Call of Duty Feeds Stereotypes

Call of Duty, a game played by over 175 million people, is deceiving us all. The stereotypes that are portrayed in this video game have been around for a long time, and this game contributes to the problem similar to songs, advertisements, movies, and so much more. Call of Duty is portraying a false image of women, and men though common stereotypes. They have failed to add women characters for years, they portray men as they must be good looking and strong, and include extremely limited options for female players.

When Call of Duty was first released in 2003, there was absolutely no women characters involved, and till a year ago there still wasn’t any. In 2015, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, they included their first female character option. This doesn’t make much sense considering the fact that the ban on women being excluded from the military was officially lifted in 2013, and women have played a role in the army up until then anyway. Considering the fact that there was two Call of Duty's produced from the time the ban was lifted till the first female character was introduced, it just seems like they didn’t see women as being a key role in the military. This isn’t even mentioning the fact of all the female players that were forced to chose a male character for so long. This plays into the stereotype that women don’t play video games when in fact 48% of women, when asked, said that they have or do play video games. All this considered Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 features their first ever female character, and while this is a great improvement, they have failed to correct many of the parts in the transcript, and no matter what gender your character is, there is many times where you will be referred to as a he. This being said, there wasn’t much attention or effort put towards the female character, which is only hurting the game further.

Ever since the first version of Call of Duty came out, they have depicted men that have huge muscles, tattoos, and good looking in general to be in war. This just simply isn’t true, and isn’t even possible. Not every man can have the same body type and the extreme muscles that the male characters have in the game. Also they only just came out with the first African American character in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, which is even worse considering the fact that they have played a part in our military since the arrival of black slaves, during the times of colonization. This isn’t even mentioning the number of African American that have played the game since the very beginning and the growing number over the years.

Overall, Call of Duty, throughout the years has been feeding into these American stereotypes. Whether it’s about women in the war, the way males and females appear, or just who is playing the game itself, the game has not been accurate, but is slowly improving over time, and hopefully will take a big step forward with their next release.

Gamergate is Dumb, or Everything Wrong With Nerd Culture

I am a nerd. A huge one. Most of my friends are nerds too.  My life is probably best chronicled by a series of obsessions, bouncing from one hobby to the next like some sort of socially awkward pinball. So when someone like me, someone who spent the past six years on message boards and in hobby shops, says that nerd culture sucks, I'd like to believe that it holds some weight.

Gamergate, for those of you unaware, started in 2013 when someone named Zoe Quinn made a game called Depression Quest, a game chronicling Quinn's experiences with depression. Critics were lukewarm, but most of them praised the (admittedly short) game as an insightful look into the mind of someone with depression. The community, on the other hand, thought it was awful. One user left a review saying, "This game is free and I still want a refund". The schism between these two points of view was so stark that it brought about a massive conversation that left everyone shouting and nobody satisfied.

Rumors went around that Quinn slept with game critics who then gave her good reviews. As a supposed ex-boyfriend's testimony came out, online harassment reached a fever pitch. Someone released her address to the public, several people sent rape threats. Over and over, the community  rallied around some woman who they felt was too invasive of gaming culture, and made their life a living hell. Media critic Anita Sarkeesian made several videos about sexism in video games, and as a result received death threats from people saying she didn't know what she was talking about. Someone threatened to bomb a university where she was scheduled to give a speech.

 At the same time, popular video game media outlets like Kotaku and Polygon began railing against "Gamergaters", which led the community to dig into their past as well in an attempt to prove that they too, were corrupt. One by one, media outlets turned against this movement, calling the gaming community misogynistic and childish. The inevitable response from the community was some condemnation of ethics proven by an article , and the cycle began anew. The death knell of #gamergate came when it received national attention, and the general public condemned the movement as being childish and sexist.

From the perspective of video game journalists and feminists, Gamergate was about the problems in video game culture. From the perspective of "Gamergaters", it was about "ethics in video game journalism", which should give you an idea of how detached from reality this movement was. They saw themselves as modern-day investigative journalists, uncovering the filthy crimes of a corrupt industry while crusading against the tyranny of political correctness. What they were actually doing was going on a series of baseless witch hunts, making several people miserable and reinforcing stereotypes about nerd culture along the way.

