutions within society have greater power than others to react to situations and allow others to voice opinion
This suggests that by having a game or institution that challenges the normal narrative role it is possible to see a voices opinion on change and misrepresentation will decrease.
In this video you are able to see that the arcade game was based on an American game called doom which was originally owned by an American institution and was later brought by a British company and had created a sequel of Doom 2. This game had been based on a American ex soldier who had been let off due to his violent behaviour but is called back as the enemy being Russians who try to create zombies in tubes. The aim of this game is to complete a story that consists of the main character killing any Russian in which he sees and trying to find the laboratory in which they are trying to create these monsters.
This type of narrative role has increasingly occurred in games such as the gaming franchise in which I am currently studying which is the Call of duty franchise as they have continued to make Russians and Muslims as terrorist acting with high levels of violence for no apparent reason. This is a factor in which I have been looking at when doing my own study as it suggests that these cultures are seen as villains or the ‘other’ whereas American soldier have ALWAYS been seen as the hero and would be the character in the game who does nothing but the right thing. This game and franchise continues to carry the same trend of narrative role throughout its game play allowing its audience to believe that the villains in war games will never be American soldier/ loyal soldiers and any other culture against them would be automatically seen as villains. This can be because the call of duty franchise had been successful showing its audience exactly what they want to see meaning that if they have been successful with this type of representation of Russian/Muslim terrorist in their narrative role, they will continue to show it as it will deem to show an easy success rate.
This would have created more of a moral panic post 9/11 as it is now more effective and influential in how audiences represent violence from other cultures now than how they were portrayed back in the 1990s.
This Is genuinely because at this time the terrorist scare had not been as largely populated and the media had not hyped the negative representation of the ‘villain’ at this time. Terrorist in games had not been more than someone or something to kill before recent terrorist attacks. This is why it is so easy for games such as Call of duty to feed of the scares of terrorism, they are able to act accourdingly and make sure that narrative roles continue to show terrorism as it could be a realistic factor which bring audiences to believe that not only Is this possible but the ‘hero’ will always be the dominant white male (American) and the ‘other’ (terrorist) would be someone of another culture.
Task 2
Graeme Burton
Arnold publications
'More Than Meets The Eye'
'Hollywood consistent use of cultural norms as narrative devices'
suggesting that its normal to see the same narrative roles throughout media texts likes gaming. The dominant white male as the hero and narrative roles in gaming.
'Ethinic minorities are continually misrepresented by racial stereotypes'
Suggesting that minorities will continually be presented as the 'Other' and can be seen as the 'villian' in gaming
‘Some Individuals/institutions will always have greater power to portray how to react on situation’
( Howard Becker )
This suggests that issues and debates such as 'moral panics' will continue to shape the way in which the audience will portray power. Also how some institutions will act on moral panics and use scares such as 9/11 as a selling point.
‘To say we may judge what is or is not real based on what is shown to us’
This quote fits into my title as it would suggest how the audience portray narrative roles. How if games and television shows muslims for example to be terrorists and evil all the time or the 'other' than the audience will begin to believe this.
'If something is repeated often enough it will tent to be believed and remembered’
This also fits into my title production as it helps proove the relation to narrative roles and how they can be seen in the audiences eyes. This is because by games such Call Of Duty, narrative roles tend not to vary with the dominant white hero and minority passive muslim/russian villian. By continually showing this role of power to its audience repeatedly the audience tends to believe this is true.
Narrative as social practice
By Daniele M. Klapproth, Danièle M. Klapproth
The roles played by narrative discourse in alngelo western culture and within which social institution are these roles practived
Time and narrative, Volume 2
By Paul Ricoeur, Kathleen McLaughlin, David Pellauer
So the mediation that the narrative brings about as a quest cannot be simply a locial one, the transformation of the terms and their relations is really a historical one.
The Link Between Video Games and Violence
By Rahul Massey
The media whole heartedly are supporting the caused effects links between violent games and real life brutality, inspired by shooting games such as Doom, call of duty create levels of familiar violence.will portray power. Also how some institutions will act on moral panics and use scares such as 9/11 as a selling
‘To say we may judge what is or is not real based on what is shown to us’
This quote fits into my title as it would suggest how the audience portray narrative roles. How if games and television shows muslims for example to be terrorists and evil all the time or the 'other' than the audience will begin to believe this.
'If something is repeated often enough it will tent to be believed and remembered’
This also fits into my title production as it helps proove the relation to narrative roles and how they can be seen in the audiences eyes. This is because by games such Call Of Duty, narrative roles tend not to vary with the dominant white hero and minority passive muslim/russian villian. By continually showing this role
Academic study- 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.udience repeatedly the audience tends to believe this is true.
