Many years ago when I was a young child in primary school I remember a particular history lesson quite vividly.I do not recall what who my teacher was,what year I was in or who I was sitting beside but I remember the content of that lesson near perfectly.The time period we were covering was World War 2 and in particular Nazi Germany.What I heard on that day made my stomach turn.What the Nazi did was inhuman and destroyed my façade that bad people only existed in movies.Beyond all of this the fact that they justified these actions by manipulating the public’s view on Jews through propaganda still disturbs me to this day. The regime employed every medium they could to depict the Jews as a subhuman race of wandering cultural parasites[1].
The reason I bring this to your attention is during a lecture in the past week I experienced that similar disgusted feeling when the video game Americas Army was brought to my attention.When it comes to video games I am of the opinion that a games developers should be given free regain to make their game and tell their own story in anyway they see fit.I do not believe that developers should shy away from controversial and sensitive topics.Doing so would diminish the artistic integrity of the story they were trying to tell. Take Modern Warfare 2 for example which was surrounded in controversy due to its depiction of an massacre in a Russian airport.The player took control of a undercover CIA agent who allied with the terrorists,however the player was not forced to make a single shot.This was one of the single most memorable moments I ever experience in a game.It was powerful,terrifying and heartbreaking . I would never have experienced this incredible moment if infinity ward were too afraid to tackle taboo topics.
However this is not the case with Americans Army,which in my opinion is a modern day equivalent to propaganda.The game is both published and developed by the US army in an attempt to attract potential recruits. Millions for dollars have been spent on Americas Army,32.8 million as of 2009[2].In 2009 along 3.4 million was spent on the game.In an article on latfusa.com[5] David Morris mentions a great point about the hypocrisy of the US government administration in giving money to study violence in videogames while at the same time financing this project.Americans Army has the polish and style of other commercial FPS such as call of duty but at the same time it is a marketed propaganda tool.Quotes such as the following actually appear during loading screens ”
“I am an American Soldier. I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values. I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit”
Did I mention it was also free so that anyone can download or play it?The game boasts about its realistic take on the life of a US soldier but neglects the negatives and sheer horrors of war.The ‘gore ‘ element of the game is low in order to lower the ERSB rating so it can reach young kids.There is no bodily dismemberment when shot and the damage taken is represented through icons rather then visual stimulation like in other conventional FPS[3].The American soldiers are depicted as honorable brave heroes who have to take down the faceless generic enemy.
This biased view of war for recruitment purposes makes me very uncomfortable and in my opinion is disgusting.Young kids are very impressionable and they will only learn one view on war from this game.
Cowlishaw[4] quote in his article resonates with me which is why I will sign off with it
“any truly realistic recreation of war would cast some doubt on the idea that war is cool and enjoyable, and that, as in sports, all one has to do is “step up” and become an instant hero“.
[5] Morris,2013. David America’s Army Video Game: Propaganda or Entertainment?October; available at http://www.latfusa.com/view_article.php?id=930.
[4]Cowlishaw, Brian, 2005. ‘Playing War: The Emerging Trend of Real Virtual Combat in Video Games’, American Popular Culture online magazine, available at http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/emerging/real_virtual_combat.htm
[3]Americas Army:more than a game?David B.Nieborg(2004)
Nazi Propaganda http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005274
Ethan MacNamara 