These stereotypes are not baseless. This is not some small group of hateful trolls, emerged from the darkest depths of the internet. This is a culture fostered in the days when being a nerd was something to be ashamed of, not something a pop star mentioned casually in a GQ article. Nerd Culture is what happens when a group of antisocial white guys spends 30 years isolated from the outside world, and then corporate success throws the door wide open. Suddenly anyone can spend hours playing video games without having to be an outcast. Being a nerd used to be a trial by fire- now it's just an adjective. For someone who had to go so much to earn that title back then, it's frustrating to think that new initiates got the title but don't deserve it.

Which brings me to women in gaming. From the perspective of a community that was predominantly male for decades, women look like outsiders. From the perspective of a community of social outcasts, women seem complex and inhuman. From the perspective of women, video games and video game culture are really interesting, but there's this massive online presence constantly demanding that they prove their worth. When Anita Sarkeesian makes one mistake in a video, there are a thousand angry men citing it as proof that she isn't a "real gamer". When Zoe Quinn makes a below average game and gets good reviews, they see the walls of their boys-only club caving in.

Nerd culture was originally created by boys, for boys. Decades later, the demographic might be changing, but the stigma still hasn't. But maybe if us nerds could stop walling women out, we could build a community that I'm not ashamed of.

Why so Violent?

It is very well known the America may be the most violent country in the world. So violent hat when I looked up number of serial killers by country United States had a separate link to another page because the couldn't fit it on the wikipedia page. 16,238 people where killed in america in the past year. So why is america so violent why don't people have restraint. I believe it is because of violent video games and TV shows.

Every time I look into a game stop store now of days i see some solder holding a gun looking like he is ready to shoot somebody and most likely kill them. There are hundreds and thousands of people playing games that involve killing people is sometime horrific and graphic ways. This I feel like can make people numb to violence especially those that play those types of games at a young age.

Then there are also hundreds of violent shows and movies especially the popular shows: the walking dead, criminal minds and any detective show can get rather graphic. These shows can often show even the good guy killing the bad guy showing americans that it is ok to kill people as long as you have a moral or legal reason to do so.

So many things in our society expose the public to violence making us more prone to end each others lives. Not to mention the media mostly focuses and stories in which someone was killed or died. Everyday the things around us are imprinting violent thoughts and images into our minds and this I believe to be the main cause for the violence in our country.

Modern Innovation: Do We Even Want It?

To be honest, I was planning on writing about Scotland.  I did write about Scotland, actually.  But then something struck me particularly, so I scrapped it and started over with a question I've asked myself in many specific aspects, but never in broader terms.

Do people want innovation?  Sure, they say they do, because they've been told innovation is always good, but do they know it when they see it?  And when they do see it and recognize it, does it inspire more progress?

The answer, to this writer, is both depressing and unsurprising.

People talk about wanting innovation all the time.  In fact, I just wrote about how greatly frustrating it is that Apple no longer innovates now that they stand to make real profit and don't need to take creative risk to earn money.  In the gaming community, near everyone complains about how games are becoming increasingly bland, one first person shooter after another, yearly sequels with no real plot stuffing shelves.  In TV and film, finding something original, profound and unique is approaching impossibility--especially in the case of film, it's becoming apparent that what really sells is spinoffs, adaptations, sequels and reboots.  Almost every part of popular culture is now focused on recovering what used to be, with the majority of people seeking a "retro" feel to what they have, condemning the new in favor of the old because of an apparent lack of innovation.  But people aren't seeking innovation, something new and uncertain.  People are looking for new ways to experience old things.  True innovation isn't dead, it's simply ignored in favor of easy money and quick, surefire paths to basic happiness.

