‘Call of Duty’ may be too real for kids
Developers aim to bring home the horror of war
Can a video game be too real? That’s a concern being raised about “Call of Duty Modern Warfare,” the latest salvo in the multibillion-dollar video game series.
The new game, out Friday, has a scene set in a London townhouse known to harbor terrorists where British special operations forces are investigating. Inside, they find several people dressed as civilians. At one point, an unarmed woman disregards the commands of the soldiers and moves. Is she going for a weapon? Should the player shoot?
Another scenario puts the player in the role of a young Middle Eastern girl and her brother, also a child, who must fight off a Russian soldier after he breaks into their modest abode, murders their father and seeks to finish them off.
These scenes in the story mode of the highly anticipated “Modern Warfare” ($59.99-up, for Microsoft Xbox One, Sony PlayStation 4 and Windows PCs, rated Mature for ages 17 and up) were not included for shock value, says Taylor Kurosaki, studio narrative director at Infinity Ward, the Santa Monica-based studio that created the game.
“Just because we cover some heavy subjects, we are not treating them in a flippant way,” he told USA TODAY. “The game puts you in some tough spots.”
That’s because “Modern Warfare” – beyond delivering the fun factor of a virtual shooting gallery – is meant to live up to its name in depicting “what the modern battlefield looks like,” Kurosaki said.
Concerns over the violence
Some early scenes in the trailers and previewed to video game journalists have raised eyebrows for the brutal violence needed to progress through the story.
Video game news site Polygon, in reporting on the game’s trailer, declared it “violent, morally conflicted and loud.”
Dean Takahashi of tech news site VentureBeat argued that, even though the townhouse incident may reflect modern combat, it “should not be a part of a modern video game, in my opinion, given the thin line between civilians and warriors and given the impression it creates in our world, which is driven by social media sound and video bites. It looks so much like you are killing innocent civilians. And if you make a mistake, you are.”
The Guardian suggested the game treads “a moral minefield.”
When the new game hits and “politicians see a scene of people being gunned down in a London house, they’ll be asking a lot of questions,” Keith Stuart wrote in The Guardian.
“Call of Duty” has not shied from controversy. “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” released in 2009, had a playercontrolled character infiltrate a Russian squad, which subsequently massacres civilians.
That game sold about 4.7 million copies in its first 24 hours – touted at the time by Activision as the largest-ever launch of an entertainment release.
The new “Modern Warfare” is expected to be the top-selling video game in the U.S. this year, forecasts Mat Piscatella, NPD’s executive director for games.
Attention to detail
Improved graphics make the soldiers and settings look true to life. Former Navy SEALs Mitch Hall and Steve Sanders were consultants and acted out some of the scenes in motion capture sessions, so the game’s soldiers move naturally and with purpose. Some scenarios were acted out on full sets for authenticity.
And the settings look more realistic, too, thanks to the use of thousands of real photos of buildings, tanks and objects stitched together in 3-D software in a process called photogrammetry.
Infinity Ward also worked with war correspondent Hollie McKay and author Somaiya Daud, as consultants on the portrayal of freedom fighters and women in the Middle East.
“We are talking about female representation in our the game, so we want to get that right as well,” said Kurosaki, who notes that most of the creative team are American males.
Players will get to play the role of a freedom fighter, Farah Karim, who becomes the commander of a faction based on the YPG, a Kurdish militia that fought in Syria. (the YPG is the group being pushed from the Syria-Turkey border area after U.S. troops were pulled out of the area two weeks ago.)
Opting for realism resonates with gamers and should stoke sales, says Michael Pachter, industry analyst for Wedbush Securities. He expects “COD: Modern Warfare” to continue the franchise’s streak , with sales of 25 million copies or more.
“Yes, there will be backlash, but it’s an M-rated game,” he said. “(The game makers) assume that adults can handle that and in war that is real.”
Is it appropriate for your kids?
Many parents let their children and teens play “Call of Duty” games, despite its rating, which suggests ages 17 and older.
Parents should take note of this game’s emphasis on realism, says Sierra Filucci, editorial director at Common Sense Media, a nonprofit advocacy group for kids and families. “Kids under the age of about 14 may be more vulnerable to the realistic violence in M-rated shooter games like ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’ than older kids who can think in more abstract and ethical terms,” she told USA TODAY.
Should parents decide to let their teens play the game, “they should make an effort to play along with their kids, discuss the issues the game brings up in a curious and non-judgmental way, and address any behavioral issues that seem to stem from playing the game,” Filucci said.