Modern Warfare 2: Contraversial Airport Massacre Level
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:46 am
I don't know if you know about the huge controversy about a level in the new Modern Warfare 2 videogame which has the player taking the part of a terrorist group and massacring people at an Airport. If not, you can view it here http://www.eurogamer.net/videos/modern- ... n?size=med
The game has just been out for a few hours and already it's causing huge controversy over here in the UK (although the game is a 18 certificate and thus, illegal to be sold to anyone under the age of 18). In Australia where 15 is the highest rating for a video game, there are already huge petitions and demands for the game to be outright banned. I would imagine that there is controversy in the US too, especially after stuff like the "Hot Coffee" mod in GTA and the harmless "lesbian sex" in Mass Effect got so much negative coverage.
I'm a big supporter of mature videogames. Being part of the first generation to truly grow up and mature as videogame technology, techniques and ambition has likewise matured I really do see videogames as "art" and, in some cases, just as valid "art" as motion pictures or novels.
Some people here may be aware that I'm a big fan of the Silent Hill series of games, especially Silent Hill 2 which is an absolute masterpiece. I can honestly say Silent Hill 2 is the most mature game I have ever played. Not because of its depiction of gore or sex. But because it presents truly adult concepts (love, loss, betrayal, guilt, anger, loneliness, hate and, redemption) in a narrative, which is considerably enhanced by thinking about what is presented and coming to your own conclusions. Even now, several years after it's release on-going debates about what exactly happens in the game are numerous on internet forums and in internet chat-rooms – and most theories are just as valid and your own.
And sure, we've all played games where you have a choice of being "good" or "evil" – from the Grand Theft Auto games to epic videogame RPG's like Oblivion, Fable and Fallout 3.
The difference is, most of these sandbox games which offer moral choices for the player do so with consequences. Do something wrong in GTA and you get pursued by the police. Yes, as is commonly complained about in GTA you can "pick up a hooker and then kill her", but it's not done in a vacuum. While it could be argued the game does reward the player for doing so (they get an exciting police chase), ultimately the game does penalise the player. GTA may not be the most ethical or moral of games, but it does punish bad behaviour.
Play as "evil" in Fable and your character and relationships to other characters in the game changes. Play as "evil" in Fallout 3 and you likewise have different interactions with computer controlled characters.
Also, what's important is these games are all clearly fantasy – even GTA which takes place in a at first glance realistic city, with realistic city inhabitants but upon further playing you quickly discover the whole game and environment is a sharp cultural and media satire.
Not so with the Modern Warfare 2 airport terrorist attack, which (like the rest of the game) is not only designed to be as realistic as possible, but the creators take great pride in the realism they have achieved.
Admittedly, just watching the level play out on a streaming internet video removes context from its inclusion, but I really can't see a justification for including the level. If its necessary to the plot of the game's story, then it could easily have been talked about by other characters or shown in cut-scenes.
EDIT I've since found out that you are a character who has infiltrated the gang, and must participate in the massacre to keep your cover. So we can probably all agree narratively it has the correct context. I still say it could have been presented in a non-interactive manner though with little or no impact on the overall "story"
Let me get this straight. I am aware Modern Warfare 2 is an mature, adult game for mature adult gamers and I have no problems with it involving a scenario which includes such a massacre. I just strongly question the need to actually PLAY such a massacre, where your character is not defending, but participating in the attack.
To me, this seems like cheap sensationalism, something quick and easy to grab the headlines, and grand the game even more publicity (although quite why the game needs more publicity when its long been tipped as becoming the best-selling videogame of all time is beyond me).
And it annoys me because we, as adult gamers, are constantly fighting to legitimise games with mature content, and I can only see this level vindicating those who strive to censor, ban or otherwise suppress mature videogames. If anything is going to get the content of mature videogames once more discussed at the highest levels of governments (both in the US and abroad) it’s a hugely (some would say ridiculously) popular, totally mainstream videogame which let's you play as a terrorist gunning down innocent civilians in a realistically modelled virtual airport.
