Having started humbly in mid-1970’s, the computer video game industry has grown manifold to the present massive size. Just to get an idea, the industry took in about USD 11.7 billion in 2008. There are hundreds of video game developers in the industry today. This article provides a perspective of political themes and agendas in today’s computer games. Here, we shall look at computer games as a digital artifact from a sociologist's point of view.
Politics and Racism in present day Computer Games
With computer gaming being such a large industry and with so many companies in the market, how do these companies face the competition and sell their product? Well, there are many solutions. Improve graphics and gameplay, make the game for multiple platforms, widen the market and – this is what is interesting – “spice up” the game. What do I mean by “spicing up”? Let me explain.
Recent video games have been known to include sexual themes, violence, offensive language and stories with prominent political and racist themes. Tilting the story in favour of or in opposition to a particular political body or a particular ethnic group is a good strategy to gain popularity. Here are some examples I’m sure will throw light on how this is done and to what extent.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
One of the most awaited games in the First Person Shooter (FPS) genre till date, CODMW2 sold 4.7 million copies worldwide within 24 hours of its release on November 10, 2009. Personally, I loved this game. It has excellent gameplay, realistic graphics, good music and a gripping storyline. The game won many awards, but it also was mired in controversies surrounding its story and, in particular, the “No Russian” mission.
In the mission “No Russian”, the player plays the part of a CIA undercover operative Joseph Allen joining a Russian terrorist group. The mission takes place in a Russian airport, where the terrorists open fire mercilessly on hundreds of civilians. The player later participates in a gun battle with Russian FSB troopers. The bloody scene was banned in the Russian PC version of the game due to its extremely violence and anti-Russian story.
Also, an author noticed that the story of the game has the American Rangers always losing their missions and having bad luck and the multinational (mostly British) Task Force 141 always succeeding in their missions with sheer accuracy. In the end, 141 soldiers find themselves fighting the American “Shadow Company”, as the power-hungry American General Shepherd turns out to be the villain. Shepherd is finally confronted and killed by Captain Price of 141. The author feels that this cannot be a coincidence and that this “anti-Americanism” was intended.
There are a few other games too that I would like to mention. Call of Duty 4 has an air-to-ground shooting mission, which closely resembles a footage released by WikiLeaks of an incident in Baghdad, in which news reporters were gunned down from overhead by a gunship. The well-known criminal underworld game series Grand Theft Auto is an example of a game with racist themes. The game features gangs of African-Americans, Latinos, Cubans, Haitians and Chinese people, but no Caucasians. In Medal of Honour 8, the player plays a mission in which he is a Taliban character. In Left for Dead 2, the player has to shoot zombies that look suspiciously African-American.
Hidden agendas or just pure entertainment?
Do games have political themes just to increase sales or do they have a hidden political agenda?
Jake Diliberto, an Afghanistan veteran, says they sometimes do. After America lost badly in the Vietnam War, the government might want to up the international reputation of their military forces by making movies and computer games that brighten their image. This would make the world fear, or at least respect, America for their military capabilities. This would be a very clever way of establishing their superiority.
The developers of some games like Medal of Honour have directly approached military personnel for their expertise regarding firearms, military technology and tactics. While this may appear to support the above agenda to help the military, it could sometimes work the other way too. For example, it might put real-life soldiers at risk by exposing their ideas to the world.
Racist themes, on the other hand, may not have any strong political agenda, but their effect is equally damaging. Quoting the example from Grand Theft Auto, I think that the player is likely to lose respect for African-Americans and other groups in the virtual underworld. Since the battles are between different races in the game, the player may develop racist ideas and tendencies and this is dangerous.
But do all games have political or racist themes? Are political and racist elements in game stories always intended? Do they always big, hidden plans behind them? The answer is no. Most games are made just for entertainment purposes. The “spice” in the games is mostly intended to provide additional angles of entertainment. According to the famous author Dan Brown, “Everyone loves a conspiracy.” And everyone also loves a bit of violence too, as long as it is virtual.
So what should we do as gamers?
My opinion is that computer games are a good form of entertainment and that they should be treated as such. As long as the violence, politics and racism doesn’t get into our heads, there is no harm in gaming. Some governments go out of their way to ban the sales of controversial games, but it is really of no use because gamers will then go out of their way to get the games they want, illegally. As a democracy, we should be free to choose between good and bad.
By Pranav R Kamat
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