Week 9

Chapter 13 discussed the danger of video games romanticizing violence.  Not only are games becoming more visually realistic, but they are merging real-life situations with fantasy.  Games that simulate fighting against Arab terrorists have become popular.  People think they are modeling reality in these games, and so gain a perspective on world events through these games.  Yet, as Anne-Marie Schleiner, a professor at the University of Colorado, points out, while these games are realistic in some ways, a "number of complexities [are left out] such as economics, religions, families, food, children, women, refugee camps, flesh bodies, and blood, and smell, among other factors.  Osama Bin Laden has been put into many video and computer games as a target, which mirrors a military aim of our country.  However, some of these games encourage stereotyping Arabs.  One game has Osama Bin Laden as owner of a corner grocery store in a city.  This is a common motif in America, and so stereotypes the Arab store owners as terrorists.

Interestingly, one organization trying to make its games exactly match reality, even if it is less fun or exciting for the player.  This organization is the United States Army.  They make simulated war games such as Full Spectrum Warrior, which attempts to give a thorough and realistic view of what modern day warfare truly is.  Clive Thompson, a 2003 Knight science-journalism fellow at MIT, tried the game out and found that, while he is a skilled gamer, it was easy to lose all his men in under three minutes.  Unlike other video games, this one showed that cars are not actually good cover from snipers.  This game is meant to teach judgement more than straight shooting skills.

Comparing two screen shots from a 1980's Atari game and a modern-day game, Kuma/War, reveals interesting similarities and differences.  The poor graphics of the first game made it seem very far from reality, while the visual of the second shot almost made my heart start pounding because I felt that I was about to be shot at by two Arab terrorists.  Though both games put you in the position of the soldier, the second one was much closer to reality, but still lacked the complexities noted above.  This skewed picture of reality can be dangerous for the player's understanding of the world.