The fact is, these cheap tricks we associate with a lack of innovation work, not only on occasion, but consistently.  Apple still has people lining up at their door to buy their newest product for too much money with too little progress.  First person shooters like the much-hated Call of Duty series continue to sell, despite being renowned throughout the gaming community for being shameless remakes of themselves with no basis in almost anything real.  The best-selling movies ever are completely unoriginal, titles like Marvel's The Avengers, Harry Potter and The Dark Knight topping the list.  Modern television is stuffed with reruns and marathons of age-old shows, because people will watch them.  Music from past decades is almost unanimously more popular than modern releases.  People turn to the past because it worked, and because they know it'll work again.  So innovation doesn't happen.  That is, it doesn't happen in the mainstream.

Whether or not it's popular, true innovation does happen.  It happens frequently, in fact.  Think Apple is the closest thing to innovation we have, and that's why it really sells?  Check out Jibo, a home-helping robot that pushes the boundaries of how interactive AI can be.  Is CoD and the first person shooter wave all there is for video games?  Minecraft, a game about blocky, low-graphics digging was received so well that its creators quit due to its success as an innovative pioneer of a game.  Think original storylines in movies are a thing of the past?  Try Boyhood, Now You See Me, even Real Steel to find a plot that's bigger than itself.  Innovation exists, and I challenge all of us to find it.  Seek out that forward-moving system, and give it a try.  Because you often may find that true inspiration exists in the places you might scoff at at first glance.

Call of Duty: Sexism or Audience Appeal?

Call of Duty, with it's 8th installment (out of 10 at the moment) being the fastest selling game of all time, had sold more than 8.8 million copies during it's first month. The CoD franchise has some very incredible statistics. It is estimated that 2,000 YEARS worth of CoD is played DAILY, with more than 25 billion hours estimated to have been played, there must be a lot of people who have played. That number of people is an astounding 100,000,000 people. With this many people playing the game, the events and storyline of the games (although primarily multiplayer games) have a massive impact on idealogy. 

With the lack of women characters within CoD, this could lead many to believe that warfighting and special-operations are jobs for men only. Realistically speaking, movies and video games are as close to war "experience" most people have gotten. From the release of the original CoD, all the way up to the current CoD, Ghosts, women have never been involved in the storyline in any major way. If at all, they appear as minor characters, who are usually introduced and forgotten about within a period of 5 minutes. In CoD: Modern Warfare 3 (2011) there are no appearances by women except for civilians, who are shown in cut-scenes. Women are more involved in Black Ops II (2012), where the terrorist trying to destroy humanity as we know it began his mission after his sister was accidentally killed by a vengeful Navy SEAL. Although women did enjoy slightly larger involvement within the game, this unnamed women never actually appeared within the game. Women, yet again, gain minor steps towards greater involvement in Ghosts (2013). While women actually appear within the game this time, they are yet again minor characters. Women appear from time to time on various side-missions, but again, not even important enough characters to be named. While the lack of female characters could be a result of the developers own preconceptions that women do not fight in wars, this could also be a way of appealing more to male players, considering the vast majority of gamers are male. Either way, with over 100 million people around the world having been exposed to Call of Duty games at some point in their lives, the lack of female characters may lead many into false conceptions that warfighting is for men, and men only. 

Whilst an overwhelmingly large percentage of CoD players prefer playing multiplayer, with such a sexually imbalanced character roster, women have yet to be featured as a main character in Call of Duty. 

This website was used to obtain a few facts: http://arcadesushi.com/call-of-duty-facts-that-will-blow-your-mind/

Modern Warfare 3 Trailer (no women characters): http://www.callofduty.com/mw3/videos/launch_trailer

Black Ops II Trailer (no women characters): http://www.callofduty.com/blackops2/videos/bts_review

Call of Duty and its Falsehoods of War

Call of Duty and its Falsehoods of War

The popular video game franchise "Call of Duty" creates games of war, some based off of real wars and others off of near future advanced weaponry battles. The goal of this franchise is to provide entertainment for people who like the adrenaline that comes with the animated killing of their friends, strangers and the game's CPU (Central Processing Unit, computerized enemies.) Now I do not believe that these games will cause people to become violent and go on a murderous rampage, but I do believe that they glamorize war to an extent that it should not be.

