Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Modern Warfare

Two students were telling me today about a new video game they'd played and how it "crossed a line" for them. This game, Modern Warfare 2, includes an incredibly graphic and realistic scene of terrorism. What really got to my students was the fact that the game wouldn't let them run through the scene; players are forced to walk through and watch others kill people around them. One of the kids kept saying, "There was blood everywhere."

My students are not sensitive -- they have grown up on Grand Theft Auto and the like. It was really interesting to hear them explain why this scene crossed the line.

3 comments:

Amerloc said...

They're sensitive, Julie. They understand the difference between playing a game and being marched down a hallway.

julie said...

They definitely wondered if the game designers were trying to teach them a lesson. But in the end I think they, and most other players, went along with the mission of (SPOILER ALERT) gunning down civilians in a busy Russian airport.

It would be an interesting PhD thesis to see how many players complete the mission! I'm sure someone's already working on it.

James Wilson said...

I am amazed to hear this opinion about this game. I really respect and promote the diversity in opinions but according to my thinking, this game does not have any visually disturbing scenes but I must also clear that my opinions can be biased because I am huge fan of this game. I really find it a great source of fun and such a fan that I loose the track of time when I start playing this game and find myself already late for other commitments even my assignments and have to visit the best nursing assignment wesite to complete my assignments on time.