Editorial | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Taking things too far?

By Sam Coles

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Video games and controversy tend to go together like butter and toast, but leave it there for too long and it will slowly slide off the crust leaving a mess on the floor. The term “Too far” is often thrown about, especially when it comes to depictions of violence within the interactive medium. With the recent reveal of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s multiplayer (at the time of writing), it has ruffled a lot of people’s feathers due to it including a killstreak of a nasty weapon known as white phosphorus. Now is it wise to question one’s artistic vision? No to a certain extent, but I want to take the time to explain why this isn’t a huge deal and perhaps a bit background on the weapon.

White phosphorus which is also given the nickname “Willy Pete”, can either be used in a defensive or offensive capabilities, it’s mostly used as a smoke screen however it gets its notoriety from its offensive uses. White phosphorus will stick to the recipients skin and will burn all the way down to the bone, this can’t be stopped unless you cut off the oxygen but nine times out of ten that rarely happens. Nasty stuff isn’t? It is, however the military rarely use it, as you can’t exactly control its spread and more often or not there are civilians in the cross fire where they are prohibited from using such tactics.  

The question I want to bring to the table, is it too far to put said weapon in a game like Call of Duty? In short no, why? Well let’s face it the series over the past 10 plus years has had weapons that have been just as bad, if not worse. Yes one could argue that it puts a light spin on the weapon in the multiplayer, because you are rewarded for killing so many people. However it is within the context of the combat scenario, as it is “Modern Warfare” so you are going to be using contemporary tactics and combat.

Now you will get the age old argument about children, but I’m sorry that doesn’t wash with me not every video game or piece of media are for children. Now I know some people who are under age are going to play this game, however that is down to the parents and not the publishers or developers. If you think your child is mature enough to handle the subject matter then that is fine, my parents were the same, but don’t go blaming the publishers because you didn’t do any research into the game. If my parents thought a game was too much they would take it away from me, this lack of parenting in this regard is mindboggling.

What people have to realise is that this Call of Duty has a very dark tone compared to the others in the series, by the look of it the campaign is going to address some very series subjects. As the trailer states at the start “The rules have changed, there is a fine line between right and wrong”, it is going to explore the morality of war and if it is reasonable force to use certain tactics.

I think if we want people to take the video game medium as a serious art form, we have to explore sensitive and taboo subjects. There is a reason why old media doesn’t take it seriously, it’s because of the overreaction from mainstream games media crying foul whenever a game decides to touch on a dark subject.

Yes there are lines of course, you can’t do whatever you want, but one most push boundaries to a certain extent in order to push art into the modern era. Same thing happened back in the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s, where they pushed violence as a storytelling device in cinema which was controversial at the time. However these days it is the norm, and we think need to have a more a calm and collective mind set in order to let it flourish in video games. How nearly 30 years later are we still having this debate, the fact is pieces of art and media it is not for just for children.

Overall do I think Modern Warfare is taking it too far? No, it’s just a game that has done its research and wants to show the grim reality of modern combat. Yes it is horrible, but then again that is the entire point it wants to show how horrific and scary it is to be in these scenarios. You have a right to an opinion on the matter to disagree, however when you start trying to force a developer or hell any artist to change their artistic vision that is wrong. You can’t force someone to change something because you and you alone find it offensive, the term that springs to my mind is, if you don’t like it don’t play it.