In Call of Duty you can run around killing and dying with the only punishment being to press a button to respawn to kill some more "enemies". The games show war as a fun point system of how many lives can be taken in a short period of time. I know that no one thinks war has points or that you can respawn in real life, but these games just do not depict the hardship our countries soldiers have to go through in these firefights. One murder of a "team mate" in real war can scar a man for life to the point where he cannot go a day without thinking about what he'd just scene.

The world should know the violent memories men have to live with when coming home from the front lines of protection our country needs so much. "Call of Duty's" are not bad games, but just unrealistic, which is by no means any type of moral crime. I believe our America needs to be educated on the terrible effects war can inflict on our soldiers. When a man is killed one foot to the left of you on a ridge in "Call of Duty" you think, "better go somewhere else or I might get sniped," in real life you may break down crying or totally give up, your memories could be haunted forever.

I am not claiming these games are harmful to our population besides the ignorance of
the horrors that war can inflict on a man or woman. I myself play "Call of Duty," though I try my best not to forget how real men and women preform what is being done in these games (loosely), and respect the horrors war can bring.

Pokemon Dittos American Ideologies

in three parts

Gaming has become an almost fundamental part of the daily lives of American children. That cannot be denied (however much one might want to). One of the most widely played games among American children and teenagers is not, by origin, an American game: Pokemon. There are three areas that can be explored in reference to these games: gender, race, and sexuality. The games are making steps to liberalism, but that is not what American children may take away from them.

Pokemon: X and Y chromosomes in Black and White: A Study of Gender Roles in American Ideology

Pokemon was one of the first of an increasing number of games that allow players to choose the gender of their character as opposed to defaulting to a male hero. Despite that seemingly liberal move, there is an odd dual message regarding gender roles presented by the games, in particular the games Black and White. When playing as a girl, Pokemon is highly empowering due to the defeat of overwhelming, male, enemies, and the existence of Cynthia, but when playing as a boy, the game is nearly misogynistic, as shown by the female characters usually taking the role of 'heart center' or 'healer' and because of the defeat of Cynthia.

As a girl, Pokemon is awesome to play. You get to defeat both enemies and friendly rivals. By the end of the game, the player is the strongest trainer in the region. Training Pokemon is also a wonderful experience, and the player often finds themselves incredibly attached to the animals that amount to nothing more than a few pixels on a screen. Pokemon also has a tendency to preach fair treatment to animals – even despite the fighting element. That is pretty rare for a video game. Though wonderful, that is beside the point. The point is that for both genders Pokemon is an empowering experience that is undeniably well loved. When playing as a girl, it's practically feminist. Regardless of the messages Pokemon may or may not send to their male fans, it is something that every girl should play.

In the games Black and White, when one is playing as a girl, the female player is constantly defeating the male rival, Cheren, and saving Pokemon and the world from Team Plasma. The female Bianca is, nonetheless, the weakest link in the trio, however with the massive fem power of a female lead, this isn't so much of an issue. But when playing as a boy, the player still constantly defeats the powerful Cheren and saves Pokemon and the world from Team Plasma, but the player does this all as a boy. This means that the only female of the main cast is Bianca. She acts primarily as the 'heart center' and the 'healer' and is a particularly weak fighter. When playing as a girl, as already stated, Bianca acts simply as a character that doesn't like to fight. For male players, however, Bianca’s weakness is a problem, and it deeply perpetuates the idea of women being emotional and weak amongst the youngest members of our society.

One can't outright claim the boy-oriented storyline as sexist because of the character Cynthia. Quite literally, Cynthia is the most powerful trainer in the region, having defeated every gym leader and the champion before her. Regardless of the gender played, the player defeats Cynthia at the end of the game. Again, this is not an issue when playing as girl, because the female player defeats another powerful woman. When playing as a boy, however, the male player might find the message that even the most powerful of women can be defeated by the right amount of testosterone. Is this really the message portrayed? Most players would probably say no, but societal ideology is rarely a conscious thing. Such portrayals profoundly affect those exposed – even without their knowledge.

