Link
I often wonder how people from countries which have been terrorized by the US feel about the way war is portrayed in western videogames.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
How the Pentagon and CIA push Venezuela regime-change propaganda in video games
- Thread starter -Devious-
- Start date
I often wonder how people from countries which have been terrorized by the US feel about the way war is portrayed in western videogames.
Wow, Mercs 2 was the first thing I thought of when I read the headline. Loved the game. They could have set it most anywhere after the North Korean setting of the first game. Venezuela was as good an option as any.
Edit: Gamespot still has an article up from 2006 about Hugo Chavez taking issue with Mercs 2.
Edit: Gamespot still has an article up from 2006 about Hugo Chavez taking issue with Mercs 2.
I wonder about all combatants in war feel about the way it's portrayed in video games. I recently played and finished CoD: WWII and if you take the time to distance yourself it is a little weird how we've made digital playgrounds out of insane human tragedy.
This really should come as no surprise to anyone, especially given how "rah rah America" some of these games in question are.
I always found it weird that South America of all places became an evil fascist state in CoD ghosts. Guess we now know why they chose that way.
I don't think Ubisoft, as a french company, would even be approached by american government bodies for stuff like this.
I don't think Ubisoft, as a french company, would even be approached by american government bodies for stuff like this.
I'd be shocked if they weren't. Ghost Recon 2 got some flak from a state-run North Korean newspaper way back when.
Weapons manufacturers can't sell weapons if there aren't any wars going on. Gotta keep those lobbyists happy.
It feels weird going back to games like Black Ops 1 after having such an awakening on US regime change. They literally have you act out trying to over throw Cuba and framing it as a moral overthrowing.
The war on terror did a doozy on the US mind considering how MW1 was just a mishmash of anti Russian anti amorphous middle eastern terror blob.
The war on terror did a doozy on the US mind considering how MW1 was just a mishmash of anti Russian anti amorphous middle eastern terror blob.
We all most certainly don't considering how little liberals seem to care when we are in power.
The average person has no idea. Especially if you start to talk about this in the same conversation with ratings, banning games, violence etc. That topic is so toxic that it kills any other sort of criticism.
Hearts and minds. Entertainment is a great way to shape people's views on things without them even knowing you're doing it.
This is not limited to video games. Even big Hollywood movies like Transformers or MCU movies like Iron Man and Captain Marvel get partially funded or encouraged by the military. Also a good source on how they vilify people is Reel Bad Arabs, and it can be applied in video games like CoD or BF. I think Spec Ops was the only shooter that didn't have any glorification of this stuff.
There is so much propaganda in these games or movies.
There is so much propaganda in these games or movies.
First thing I thought of was Mercenaries 2 and I loved that game.
I was honestly feeling this propaganda years ago. I remember people in schools wanting to join the military after playing COD. It was crazy how effective it was. Me being a minority in the class and seeing this was awkward.
I was honestly feeling this propaganda years ago. I remember people in schools wanting to join the military after playing COD. It was crazy how effective it was. Me being a minority in the class and seeing this was awkward.
Spec Ops was honestly really refreshing to see back then. It was really effective because I saw how propaganda changes people first hand so it hit even harder.
Edit: Sorry for the double post.
Short of making a fictional world for everything like Ace Combat or going to the future and doing PMV stuff, what are you going to do? It's going to have to be set somewhere and the current political climate will naturally influence that.
I also fail to see how cooperation with the US military on media is inherently wrong. Stargate SG-1 heavily worked with the US Air Force and military (to the point of getting to film on a real sub for a movie) and it was never propagandized.
I also fail to see how cooperation with the US military on media is inherently wrong. Stargate SG-1 heavily worked with the US Air Force and military (to the point of getting to film on a real sub for a movie) and it was never propagandized.
So they're saying the CIA added their top secret plan to a call of duty storyline? Yeah... I'm going to go with no
I also don't even understand what point they're trying to make with the Las Vegas footage.
