Stop Banning Video Games

Start taking some responsibility.

One of the game's protagonists, Capt. Soap MacTavish (thatvideogameblog.com)

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 came out two weeks ago.

Even before its release, there was a negative buzz about a couple of issues. 1) The antagonist of the game and 2) one particular level in the game.

First off, the antagonist of the game is Vladimir Makarov, one of Imran Zakhaev's former lieutenants. Zakhaev was the antagonist of the first game. Makarov represents a group of terrorists that have taken hold of Russia. There has been speculation that the Russian government has banned the console version of the game due to the fact that Russia is made to be a terrorist nation and also in relation to point 2. Activision, the game's producer, denied this speculation.

The scene in the game that has many people sick to their metaphorical stomachs is one in which your character, a CIA operative and under the guise of a Russian terrorist, enters an airport in Russia with other terrorists. Your character witnesses these terrorists kill and destroy practically everything in the airport - civilians, police, etc. This scene of domestic terrorism is so touchy, the game's developer Infinity Ward included an option in the beginning of the game to skip all mature content and scenes. It asks you not once, but twice if you would like to skip this scene and level.

So why did they allow the game to include the scene at all if they realized it was so disturbing?

I understand it for a few reasons:

1) The game is rated M for Mature.

The British parliament, amidst a lot of unrest about the game in the UK, recently supported the game, despite the disturbing content. The Culture, Media, and Sport minister stated,

"This game ... is a certificate 18 game. It should not be sold to children and the government’s job is to make sure that adults - clearly labelled - can get what adults should be able to, and that children are not in danger of being subjected to adult content."

Of course, the speculators are saying that a rating has not stopped kids from stealing the game, getting someone to buy it for them or playing it at an older friends house. The point is, the company cannot be liable for these situations, just as you would not hold James Cameron responsible if a child snuck into Terminator and was disturbed or turned violent by its content.

2) The scene described above is meant to be disturbing. During the scene, your character is not allowed to run. You must simply walk slowly, methodically and watch the terrorists shoot down civilians in the airport. Like a murder scene in a movie, it is meant to be out of the norm. It is meant to evoke terror and fear in the user. The entire time I was playing the level, I felt awwwww-ful. The scene that is set up is meant to feel horrific. You are meant to feel awful. You are meant to feel like you are doing a bad deed. Because you are.

It's not as if before the scene, there is a black screen with white letters that says, "The next scene will include images of innocent people dying. Please feel jubilant."

Nor is there happy music setting the scene, or even cheers from your Russian comrades. They don't even talk to you the whole time. And to make things worse, they kill you at the end of the mission. They find out your true identity (as a CIA op) and kill you. Not only did you press on through the valley of the shadow of death, but now you have nothing to show for it. And you feel even worse.

This claim is corroborated by Activision, who stated in a press release regarding the scene:

"The scene establishes the depth of evil and the cold-bloodedness of a rogue Russian villain and his unit. By establishing that evil, it adds to the urgency of the player's mission to stop them."

[...]

"The game includes a plot involving a mission carried out by a Russian villain who wants to trigger a global war. In order to defeat him, the player infiltrates his inner circle. The scene is designed to evoke the atrocities of terrorism. "

(source)

No critic of video games accepts video games as an art form. To the critics, video games are simply products made for mass consumption, like a pogo stick or a gordita from Taco Bell. They are unwilling to see the cinematic beauty in a game like COD:MW2 or the cinematic quality in a scene like the one in question. The emotion it invokes is Oscar-worthy. But instead of analyzing it like a piece of art, they see video games as disgusting portrayals of useless violence and sex. Video games are art, and like all good art, they are not independent of society.

Again, speculation will speak to the fact that children or young adults might not feel so terrible gunning down people in a video game. The point again being, children should not play this game.

Some blurry screen shots of the scene in question. Above is one of the terrorists in body armor wielding an automatic weapon. Below is the first-person view the user would see when leaving the elevator just before the shooting starts. (gamespot.com)

3) You don't even have to shoot. You have a gun, but you personally do not have to kill anyone. Just throwing that out there.

So all the criticism out there about your character being forced to shoot civilians is false. Play the game. You are not required to shoot. You merely have to watch, which makes the scene more like a movie at its heart.

Also, Earth to Russia. If the speculation is true, and they really did ban the game, they need to think about something. And if you agree with that choice, think about this.

The argument could be that the Russian government (allegedly) banned the game because it portrays Russia as a terrorist nation. Here's the thing. Terrorists are often thought of as extremists. And when I say "often," I mean if you don't think a terrorist is an extremist you just might be an extreme terrorist. And what's the definition of an "extreme?" An outlier. Something at the far end of the spectrum. Not the norm. The game is not depicting Russia as an entire nation of terrorists, fundamentalists, commies, Nazis or anything of the sort.

It is portraying the bad people doing bad things. And that is how they should be perceived.