Are VIDEO GAMES Propaganda or Training Simulators?

From time to time I will dabble in the latest games to see where technology is at. Since he early 80's i have noticed in war games the enemies you are confronted with is somewhat a propaganda technique or maybe coincidence but either way they are changing the way people think about other countries and their peoples.

In the 80's there were alot of games where your enemy was the Vietnamese but mostly Russian. That would make sense considering the political climate and the hatred for Russia in the early 80's. In the 90's I have seen games switch enemies to the middle East.
1985 U.s vs. Russia
The most popular games right now I believe are Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield Bad company 2. After playing these games I have found some deep messages and feelings you are left with even on a subconscious level are quite disturbing.

In Call of Duty Modern Warfare 1, it starts with this short synopsis

On a mission in the Bering Sea, Sergeant "Soap" MacTavish, Captain Price, "Gaz", and several SAS members find a nuclear device onboard a cargo ship. Suddenly, the ship is attacked, and the team evacuate with the cargo manifest, which provides evidence of ties between the Russian Ultranationalist Party and a rebel faction in the Middle East. Russian Ultranationalist Imran Zakhaev, who plans to return his homeland to the times of the Soviet Union, draws international attention away from his plans by funding a coup d'état in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, organized by a local separatist leader named Khaled Al-Asad. The British and American governments, who discover the plot, initiate a police action to stop the uprisings in both regions. After President Al-Fulani of the Middle Eastern country is executed on live television and Al-Asad takes control, the SAS rescue their compromised informant in the Russian Ultranationalist Party,

In modern Warfare 2, Found the story quiet interesting and upsetting at the same time. I wonder how todays youth will digest this after sometime.

he game begins in Afghanistan, where U.S. Army Ranger Private First Class Joseph Allen assists in the taking of a city from insurgents. Impressed by Allen's combat abilities, Lieutenant General Shepherd recruits him into Task Force 141, an elite, multi-national counter-terrorist unit under Shepherd's command. Meanwhile, two other members of Task Force 141, Captain John "Soap" MacTavish and Sergeant Gary "Roach" Sanderson, scale a mountain of the Tian Shan to infiltrate an airbase in Kazakhstan, in order to recover a lost ACS module from a downed satellite. Allen is later sent on an undercover mission in Russia for the CIA under the alias of "Alexei Borodin." Allen joins Makarov in a massacre of civilians at the Zakhaev International Airport in Moscow. It is soon revealed at the conclusion of the attack that Makarov is aware of Allen's true identity and, before leaving, kills him to expose his identity as an American, leading the Russian police to believe that America was responsible for the attack.[33]

en.wikipedia.org...

'No Russian'

ngered by what was believed to be an American-supported terrorist attack, Russia retaliates with a massive surprise attack on the United States after bypassing its early warning system, revealing that the ACS module MacTavish and Sanderson recovered had already been compromised before its retrieval. Sergeant Foley leads his squad of U.S. Army Rangers, including Private James Ramirez, in the defense of a suburb in northeastern Virginia against the Russian attack. They then proceed towards a war-torn Washington, D.C., where more U.S. forces are fighting a desperate battle against the Russians for control of the capital city.[33]

This video shows the Soviet Occupation of the White House.

eanwhile, Task Force 141 begins its search for evidence that would implicate Makarov as the true mastermind behind the airport massacre. Intelligence leads it to Rio de Janeiro, where the Task Force investigates leads on Makarov's contact, weapons dealer Alejandro Rojas. They find out that Makarov's worst enemy, known as Prisoner 627, is locked up in a Russian gulag east of Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Task Force 141 assaults the prison and manages to free Prisoner 627, who turns out to be Captain Price. Price agrees to aid Task Force 141 and General Shepherd in tracking down Makarov. Price however, temporarily goes rogue, and leads Task Force 141 to raid a Russian port and gain control of a nuclear submarine. Price uses the submarine to launch an SLBM towards Washington D.C. However, he sets the warhead to detonate in the upper atmosphere, which destroys the International Space Station, but not the city. The resulting electromagnetic pulse cripples the vehicles and electronic equipment of both the U.S. and Russian forces in the city. Back on the ground, Ramirez and his squad, after avoiding the aircraft falling from the sky, head to the White House. There, they receive a transmission informing them that the Air Force is preparing to launch an airstrike against Washington D.C. unless they see green flares on the rooftop of the White House and other important buildings that are currently under Russian control. Ramirez and his squad fight their way to the roof of the White House and manage to set off flares in the nick of time, averting an airstrike. Green flares are lit on the rooftops of other D.C. landmarks, signifying that the city is in American hands. Following this, they discuss plans for a counter-attack against Moscow.[33]