Pokemon is wonderful, even with the sexist elements that run through it – in the end, it's all about being a critic and not a consumer. If one can see the negative ideologies that run through something, they will avoid the ideas pounded into the collective skull of American society. Yes, things are presented differently to the genders. Though it's not perfect – at least Pokemon makes an attempt to bring about further sexual equity. Pokemon is absolutely amazing – and even genre savvy girls will likely enjoy it for the positive aspects. In the end, if one is a perceptive critic, one can take the good things from something and leave behind the negative. Maybe. In the case of the Pokemon games – it is more than worth a try.

Black and White in X and Y: Ideologies of Race
There are other problems with the games, and here I will diverge from the usually necessary formality of educational writing - too much of this is based in personal experience. Black characters are only a recent addition to the games, and it wasn’t until Pokemon X and Y that players could select an appearance that wasn’t the preset Japanese characters. Players could could choose between being brunette or blonde or typically Japanese. There was another option that looked like the designers might have meant for her to be black, but being mostly Mexican and German (with a little Irish and French thrown in) and being on the light tan and gold/green spectrum of olive, that was the character that looked most like me.

Having been to Japan, having studied in Japan with my high school, I have to take into account Japanese demographics. The only people of non-asian origin at the school were exchange students. Among them, there were only four that were black, one who was Pakistani, and the other twenty eight students were either white or Hispanic. (twenty six of those students were from my high school, the other two were from Florida and Europe respectively). The four hundred some-odd students who attended the school full time were all Japanese (with a few that looked like they might be mixed with Chinese and Korean). I didn’t see any other black people until we visited the Harajuku district of Tokyo. There was a small contingent of (maybe twenty) Jamaicans who seemingly lived and worked in the area, all who spoke Japanese, English, and some sort of French creole. However, they were in the vast minority. In Japan, the ‘race issue’ isn’t really an issue because of the immense homogeneity of the country. In fact,the Asian/white to black ratio in the game is actually reflective of the ratio in Japan. American demographics of the same are vastly different, so for an American playing the game, not thinking of the game’s origins, black people are sorely underrepresented and that enforces the American ideology of white superiority and denies black children representation of themselves in a game that they too play and love.

Sexuality in Pokemon: A short comment

In most games there is very little representation of the LGBT community, Pokemon included. In fact, the creators seem to very pointedly avoid discussing sexuality in their games. However in Pokemon X and Y there seems to be a transgender character. This is interesting, because the character is simply there. Her transformation is mentioned, and then done, with no dwelling on it whatsoever. The trainer battle commences and that’s that. You can access a thorough discussion on that in the link above.

It seems that progress is happening, however slowly. In gender roles, racial issues, and acceptances of ‘T’ in LGBT. Children still receive mixed signals from the media and that won't change for a good long while. Pokemon sends some iffy messages, yes, but the creators are trying to make the games more comfortable for a vast audience. Progress is progress, ne?

Masking the Pain: Death and Loss in "The Legend of Zelda"

Nintendo is widely recognized as the leading company in video games directed at a younger audience, almost indisputably. One of its most popular games, renowned even in older generations, is the Legend of Zelda series. Fans often cite the series' soundtrack, or simply a great fun factor brings them back. But most players that have stuck with the series for a long while and have taken the time to ask why they enjoy the games so much can see that above all, the players can connect to the game. In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the player assumes the position of Link, a knightly hero in search of his lost fairy, Navi. The game then is split into five major areas, each of which are themed differently, and all of which perfectly resemble the Kubler-Ross Model of Grief, a five stage progression of mourning that people have been shown to go through whenever confronted by a great deal of loss (such as, perhaps, the apparent loss of a good friend and companion). The game almost perfectly models this progression without saying it, providing an easy bridge to the heart of any player who has lost something they cared about.

The gamer's travels in Majora's Mask occur in a land called Termina, which is under the threat of a falling moon that would soon crush the entirety of the land and kill all its people. The first part of Termina the player visits is known as Clock Town, where the people are all in denial that the moon is actually falling, or saying that if it does fall, everyone will be okay. The people even plan a carnival for the day the moon will reach the ground. Interestingly enough, the first stage of the grief cycle is known as denial--where the griever denies or represses the loss in question and, in the game, the first "stage" Link goes through after his loss of Navi.

