Let’s get rid of the question straight away. No, video games do not make you violent and do not encourage people to act. Yes, we can absolutely take down Nazis or terrorists of the future in the different variations of the hit Call of Duty without becoming a mass killer or a brute thirsty for violence. Numerous studies prove it…
But the moral in all this? As the 20th opus of the saga of the best-selling video game in the world comes out, and as the said saga celebrates its 20th anniversary (one new game every autumn, this is the pace maintained since 2003 by the Blizzard teams), we are right to ask the question: playing war in 2023, is it ok? Killing NPCs by the dozen, is that ok?
The Times They Are a-Changin’?
An NPC? A Non-Player Character, a video game character played by the machine, and whose actions and reactions are written and planned in advance. In the new episode, Modern Warfare 3, these are terrorists of the future who must be prevented from doing harm. In the episodes which took place in the past, these were the “traditional” antagonists of the United States from 1941 to the present day: the Nazis, the Russians, the Iraqis… From the Second World War to recent conflicts, everything is there past (even zombies).
Often criticized for its violence, Call of Duty embodies, through its extraordinary global success (30 billion dollars in revenue in twenty years), THE first-person war game. At the same time, recent successful games like Assassin’s Creed Or Last of Us feature killer heroes who have scruples, and where NPCs show their emotions and the consequences of the player’s actions…
Do you play Call of Duty? Have you ever felt embarrassed by the violence in the game? Does international news in Ukraine or Gaza influence your choice of games? Do you see Call of Duty as an outlet for the real violence of the world? Is it entertainment like any other in your eyes? Do you see a difference between watching a war film and playing a soldier in a video game?
Anyway, tell us if the way you play Call of Duty has changed over time.