en.wikipedia.org...
Invasion of "home town" america.

I wont go too much into not to spoil the game for you if you have not played it.

Battlefield Bad company 2's story is quite similar. You fight in South America, Chili i think, Brazil and then the Russian's who are on route to a U.S invasion.

Battlefield 2, an older game has the u.s fighting the MEC (middle east coalition). The U.s is up against China, Russia and the MEC.

Are these games propaganda, entertainment or a clever ultra-real training simulation for present and future wars?


[edit on 22-3-2010 by Shadow Herder]

[edit on 22-3-2010 by Shadow Herder]

I wish it was just entertainment but with games funded by the U.S Army I beg to differ.

America's Army (also known as AA or Army Game Project) is a series of video games and other media developed by the United States Army and released as a global public relations initiative to help with recruitment. America's Army was conceived by Colonel Casey Wardynski and is managed by the U.S. Army's Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis at the United States Military Academy.[2] Wardynski envisioned "using computer game technology to provide the public a virtual Soldier experience that was engaging, informative and entertaining."[3]

en.wikipedia.org...'s_Army



This game is free too. So if you have a sub adequate gaming machine it is a free download. It is only a multiplayer game and you will always be an American and your opponents will always appear to be insurgents.

America's Army has "grown in ways its originators couldn't have imagined".[3] Dozens of government training and simulation applications using the America's Army platform have been developed to train and educate U.S. Army Soldiers.[4] America's Army has also been used to deliver virtual Soldiering experiences to participants at events, such as air shows, amusement parks, and sporting events around the country. The America's Army series has also been expanded to include versions for Xbox and Xbox 360, arcade, and mobile applications published through licensing arrangements.[5][6]

Link to source


If you have more examples, screen grabs or opinions, please feel free to post them.



[edit on 22-3-2010 by Shadow Herder]

it's just entertainment!

think of it this way, if we were fighting say North Korean and China instead of Russia and Afghanistan you would reach the same opinion, but if we were fighting Canadians and Mexicans it would loose its sense of realism.

unfortunately a lot of people feel the same as you, and because of those opinions call of duty will no longer be making the modern warfare series, its all going back to us fighting the Nazi's (ww2) which as far as themes go, gets quite boring.

so don't worry, its not propaganda, its just entertainment and it wont be around much longer with all the PC atmosphere taking over the entire world.

a child that has no prejudice is not rarely available. A white kid is scared of a black kid, a black kid hates white kids because white people put black people down. The US is right, everyone else is wrong. They are training to children to be soldiers in an up and coming war. Children are forced to be obedient or be in a trouble that really doesn't matter. Be obedient, don't talk back, do whatever you are told, be scared of what your government can do to you if you mess up. The ones who are rebellious are classified as rejects. The ones that are to smart are put down. Minority children are sent to horrible schools so they can't be made anything. Children that are rich enough to play games options are U.S.VSthem. The government has created a perfect image of what they think someone should be, adults and children. Everyone strives for that instead of focus instead on a higher education. Singers,actors,sportstars, any one famous are ridiculously over glamorized and overpaid so instead of striving to become a rocket scientist they play sports. Sports are a distraction for children not to become to smart, and the smart kids are usually the ones the school wants to be smart. The talent wasted is unbelievable when a child could be smart for extra attention and underpaid teachers are not willing to put any extra attention on children. A child with no brain and knows everything the school teaches them fairs off better than a child with a great brain and nooone teaches them anything.
-wearethedead

I know I'm ready to mobilize against the Koopa threat! FOR THE MUSHROOMS!!