The second portion of the game, dubbed Woodfall, features a captured princess, and an outraged king. The king responds to the loss of his daughter by lashing out and trying to kill an innocent monkey that he had dubbed the culprit. Conversely, the second stage of the famed aforementioned grief cycle is anger--having realized the failure in denial and the truth of the loss, the griever lashes out at his or her surroundings.

The third area Link visits in Majora's Mask is called Snowhead, where a tribe has just lost its leader. The dead leader begs Link to revive him with magic, offering him everything he had in trade for preventing the inevitability of his death and passing on. When he is not revived, the leader lapses into intense sorrow, lamenting that he would have to watch as his tribe became buried in ice. The third stage in the cycle, as one might guess, is bargaining--through any number of means, the griever tries to escape the loss they have experienced, rarely met with any remote success.

The third stage of the Kubler-Ross model is often short and quick to transition into the next, so the fourth area of the game is rather a continuation of the end of the third. In the Great Bay, Link encounters a mother who has lost her children, and stands stoic looking out at the ocean, retreated inward and remaining unresponsive, almost permanently suspended in sorrow, similar to the leader seen in the third realm. This inward turn is a representation of the fourth stage of the cycle, depression--where the griever becomes reserved and distant, unable to handle the level of loss experienced.

The fifth and final area of Majora's Mask is known as Ikana Valley, literally a valley full of death. However, it is what more lies in the valley that the player can relate to. Ikana Valley comes with the acceptance of death and loss. In Ikana Valley, the player ascends a tower to open a shining chest, obtaining that acceptance and the enlightenment that awaits inside it. Almost needless to say, the final stage of the grief cycle is acceptance--where one realizes that loss is bound to happen, and that in the end, things do turn out okay.

The game ends with Link riding through misty woods, supposedly continuing his search for his good friend. However, the possibility remains that this riding off into the mist was in fact his acceptance of loss, perhaps loss of Navi, or even something greater. Many more theories surround the game, but almost all of them accept the game as progressing through a cycle of grief, something that players can feel close to. Here is one of those alternate theories, with a similar base and an entirely more revolutionary conclusion:

The Last of Us: Breaking Stereotypes and Heads

On July 29, The Last of Us: Remastered was released for Sony’s PlayStation 4. It is a visually updated version of the original, which came out only a year earlier for the PlayStation 3. While it is not unusual for a game to be remade with updated graphics, it is rare for a game to be remade so soon after the original. However, when considering the incredible critical and commercial reception The Last of Us has received, creating a remastered version makes sense. In addition to its popularity, The Last of Us  is an abnormality in the game industry. Unlike other blockbusters such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto, The Last of Us is loved primarily for its story and character as opposed to its gameplay, which is still excellent. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, in which the player plays as a grizzled old man named Joel who escorts a girl named Ellie across the U.S. while fighting off hostile human survivors and zombie-like enemies that are infected with a fictional mutation of the real Cordyceps fungus.

The Last of Us breaks stereotypes not only within the game industry by showing that video games can be much more than mindless entertainment, but in broader American culture as well with its portrayal of LGBT characters. A testament to the strength of the game’s narrative is that on July 28 in Santa Monica, California there was a live reading of the script by the voice actors. The fact that a The Last of Us’s story could stand on its own without any gameplay breaks the stereotype that video games can’t tell incredible and impactful stories.  

In addition to the main game, a side story was released in February entitled The Last of Us: Left Behind. As opposed to the main story in which Joel is playable, Left Behind puts the player in control of Ellie. The side story explores, in the form of flashbacks, Ellie’s past, particularly her romantic relationship with a girl named Riley. This relationship breaks the stereotype that lesbians are all crazed overly masculine women who hate all men. Ellie and Riley are simply people, and their sexuality is an element of their character, it doesn’t define them. An interesting thing to note is that actress Ellen Page accused the developers of The Last of Us of using her likeness to create Ellie before she came out and before Ellie was revealed to be lesbian.  

