Last month, the US Army offered recruits four days off to play GTA 6 if they reenlist for another two years of service. Nothing like some escapism from your day job committing war crimes and shooting innocent people by playing a game where you do digital war crimes and shoot fake innocent people! Now, four days off for 2 years of service sounds like a pretty crappy deal (not that the military is particularly known for fairness or equity), but more importantly it lays bare the importance of video games in growing and maintaining American militarism. First-person-shooter war games like last year’s Battlefield 6 or the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 play a key role in shaping our collective narratives around war, ones where America is the hero and gets to pick the villain. Because despite how many metal songs they play in their trailers, these games are not subversive; they exist as tools of American Imperialism and military propaganda.
Under capitalism, mainstream gaming is part of a “culture industry”, where cultural goods are mass produced – not necessarily as art or for expression, but as commodities that generate profit for businesses. The culture industry produces narratives and images which aim to make us believe that imperialist wars are legitimate and righteous, otherwise known as “manufacturing consent” for imperialist wars and genocide (we consent to them because we believe them to be good, or necessary). This isn’t for fun of the game: it’s because of material relationships and ties between entertainment industries, governments, and corporations, generally referred to as the “military-entertainment complex”.
Studios that have worked on Call of Duty in particular have been open about their friendly relationship with the US Department of Defense. They’ve worked with Pentagon advisors on games, have former war-related government officials like Brian Bulatao and torture-apologist Frances Townsend on their payroll, and were ready to receive sponsorship money from the US Army to fund the COD League (only cancelled after Activision-Blizzard was revealed to have such a sexist workplace culture that even the US Army didn’t want to be associated with it).
The role of the military industrial complex in gaming cannot be ignored. Despite what they promise, video games don’t actually show us the reality of war. What they present is a glamorized and sanitized farce where you and your friends can fight together, die together, and come back to life in the next round. They’re guilt, remorse, and PTSD free because the people you killed weren’t real people, just racialized NPCs. These games also rewrite history, and create us a propagandized script for the future. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2020) shows Russia as the culprit of the “Highway of Death”, an actual war crime which was perpetrated by the United States. The newest installment, Modern Warfare 4, promises more of the same. The game presents a neat narrative of good guys and bad guys; the unquestioningly heroic, capitalist, West-aligned America and South Korea vs the conveniently vilified North Korea. The game’s subtitle, Modern Warfare, confirms there will be no exploration of why Korea is divided between North and South, because to do so would make it impossible for you to root for its heroes.
As explained by Korean anti-imperialist organization Nodutdol, “The game’s release trailer shows shocking images of North Korea striking civilian areas—but it was the US that leveled almost every standing building in the north during the Korean War. COD MW4 is part of a larger project to obscure the reality of the Korean War, which was a war waged by the US occupation against Koreans who resisted its division of the country.” Thanks to American involvement in the Korean War, an estimated 3 million Koreans were killed, most of them civilians. Even today, Koreans on both sides of the border are dealing with the impacts of ongoing American Imperialism. Lucky for you, Call of Duty has no interest in facts, history, or moral responsibility.
Video games are still a young medium filled with potential. Any mixture of mechanics, any depictions of larger than life worlds are easily possible with the skill and technology we have today. And yet, the largest titles in the industry center around realistic depictions or war, terror, and destruction with you - the protagonist - as the central actor. Why is that? And what does that mean for us; as gamers, game makers, streamers, and players? To explore these questions further, I invite you to join No Games for Genocide in our first ever, brand new political education and action session! ‘Modern Warfare: Understanding & Strategically Boycotting Militarism in Games’ is taking place Saturday 10 October, 10am-12pm PDT / 1-3pm EDT / 6-8pm BST. If you can’t make it that day, stay tuned through our Instagram or sign up for our newsletter to hear about future events!