Video games?

It is our entire culture.

Jokes, movies, games, shows, history.

I feel on a personal level, the people of the U.S have an unspoken respect for the Russian people.

That is to say no new political fights happen between the countries.

Propaganda? Maybe unintentionally.

Training simulators? Maybe unintentionally.

If there are those who are dumb enough to be affected by games in either of those two ways, I do not see why the government just uses it to their advantage to recruit some meat balls.

The games are just reflections of current society, the same as films, books, music, or any other art form. If, what you are suggesting, is that there is some organisation which has power over hundreds of development studios across multiple continents forcing them to insert specific content to their own end then I would suggest that is extremely unlikely.

reply to post by Alaskan Man


Moved to second post to add to the first.

[edit on 22-3-2010 by Shadow Herder]

Propoganda or not, I still love these games. One of my favorite things to do with friends is get together and play some BF2 online. It doesn't matter which side we are on as long as we are on the same team (most of the time) to work together. I enjoy gunning the helicopter with my good friend who is an excellent pilot, but if it came down to it IRL, I'll be sure to take the sniper or special forces kit

reply to post by Shadow Herder


that game is aimed at recruiting tho, so in that instance it is a kind of propaganda, however COD and BF (the ones we were talking about) are completely different, not only are they much better, but there goal is to make money, you even point out that game is free, so of course its just propaganda, who would pay for something like that?

also since that game (AA) is for military recruiting, it makes sense that you always play as the Americans, i dont think it would do much for moral to have a recruiting video/game showing a first person view of Americans getting mowed down by the Russians or whomever.

like i said in my first post tho, the opinions you have are shared by many, and activision (the ones who own operate infaward) are canceling the modern warfare series (the best selling series of all time) , its all gonna be us shooting the evil Nazi's for now on, well en-till people start to complain about that.

bottom line is, if you dont like the games dont play them, if you have kids and dont want them playing it, dont shill out 60bucks for it. Pretty simple in my opinion, but hey that's just me, most want the entire world nerfed in every sense.

edited to add: i don't think its very fair to move your post around, its takes away from the debate.



[edit on 3/22/2010 by Alaskan Man]

There's no hidden messages, no Conspiracy Theory's, No Training Adgenda, nothing. It's a form of entertainment. That's all. Nothing more, Nothing less.

The more realistic this form of entertainment is, the better it is for the Producer of the Game.

The only negative effect that these sort of "Warfare" games have, is the De-Sensetizing of Crime and Killing. It seems the more "Blood and Guts" there is, the more popular the game becomes.

I have a Sony PSP. I bought the "Need For Speed" game and I must say that I got quite Addicted to it. I couldn't stop playing the Damn thing. I even took it to work with me so I could play it in my Lunch Hour..

You might ask, What's wrong with that? Thing is, I'm 40 years old. I shouldn't be Playing these damn Games.. But anyhow, That's my experience with Games.

Games and Consoles have come a long way since I was a kid. The Biggest thing to hit My Early Teens was the Atari 2600 and the First Computer I had was a Sega SC 3000.

Nice thread

I think the media is going to set the sides. It depends on whats going on in the world when that game comes out.

I want to say when it comes to the children, I believe its is the parents responsibility to properly educate them.

I introduced my children to these games when they where old enough to control a mouse. (very young)
The first thing I taught them was “This is a Game” “We are Eliminating players” Never allowed to use the word Kill, and if they were getting angry they were forced to remove themselves form the game.

We had a few computers so we would all link up together and had MUCH fun, real interactive strategic family fun

I thought this was important to add.

Thank You

it depends

most of the games are entertainment

but, some war games are definitely to get young people that courage to go to wars ... since its so cool in videogames right?

Do you guys believe that these games depicting the middle easterners as the enemy or russians as the future invaders will have no impact on opinions of the kids that play them?

If your enemy in the games wear addidas jackets and or face scarfs or even head dress wouldnt these kids identify them with the 'enemy' if they were to see these sorts of people walking about in their city or airports?

