Call Of Duty

Call Of Duty

When it comes to gaming arguably the largest franchise that comes to mind if of course Call of Duty, for both good and bad reasons considering all the connotations the series has surrounding it. The COD franchise is undoubtedly the most popular FPS series of all time and is well known by a wide range ages, even by those who wouldn't even consider themselves to actually be 'gamers'. I personally grew up playing these games. such as black ops and modern warfare etc and looking back on it, I never looked at all the shooting and killing in a serious way instead I just saw it as a fun game to play and experience what it's like to be a soldier battling in whatever war was taking place

Of course its for these reasons why COD and other FPS games are such massive controversies since it's like violence is and normalized experience almost sugarcoated in a way which some young people may not fully grasp and end up believing it's right to always solve things with violence. This also goes into how COD corrupts the minds of young children with all the gun violence promotion, especially with the online part of the game where you can unlock certain skins for your weapons or an entire gun itself if you are at said level. making it so your goal is to kill as many people as possible in order to get whichever reward you're interested in. On the other hand games like modern warfare give you great insight on the events in that time period and offers an immersive experience you won't find anywhere else as you really put yourself into war itself following various characters some of which you may form bonds with, which obviously can easily be lost considering its war so you really begin to feel immersed with the story and the people too.

 

 One of COD's most controversial missions came from Modern Warfare 2's 'No Russian and to explain it briefly you take part in a mass shooting at a Russian airport, brutally killing any civilian you come by. Naturally this raised a lot of cause for concern from parents having watched their children take part in a mass shooting, even though it was just a game scenes like this simulate real life experiences some of which parents don't want their children to be exposed to especially at a young age. The portrayal of cultures in COD is also a major talking point as I feel as though they continuously force this 'good guy', 'savior' archetype for the American soldiers portraying them in the most positive light possible but when it comes to maybe Asians or Russians for example they are always painted as the bad people with no morals when the same could be said for the American or British character you control through the story. The way certain stereotypes are placed on the races in this game have the potential to be carried into real life and someone influenced by the game may start having the mindset of you look a certain way so you're not a good person at all.