Crime Without Punishment

Grand Theft Auto Five is a popular video game that was released in fall of 2013. It is the fifth game in the appraised Grand Theft Auto series, where the player attempts to be the most successful criminal he can be (the pronoun “he” is used because there is no option to play as a female character in the game). According to Forbes.com, Grand Theft Auto Five (GTAV) has sold more than 33 million copies, which indicates that it has a wide influence over American culture. Because the player is basically given free reign over what they choose to do in the game, be it robbing a convenience store, stealing cars and helicopters, or beating up and killing people in the street, the game promotes the idea that being a criminal is cool or “badass.”

This is also shown in the game because the player is handsomely rewarded for breaking the law. Between robbing banks, selling drugs or simply mugging innocent people, the player can amass a hefty fortune, enabling them to buy fancy race cars and deluxe apartments. There is also a humorous element to the game, which encourages the player to think that breaking laws, often violently, is funny. For example, one of the radio ads within the game encourages players to, “vote YES to Proposition 208 and legalize medical cocaine.” Violent humor is seen when characters in the game do things like gun people down from a lawn mower or mock people whom they are beating up.

The game additionally allows one to do so much more than commit crime. Players can throw darts, take yoga classes, go sailing, go for a swim, ride roller coasters, invest in the stock market, and even watch TV. The fact that there are so many “normal” activities in the game promotes the idea that normal people can lead criminal lives, often with no negative repercussions. For example, even if one does get killed during a crime spree, the player re-spawns outside a hospital, still retaining all of their possessions. The combination of humorous violence and rewards for felonious acts throughout this game idealizes the life of a criminal and pushes the often younger demographic of players to think that a crime not only makes one cool, but also rich.

Below is the link to the game's trailer video released on youtube.com. This trailer includes a swear and some scenes with violence, so please watch with discretion. This video is important to include because it shows the general attitude towards crime within the game. The music in the background combined with the montage of explosions and firefights is exciting and enticing, drawing players into the world of crime and fast-paced living.

PLEASE VIEW WITH DISCRETION

Saints Row: the Glorification of a Sociopathic President

 

The fourth installment in the Saints Row video game franchise was released in 2013, and it really took the story to a presidential level. In the past games, the saints were your average street gang who committed above average crimes. Players run through the two fictional cities of Stillwater and Steelport, jacking cars and killing civilians to their hearts content.  In this fourth installment the leader of the saints (the role taken on by the player) has become president of the united states. After the earth is blown up by Aliens most of the game takes place in a simulation created by the Aliens. this game is one of the first of its kind to really push the limits of the rating system. It puts people in the position of a sociopathic president who just wants to, and I quote, have "Murder time fun time."

 

Saints Row four is controversial because it creates this ideology that glorifies the life of a sociopathic criminal that goes unpunished. By showing that he made his way to the top despite his mental condition and past actions against humanity.

 

One of the main ways this game pushes the boundaries is through the main character's interaction with other members of the Saints. Once the player gets to a certain part in the game, they can make their character have sex with almost anyone else in their crew. This is another form of glorification that the game uses. If the player ever feels the urge to commit mass murder they simply have to walk out onto the street and pull out a gun, or they can enter a feature in the game that is essentially a game show were you just kill people and get money for doing it (this feature also carried over from the previous game). This form of glorification is not new to the public. We have seen this many time before in other video games, its simply another way to glorify something negative.

 

As a fan of this franchise I don't think its all bad, in fact I really love playing these games. Many reviewers agree with me as well, IGN gave the game a 7.3 out of 10, simply saying it was "good". Its outrageous elements and story still create controversy among many people. Many parents don't want to expose their kids to this type of media, not because they think it will turn their kid into a criminal, but because it can cause a warped sense of right and wrong in some situations.

Truth Matters -- And Telling It Can Be Dangerous

One of the best cultural critics around, Anita Sarkeesian, receives death threats on a regular basis. Why? Because she is a woman, she publishes her writing and videos online, and she dares question the damaging stereotypes that continue to confine women in American culture, especially in the particularly patriarchal world of video games.

Thanks, Rose, for bringing this crazy situation to my attention. Read the story of how the latest threat has forced her to leave her home.

But better than that, enjoy one of her many amazing videos. Here is one of my favorites (which we will be watching at length later this year):

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