I just started playing COD Black Ops Cold War because I got it through my PlayStation Plus subscription and wanted to try it out. I’ve previously played some others like Modern Warfare (1 and 2) and WWII. While it always felt a bit over the top and propaganda-ish, I really liked it for the blockbuster feeling and just turning your mind off and enjoying the set pieces. However, Cold War has a section in Vietnam and I suddenly started feeling really uncomfortable and just turned the game off.
In WWII you can easily feel like the “defender”, and even Modern Warfare felt like fighting a very specific organisation that wanted to kill millions. Here however it just becomes so hard to explain why I’m happily mowing down hundreds of clearly Vietnamese locals that I was unable to turn my mind off and just enjoy the spectacle.
I turned to the internet and started browsing and found this article and I really agree with what the author is saying.
I don’t know if I will be continuing the campaign or not, but I just feel that I don’t want to support these kinds of minimizations of military interventions.
I just wish there were more high budget / setpiece games that don’t glorify real life wars. Spec Ops The Line was amazing in that sense, but it’s also quite old already.
I would love to hear your opinions on this subject.
@knokelmaat As someone who used to play call of duty I don’t think anyone plays the campaign and thinks its anything more than fantasy.
Young and impressionable kids? I started playing the original MW2 when I was 11.
You thought it depicted reality?
Even if you know it’s fiction you get the feeling that you are on the “good” side, which may colour your perception on the US military interventions.
True. The teenage mutant ninja turtles colored my perception of giant crime fighting amphibious creatures when I was young…
Why are you giving an example that is not based on a real war or context?
Of course this doesn’t influence your opinion of real life as the subject doesn’t refer to real life (as you so clearly describe with the “giant crime fighting amphibious creatures”).
Because it’s the same thing.
Are you unable to distinguish fiction from reality? Do you also believe GI Joe was real? Does Grand Thieft Auto make you want to steal cars and beat up prostitutes?
It’s a video game. You have much much bigger problems to worry about if you’re having trouble disconnecting from it in your mind.
Are you saying that fiction has no influence on how we view the world?
I’m sorry, but that is just wrong. Using fictional works as propaganda is a thing, so it most certainly has an effect on the public.
Other research papers after a quick search, these indicate influence between fiction and beliefs/opinions of the consumers:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1532673X12453758
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/its-the-end-of-the-world-and-they-know-it-how-dystopian-fiction-shapes-political-attitudes/3853105561CB840EAB79258DC2575849
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45847098_The_influence_of_television_fiction_on_political_attitudes
You’re making a solid and valid point OP. The other guy is being a fuck. I wouldn’t pay him much mind but I do admire your willingness to explain your angle!
The US Army would disagree, and I’m certain they know better than you. They literally use CoD in their recruitment campaigns.
You forget that literal children play these games
And also US puts out enough propaganda about their role in wars that enough grown-ass adults have very idealized views about them.