These games are big advertisement s for the military, that's obvious, but that they laid out their real plans in a call of duty game just comes off as absurd without any proof to back it up
I also don't even understand what point they're trying to make with the Las Vegas footage.
These games are big advertisement s for the military, that's obvious, but that they laid out their real plans in a call of duty game just comes off as absurd without any proof to back it up
imo, this's as ugly a side of gaming as just about any. & it's not really even all that subliminal anymore...
The biggest wtf tonal misfire in that game is seeing fucking lootboxes or whatever they are (not played it)drop onto Normandy beach. Like wtf?
Wow, that sent chills down my spine.
Guess there is a reason I have yet to see any notable AAA game depicting America be undone by its own military industrial complex's avarice where the beloved capitalists are not shown as anything other than victims and underdogs.
Guess there is a reason I have yet to see any notable AAA game depicting America be undone by its own military industrial complex's avarice where the beloved capitalists are not shown as anything other than victims and underdogs.
Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, Modern Warfare 2, Homefront 1. I am sure there is more.
That, and the mission where you chase after your kidnapped friend and the enemy jeep is crashing through watchtowers and stuff. It's extremely wacky.
It's annoying how the lunacy of conspiracy theorists makes it easy to dismiss honest attempts to investigate actual conspiracies. That said, it usually takes ages to disentangle them, so it's unlikely anyone would've seen the big picture around release.
but this isn't about games based on actual wars. this's about games based on wars that haven't happened, but wars that certain parties would like to have happen. huge difference :) ...
Aren't Americans depicted as Heroes and victims in all of the them, especially in Homefront where poverty stricken North Koreans first unified with South Korea and somehow were made to be technologically and strategically advanced and sophisticated enough to topple the mighty, the venerable, the extraordinary, the greatest military in the world?
I mean has there been any other 'kind' of American when it comes to "American" vs "outsider"? Americans are born heroes when it comes to outsiders.
With how things are today, It'll be attacked by the media and the idiots who think the devs are SJW or whatever term they hate nowadays.
Advanced Warfare was more about how PMCs are awful but the US army still led the attack against it. From the wiki article, Homefront 1 has was more of a anti-North Korea story and the guy you're playing as is a former US soldier who is helping the military.
Yeah, that part was peculiar, to say the least. I don't think the video is asserting Call of Duty contains any secret CIA plans, though. Sabotaging infrastructure like electricity is a normal thing to do to bring about a coup. I think the video is more about US institutions normalizing such actions against their targets through media affiliated with them, which is more along the lines of your last point. That's how I saw it, anyway. Not the author, so I can't speak for the actual intent.
Funny thing is Mercenaries 2 doesn't exactly make the invading Americans look all that great.
Soliders are stereotype dumb Americans who are exclusively American but rally under the banner of "Allied Nations" and are only there for the oil.
Soliders are stereotype dumb Americans who are exclusively American but rally under the banner of "Allied Nations" and are only there for the oil.
Media like films, books and games have been used as pro war propaganda tools forever, used to normalise war, while throwing in a bit of a sad drama on the side to make the viewer emotionally and morally invested.
Personally i find it really disturbing that games come out set in some of the worst tragedies of humans history like WW1 or WW2, vietnam etc and the only response you will see for the games on here is hype, or complaining about DLC. People are so normalised to war that they don't bat an eyelid at it. I think its totally disrespectful to the people and families that lost their lives, when you have a multiplayer game where you are running around trying to rack up as many kills as you can for entertainment, While the locations, sounds, weapons etc are recreated as accurately as possible to put the player in a historical war setting.
I'm sure many people will disagree with this, war games sell tens of millions of copies after all. People might say that they are similar to movies which are occasionally anti-war, but any cut scenes that attempt to add some moral weight to the game are completely undercut when you get back to the actual gameplay.
Personally i find it really disturbing that games come out set in some of the worst tragedies of humans history like WW1 or WW2, vietnam etc and the only response you will see for the games on here is hype, or complaining about DLC. People are so normalised to war that they don't bat an eyelid at it. I think its totally disrespectful to the people and families that lost their lives, when you have a multiplayer game where you are running around trying to rack up as many kills as you can for entertainment, While the locations, sounds, weapons etc are recreated as accurately as possible to put the player in a historical war setting.
