Abstract
Commercial “war” games in a post-1989 setting are popular among a large audience. They offer players an enjoyable gameplay experience, while also referring to contemporary “war” scenarios. As such, they have been studied in several ways, e.g., concerning the “realistic” nature of how they depict warfare. However, little is still known about the way in which the notion of “war” is conceptualized in these games. To fill this gap, this article offers a systematic analysis of the narrative content of 15 popular “war” games set after 1989, as well as their promotional descriptions, as these provide insight into how publishers respond to the interests of players. This is done based on the conceptual framework of conflict/war offered by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP).
Highlights
On May 1, 2016, the American game development studio Infinity Ward, the creator of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games, released a promotional video in which employees reflected on what they liked most about the games, and what they wanted to bring to the new installment of the series, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Infinity Ward 2016)
This article tries to answer the following question: how is the notion of Bwar^ conceptualized in popular digital entertainment games, and how does this compare to contemporary conflicts worldwide? We aim to answer this question by first looking at the promotional descriptions of 15 popular game series about Bwar^ in a post-1989 setting, as they potentially contain information about the conflicts depicted in the games, while at the same time providing insight into how the game publishers respond to the interests of the players
In order to study how the notion of contemporary conflict, as defined within the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) framework, is conceptualized within popular digital entertainment games, we analyzed the 15 most popular digital Bwar^ game series set in the post-1989 period that were available for the personal computer through the online distribution platform sided violence in post-1989 themed digital 'war'-games (Steam), and were played by the highest number of players as of November 17, 2015.1 These choices were made for several reasons
Summary
On May 1, 2016, the American game development studio Infinity Ward, the creator of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games, released a promotional video in which employees reflected on what they liked most about the games, and what they wanted to bring to the new installment of the series, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Infinity Ward 2016). BIt was a playable ‘Black Hawk Down’, but it was a playable CNN.^ These characterizations correspond to what Payne describes as a double premise of the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. It seeks to offer players an enjoyable and intense gameplay experience, while portraying a set of Bauthentic theatres of war, both historic and those ‘ripped from today’s headlines’^ We aim to answer this question by first looking at the promotional descriptions of 15 popular game series about Bwar^ in a post-1989 setting, as they potentially contain information about the conflicts depicted in the games, while at the same time providing insight into how the game publishers respond to the interests of the players. We will identify which of the factions can be characterized as protagonists and antagonists, as it shows which perspective is presented to the players
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