Film / Genre
Rick Altman
1990
British film institution
‘ Hollywood consistant use of cultural norms as narrative devices’
This suggests that it is normal to see the same narrative role through media having a dominant white male character as the hero and a villain being a other non norm which is usually according to contemporary games Russians and muslims
Stuart hall 78
‘Ethinic minorities are continually misrepresented by racial stereotypes’
This suggest that if a ethinic minority is seen in a negative way through generations it will continue to be seen this way and mean that stereotypes will continue to carry on.
Valdimir Propp
‘ characters and actors have the narrative fuctions of villiens hero doner father and false hero. ‘
This quote suggests that there is always a narrative role in any action and would be based on these forms of roles. This is relative in gaming as each role has a link to a character in the Call of Duty franchise.
Howard becker – moral panics
Some individuals and institutions within society have greater power than others to react to situations and allow others to voice opinion
This suggests that by having a game or institution that challenges the normal narrative role it is possible to see a voices opinion on change and misrepresentation will decrease.
Task 1
In this particular video in which I had found I had realised that at 3.20 minutes the clip from Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has the level ‘ No Russian’
This particular clip begins with captions of Russian terrorists that are being taken down by American ‘Heroes’ suggesting that the Russians are ‘others’ in any narrative role. This has lead the video to show the next few scenes of an American soldiers point of view, showing the darkness in which they go through in order to take down each Russian spy/terrorist.
The scene in this video in which I will speak mostly about is the level ‘No Russian’ this particular level in the game of call of duty has shown a lot of controversy as the gaming institution have allowed there to be a very violent scene within the game that shows terrorists walking into an airport and shooting each passenger and civilian in which they can see. This clip begins at 3 minutes and 20 seconds.
They begin this level early in the game entitled "No Russian". The player assumes control of a undercover CIA agent, joining a group of Russian terrorists in an airport massacre. The name comes from a briefing from the terrorist leader, Vladimir Makarov, telling the player's character and the other gunmen not to speak any Russian throughout the scene. Although the player is not forced to kill any of the civilians themselves, they must keep pace with the terrorists as they commit this act. Civilians scream and run in terror, the injured crawl away leaving a trail of blood, and some try to drag others to safety, only to be shot with bloody results. The player also cannot kill the terrorists themselves which would result in failure of the mission. The player is warned prior to starting the single player campaign of the mission's "disturbing content", and can choose to skip the mission in advance, at no penalty. If the player chooses not to skip the mission in advance, they are still given the option to skip the level at any point. The end of the level, Makarov, knowing the identity of the Joseph Allen, confronts and executes him before escaping.
This controversial mission was removed from the Russian PC version of the game. It was originally reported that sales of the console editions of Modern Warfare 2 were delayed in Russia due to an ordered recall, but Activision has called this report erroneous. Activision stated that they made the decision to remove the "No Russian" mission from the game prior to the game.
Censorship had also been a factor when this had been released and complaints had begun as this controversial mission was removed from the Russian PC version of the game. It was originally reported that sales of the console editions of Modern Warfare 2 were delayed in Russia due to an ordered recall, but Activision has called this report erroneous. Activision stated that they made the decision to remove the "No Russian" mission from the game prior to the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYZ3SmVTfGc&feature=related
Another video from the same franchise but challenges the general narrative role in which the audience are used to seeing in war games.
This particular scene shows American soldier (spetnaz) to be interrogating a Russian doctor who is already forces to work when he does not want to. This leads the innocent character on the doctor getting beaten up whilst tied to a chair by the American soldier in a very violent and gory way.
The level takes place in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It involves torturing Dr. Daniel Clarke, a prisoner, as Hudson along with Grigori Weaver, something the player does himself with context-sensitive commands. When torturing Clarke, the player will smash a glass window, place a shard from it in the mouth of Clarke, and proceed to punch his jaw twice.
After the torture scene, the Spetsnaz discover their positions and the player will have to escape the area through apartment buildings and across rooftops. One part in the mission, the protagonists come across a weapons cache behind a fridge after Weaver and Clarke push it out of the way. Raining and lightning from a thunderstorm set for the mood of this mission.
This particular video also shows a lot of violence in narrative roles showing the American soldier to be the violent character terrorising the Russian victim which challenges the ideology of the gaming narrative of the war genre. This is a good research video as it has shown there to be change in the recurrent status of the call of duty narrative role and how characters are portrayed
This video however helps challenge the narrative roles in which you see in contemporary games. this is because it is a audience based game in which he has created for online purposes allowing the narrative role to be switched around, having the american as the villan 'other' and the muslim terrorists seen as the higher character 'hero'. The game had obviously caused alot of issues with governmental heads in both Britain and America, causing them to threaten prison sentences and bans of the original american dominant game.