After 911, cab drivers who looked middle eastern were getting beat up by grown ups. I believe these games whether intentional or not depicting different races and countries as the enemy should and would have some effect on public opinion especially when these games are played by a younger generation who aren't wrapped up in politics, watching Cnn and fox to get their biasness.

To say it is intentional or not i guess is up for debate but I am firm in believing what these games will do to the opinions of the young ones.

cod4


now for an example, how would you feel if this man and his friends sat around you in an airplane and especially if he was always going to the bathroom on that plane..... but had diarrhea and you didnt know that. Dont lie.

[edit on 22-3-2010 by Shadow Herder]

[edit on 22-3-2010 by Shadow Herder]

Theres literally hundreds of shooters out there (Halo, Section 8, Wolfenstien, Fallout, etc). That do not fit into modern themes. But COD is probably one of the more popular ones. I think because "they" want you to think that if you join the military, you'll get to do cool stuff and play with all these awesome high-tech toys like what you see in the games and movies. Me and my old army buddies often said that if we made a video game about the real army it would be scrubbing pots on KP duty, or trying to stay awake all by yourself in a guard tower for twelve hours while staring at miles of empty desert. Lets see Microsoft make that one.

TBH whether or not you feel this is a problem for an individual or widespread, I feel that video games distract those who can safely call themselves "gamers". I fall into this category as well, i find that I would rather play games then do something productive with my spare time, be it a hobby or whatever. It can stop a person from developing a skill that could further their life in a positive way and take time away from their life. With this said, i don't feel that they did this intentionally or that they should be banned, as i stated before i could just have a problem lol maybe i should attend GA, gamers anonymous

To OP Get over it
Video Games aren't Propaganda ok?

reply to post by Shadow Herder


There are only a handful of games specifically designed as combat training. There was one, I forget what it was called, that was free to play and was actually developed by the military to help find recruits.

Most games, however, are just a medium of entertainment designed to interact in a world that isn't real and do things you otherwise couldn't do in real life. Some do contain a measure of propaganda and others are just borrowing from real life conflict (such as the games using Russia as our opponent). Simply because they are using plausible conflicts doesn't make them propaganda.

As for the Modern Warfare series, today's "youth" shouldn't even be playing those games, they are for adults only. The Airport "No Russian" mission isn't such a big deal as killing innocent civilians has been possible in almost every Grand Theft Auto game and you don't actually have to shoot them if you don't want to.

To me the attacks on video games is no different than the villainization of certain types of movies or of Looney Toons and cartoon violence. It is all fiction, it is properly rated and regulated and it is damn fun and as far as I can tell its a pretty free form of media (though the corporate product placements do get tiresome in some games).

This thread reminded me of this:

Originally posted by Agent_USA_Supporter
To OP Get over it

Video Games aren't Propaganda ok?

You need to research this subject a little bit.

Americas army, a videogame was a US army funded recruitment tool, this is documented.

I hear you cry..but but! recruitment is not propaganda!

What the US army learned after an expensive foray into videogame production, was that there are people out there making better and more popular videogames, which are a perfectly ripe platform for bending the minds of the young to support the war on terror and doubling as the best recruitment tool you ever saw.

I'd say a large chunk of the young guys joining the army nowdays are 360 owners. If you play MW2 you can regularly come across clans of armyboys all playing these types of games.

Basically if the CIA aren't writing the scripts for the modern warfare series I would call them negligent in their duties. It's a well known fact that they've meddled in television and the internet, it's just obvious to anyone with a half working brain that they also are influencing videogames.

Cant they be both? Think Topgun. Guy wants to make awesome jet movie, Navy sees benefit of guys wanting to be jet pilots after seeing awesome jet movie, one hands whashes the other. Sure sometimes money is pooled in a game for recruiting sometimes its infused with a bit of propaganda (Think splinter cell), but most of the times its a vid game.

Its a bit sad there are so many milsims around with the powerfull computers we have today, developers could let their fantasy run wild.