That Modern Warfare 2 Video



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Yes, we’re talking about that video again. In case you missed the furore this week, a leaked video from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 appeared on the net showing the player character taking part in a terrorist atrocity. The short clip follows a gang of armed men as they smuggle weapons into an airport before opening fire on unarmed civilians. The player is essentially taking part in a massacre as they lay waste to anything that moves in the building and at one point the player character spots a civilian trying to drag an injured man to safety and promptly executes both of them.  Clearly, this is a controversial section of the game and is guaranteed to incur the wrath of anti-game violence campaigners the world over. But are they right to be outraged?

Activision’s response to the controversy stressed that the game is rated 18 and that, obviously, people under the age of 18 should not play it. Which is perfectly reasonable. The statement also points out that the section of the game in question is a narrative tool, designed to highlight to the player just how reprehensible and devoid of morality the bad guys in the game are. Modern Warfare 2, Activision argues, is a “fantasy action game designed for intense, realistic game play that mirrors real life conflicts, much like epic, action movies.” This is where things get a little murky for me.

The comparison with action movies only works to an extent. Yes, films often delve into dark territory depicting horrific acts of violence towards innocent people but, with a few exceptions, these acts are generally committed by the bad guys. By taking on the role of the player character in a game, inevitably you’re becoming the hero of the game. And you don’t often see the hero character in films callously ending the lives of scores of innocent people. Infinity Ward’s aim is to elicit an emotional response from the player – it wants you to feel shocked and repulsed by the scene but essentially what it is doing is asking you to be reviled by your own actions. We know that killing innocent people is wrong, do we really need to (virtually) pull the trigger to reach to that conclusion? Wouldn’t a cut scene depicting the massacre work equally well? Or, does the fact that you’re directly taking part in such an horrific act mean that the emotional response will be more profound? The truth is that I don’t know and I won’t know until I play the scene in context and if there’s one thing to take away from the controversy it’s that making a decision about it now is pointless. Personally, I’m an ardent supporter of pushing the boundaries of storyline in games and part of me respects Infinity Ward for having the stones to include such a morally ambiguous section. But, at the same time I have concerns. From the clip we’ve all seen, there is definitely something shocking about it but I can’t shift the word “sensationalist” from my brain. 

Perhaps I’m cynical but I’m also not sure Infinity Ward’s bold narrative aim will work. Will people be shocked and reviled or will they play through the section with a mischevious grin on their face, like we all did the first time we ran over a granny in GTA? On another note, isn’t Infinity Ward playing into the hands of the anti-gaming lobby? Ours is an industry viewed with a combination of condescension and suspicion by the mainstream media.  Is including a section in which you – yes, YOU - slaughter civilians going to garner more respect for the industry or not? One thing is for sure: the same old faces who routinely accuse the games industry of corrupting minds are going to pounce on this and run with it. In the meantime I wait to play the section in question with a mixture of intrigue and apprehension.