I think Infinity Ward and Activision have done a great disservice to mature content in videogames and I just hope we mature gamers don't pay for their sensationalism in the years to come.
The game has just been out for a few hours and already it's causing huge controversy over here in the UK (although the game is a 18 certificate and thus, illegal to be sold to anyone under the age of 18). In Australia where 15 is the highest rating for a video game, there are already huge petitions and demands for the game to be outright banned. I would imagine that there is controversy in the US too, especially after stuff like the "Hot Coffee" mod in GTA and the harmless "lesbian sex" in Mass Effect got so much negative coverage.
I'm a big supporter of mature videogames. Being part of the first generation to truly grow up and mature as videogame technology, techniques and ambition has likewise matured I really do see videogames as "art" and, in some cases, just as valid "art" as motion pictures or novels.
Some people here may be aware that I'm a big fan of the Silent Hill series of games, especially Silent Hill 2 which is an absolute masterpiece. I can honestly say Silent Hill 2 is the most mature game I have ever played. Not because of its depiction of gore or sex. But because it presents truly adult concepts (love, loss, betrayal, guilt, anger, loneliness, hate and, redemption) in a narrative, which is considerably enhanced by thinking about what is presented and coming to your own conclusions. Even now, several years after it's release on-going debates about what exactly happens in the game are numerous on internet forums and in internet chat-rooms – and most theories are just as valid and your own.
And sure, we've all played games where you have a choice of being "good" or "evil" – from the Grand Theft Auto games to epic videogame RPG's like Oblivion, Fable and Fallout 3.
The difference is, most of these sandbox games which offer moral choices for the player do so with consequences. Do something wrong in GTA and you get pursued by the police. Yes, as is commonly complained about in GTA you can "pick up a hooker and then kill her", but it's not done in a vacuum. While it could be argued the game does reward the player for doing so (they get an exciting police chase), ultimately the game does penalise the player. GTA may not be the most ethical or moral of games, but it does punish bad behaviour.
Play as "evil" in Fable and your character and relationships to other characters in the game changes. Play as "evil" in Fallout 3 and you likewise have different interactions with computer controlled characters.
Also, what's important is these games are all clearly fantasy – even GTA which takes place in a at first glance realistic city, with realistic city inhabitants but upon further playing you quickly discover the whole game and environment is a sharp cultural and media satire.
Not so with the Modern Warfare 2 airport terrorist attack, which (like the rest of the game) is not only designed to be as realistic as possible, but the creators take great pride in the realism they have achieved.
Admittedly, just watching the level play out on a streaming internet video removes context from its inclusion, but I really can't see a justification for including the level. If its necessary to the plot of the game's story, then it could easily have been talked about by other characters or shown in cut-scenes.
EDIT I've since found out that you are a character who has infiltrated the gang, and must participate in the massacre to keep your cover. So we can probably all agree narratively it has the correct context. I still say it could have been presented in a non-interactive manner though with little or no impact on the overall "story"
Let me get this straight. I am aware Modern Warfare 2 is an mature, adult game for mature adult gamers and I have no problems with it involving a scenario which includes such a massacre. I just strongly question the need to actually PLAY such a massacre, where your character is not defending, but participating in the attack.
To me, this seems like cheap sensationalism, something quick and easy to grab the headlines, and grand the game even more publicity (although quite why the game needs more publicity when its long been tipped as becoming the best-selling videogame of all time is beyond me).
And it annoys me because we, as adult gamers, are constantly fighting to legitimise games with mature content, and I can only see this level vindicating those who strive to censor, ban or otherwise suppress mature videogames. If anything is going to get the content of mature videogames once more discussed at the highest levels of governments (both in the US and abroad) it’s a hugely (some would say ridiculously) popular, totally mainstream videogame which let's you play as a terrorist gunning down innocent civilians in a realistically modelled virtual airport.
I think Infinity Ward and Activision have done a great disservice to mature content in videogames and I just hope we mature gamers don't pay for their sensationalism in the years to come.