I'm sure many people will disagree with this, war games sell tens of millions of copies after all. People might say that they are similar to movies which are occasionally anti-war, but any cut scenes that attempt to add some moral weight to the game are completely undercut when you get back to the actual gameplay.
I think no developer/publisher, be they American themselves or not, want to potentially antagonize American military and their self aggrandizing and exceptionalism-stricken market when it would potentially account for the greatest percentage of global sales.
When it comes to America (and some of its allies) vs the world, it is all about exporting "freedom" and not about importing "change" that would upset the status quo.
The main villain of Modern Warfare 2
is American who engineers the whole WW3 of MW2 and MW3 because he wanted a reason for the US military to retaliate and wipe Russia out for their extremists actions in MW1
Last 3ish missions of the game are you playing SAS soldiers killing Americans.
Last edited:
I don't feel too surprised by this. The propaganda machine is strong and throws their weight around. Watch TV or movies and see how often certain places outside of the United States don't match up with reality, or see how the military is viewed in general. Many movies that depict military will often have guidance from real life military officers, etc., to make sure they are depicted a certain way.
It's also not entirely new to games as SharpX68K point out as well. It has always been around, and it only makes sense that a closer relationship would be formed as time progressed and games started becoming more mainstream.
It's also not entirely new to games as SharpX68K point out as well. It has always been around, and it only makes sense that a closer relationship would be formed as time progressed and games started becoming more mainstream.
The main villain of Modern Warfare 2
is American who engineers the whole WW3 of MW2 and MW3 because he wanted a reason for the US military to retaliate and wipe Russia out for their extremists actions in MW1
Ah, thanks for this. I loved CoD MW1 but had enough of killing brown people. It is interesting to see this but presumably he is a rogue agent, an aberration, an exception, a lone wolf who abuses the authority and abilities granted to him by virtue of his position?
The main villain of Modern Warfare 2
is American who engineers the whole WW3 of MW2 and MW3 because he wanted a reason for the US military to retaliate and wipe Russia out for their extremists actions in MW1
Last 3ish missions of the game are you playing SAS soldiers killing Americans.
I thought he did it to keep the US's money making war machine rolling?
I think that played into it but his main motivation was the Nuke scene from MW1 that killed 30,000 troops under his command somehow(he is Army, the MW1 soldiers were Marines)
The nuke was given by Russian extremists, thus he specifically goes after them in MW2 allowing No Russian and such to happen causing WW3.
If I remember correctly, for the first Medal of Honor (PSX) games they used to consult with experts about imagery and the like, in order to not offend victims and veterans. But 20 years have passed and there almost no living people with combat experience in WW2, or Holocaust survivors. So they don't give a fuck anymore.
According to the West and it certainly may be, but the way the Western media portrays everything in such a one-sided POV is insulting to my intelligence. I want to know the fucking truth of what's going on there, what's the other side of the story, not just 'Venezuelan government blocks aid from reaching citizens' how about the reasons why.
One of my deepest fears for the future of humanity as a whole is what will happen after World War II completely exits living memory. When I grew up everyone's grandparents had fought in that war, and I was fortunate enough to attend a school assembly where a survivor of the Treblinka camp came to personally tell his story, even in a small town like mine.
Taken as a single 'event', World War II is undoubtedly the single greatest atrocity in recorded human history. The so-called 'norms' of modern conflict, like the complete refrain from use of nuclear weapons, rest in part on the collective memories of the horrors wrought by that war. If they become 'a matter of history', for future leaders to handwave and disregard...
OP
OP
What they are saying is that game devs are normalizing such ideas by welcoming people such as, "Oliver North, the right-wing military fanatic who was convicted of a felony for his role in destabilizing Central America." That the USA will do anything in the name of democracy and applying terrorist tactics in order to win must not be questioned. This is what they would like of the people who play these games to think.