Lvl 13: True Research Topic

My research paper will be studying the relationship between video games and war. The two artifacts chosen to be the focus of this research paper is Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision. The story takes place in the year 2011, where a radical leader has executed the president of an unnamed country in the Middle East, and an ultranationalist movement starts a civil war in Russia, and is seen through the perspective of a US Marine and a British SAS commando. The game is filled with extreme counter terrorist and orientalist views and overwhelming patriotic messages. Most evidence used from this game will be found in the story line. The franchise is often taken as an example for how video games could affect our lives by professors and other academics. I will be using this game to show how video games can produce unnecessary extreme responses to terrorism and can be an inaccurate portrayal of war. Call of Duty: World at War is a 2008 first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. The narrative focuses on the Pacific Theater and Eastern Front theaters of World War II, and is told from the perspective of members of the US military. Just like other games in the franchise it is filled with romanticized ideas of war and overwhelming patriotic values. Most evidence I will be using from the game is from the story line and images from the in-game background. The franchise is often taken as an example for how video games could affect our lives by professors and other academics. I will be using this game to show how video games portray war, specifically WWII. Despite a huge range of games to choose from, all centered around the topic of war, these two games seem to be the best candidate for the research because first of all, these are first person shooters, also known as FPS video games, where the player is put in the position of the main character in the game, making it more personal. Second of all, both games hit close to home, one set during World War II, and one with middle eastern conflicts. Third of all, Call of Duty games are very popular and audiences are more familiar with the material and therefore the chances of the results of the research paper being understood better is greater. 

The main questions this research paper will try to answer is if video games can become an accurate medium to portray war, the pros and cons of the portrayal, and the effects of its portrayal on the players and those around them. The overall census of the scholars seem to be that although video games are not an entirely accurate presentation of war in real life, it does also present a different side of war, and the representation of certain groups is highly similar to how they are portrayed in real life. Females are often sexualized and objectified, there are little to no female main characters, and when female characters appear they are rendered useless or made into some sort of punchline. The enemy is demonized and the threat is exaggerated, and thus can lead people to have a more extreme response to presumed threats.