In this particular video in which I had found I had realised that at 3.20 minutes the clip from Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has the level ‘ No Russian’
This particular clip begins with captions of Russian terrorists that are being taken down by American ‘Heroes’ suggesting that the Russians are ‘others’ in any narrative role. This has lead the video to show the next few scenes of an American soldiers point of view, showing the darkness in which they go through in order to take down each Russian spy/terrorist.
The scene in this video in which I will speak mostly about is the level ‘No Russian’ this particular level in the game of call of duty has shown a lot of controversy as the gaming institution have allowed there to be a very violent scene within the game that shows terrorists walking into an airport and shooting each passenger and civilian in which they can see. This clip begins at 3 minutes and 20 seconds.
They begin this level early in the game entitled "No Russian". The player assumes control of a undercover CIA agent, joining a group of Russian terrorists in an airport massacre. The name comes from a briefing from the terrorist leader, Vladimir Makarov, telling the player's character and the other gunmen not to speak any Russian throughout the scene. Although the player is not forced to kill any of the civilians themselves, they must keep pace with the terrorists as they commit this act. Civilians scream and run in terror, the injured crawl away leaving a trail of blood, and some try to drag others to safety, only to be shot with bloody results. The player also cannot kill the terrorists themselves which would result in failure of the mission. The player is warned prior to starting the single player campaign of the mission's "disturbing content", and can choose to skip the mission in advance, at no penalty. If the player chooses not to skip the mission in advance, they are still given the option to skip the level at any point. The end of the level, Makarov, knowing the identity of the Joseph Allen, confronts and executes him before escaping.
This controversial mission was removed from the Russian PC version of the game. It was originally reported that sales of the console editions of Modern Warfare 2 were delayed in Russia due to an ordered recall, but Activision has called this report erroneous. Activision stated that they made the decision to remove the "No Russian" mission from the game prior to the game.
This type of narrative role has increasingly occurred in games such as the Call of duty franchise as they have continued to make Russians and Muslims as terrorist acting with high levels of violence for no apparent reason. This is a factor in which I have been looking at when doing my own study as it suggests that these cultures are seen as villains or the ‘other’ whereas American soldier have ALWAYS been seen as the hero and would be the character in the game who does nothing but the right thing. This game and franchise continues to carry the same trend of narrative role throughout its game play allowing its audience to believe that the villains in war games will never be American soldier/ loyal soldiers and any other culture against them would be automatically seen as villains. This can be because the call of duty franchise had been successful showing its audience exactly what they want to see meaning that if they have been successful with this type of representation of Russian/Muslim terrorist in their narrative role, they will continue to show it as it will deem to show an easy success rate.
This had created moral panics in the uk alone as it had shown Russians and other typed of terrorist according to this game being able to access larger populated areas such as airports and using acts of violence. This was seen as a realistic issue in which had caused audiences to be very afraid. As this was post 9/11 it has also been a very touchy situation and using acts of violence through terrorism and narrative roles had allowed many of its audiences to be intrigued and also frightened of the possibility of this occurring.Censorship had also been a factor when this had been released and complaints had begun as this controversial mission was removed from the Russian PC version of the game. It was originally reported that sales of the console editions of Modern Warfare 2 were delayed in Russia due to an ordered recall, but Activision has called this report erroneous. Activision stated that they made the decision to remove the "No Russian" mission from the game prior to the game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYZ3SmVTfGc&feature=related
Another video from the same franchise but challenges the general narrative role in which the audience are used to seeing in war games.
This particular scene shows American soldier (spetnaz) to be interrogating a Russian doctor who is already forces to work when he does not want to. This leads the innocent character on the doctor getting beaten up whilst tied to a chair by the American soldier in a very violent and gory way.
The level takes place in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It involves torturing Dr. Daniel Clarke, a prisoner, as Hudson along with Grigori Weaver, something the player does himself with context-sensitive commands. When torturing Clarke, the player will smash a glass window, place a shard from it in the mouth of Clarke, and proceed to punch his jaw twice.
After the torture scene, the Spetsnaz discover their positions and the player will have to escape the area through apartment buildings and across rooftops. One part in the mission, the protagonists come across a weapons cache behind a fridge after Weaver and Clarke push it out of the way. Raining and lightning from a thunderstorm set for the mood of this mission.
This particular video also shows a lot of violence in narrative roles showing the American soldier to be the violent character terrorising the Russian victim which challenges the ideology of the gaming narrative of the war genre. This is a good research video as it has shown there to be change in the recurrent status of the call of duty narrative role and how characters are portrayed
This video however helps challenge the narrative roles in which you see in contemporary games. this is because it is a audience based game in which he has created for online purposes allowing the narrative role to be switched around, having the american as the villan 'other' and the muslim terrorists seen as the higher character 'hero'. The game had obviously caused alot of issues with governmental heads in both Britain and America, causing them to threaten prison sentences and bans of the original american dominant game.
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