Media Essay

“There is a mechanism, usually called ‘identification’, which makes viewers of ‘violence’ vulnerable to it – such that it thereby becomes a ‘message’ by which they are invaded and persuaded.”

How and why does graphic violence within video games such as ‘Call of Duty’ attract a teenage demographic?

Call of Duty is a first and third person video game series franchise owned by Activision. In 2009, the total sales for the entire COD series were surpassed 55 million, taking $3 billion retail sales. It is played for more than 600 million hours which is equivalent to 68,000 human years and one of the reasons why theorists suggest video games have “...sucked the social life out of many of today’s teenagers”. Jean Anthelme Bruliat-Savann, known as a French lawyer and politician once said "Tell me what you eat and I shall tell you what you are". However this quote is more than just about our diet, it can be used in the context of how we develop mentally and what we allow our minds to ingest i.e. violence. Although violence and aggression in a young audience is a major concern for society, institutions such as Infinity Ward and Treyarch who are one of America’s biggest video game developers, still continue to produce games with high volumes of violence. Researcher George Gerbner believes organisations such as Activision with a high status do this as “constant exposure to violence in the media may lead people to believe that violence is everywhere and that they should be afraid.” This essay intends to prove that violence is one of the factors why teenagers play Call of Duty.

For a young audience, video gaming institutions keep the high volume of violent content in order to satisfy their requirements. The high intensity of this graphic violence ensures the audience respond to these graphics negatively as “All video games create behavioural scripts, which encourage the player to respond to the virtual environment in certain ways and rehearse those behaviours over and over”. Examples of these rehearsals are within the game play of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 when “the player earns points by shooting as many tourists as possible, including those who are injured and crawling away” connoting that “many narratives have depended on violence and it is clear that violence in fictions gives pleasure to the audience” . It has become a major concern for parents and society, and especially about young males who have a high trait of aggression and much “more likely to prefer or value games with violent contents”.

The media in one form or another can be arguably offensive and controversial however in some cases contents within the medium can relatively have positive outcomes. On the contrary media texts such as Call of Duty are known for their negative effects upon their target audience. Studies show “Children in their early teens found that almost a third played video games daily, and that 7% played for at least 30 hours a week.” Although it does not prove Call of Duty is an influential game it does prove games such as COD “shape young people’s attitudes and actions than do parents or teachers, thus replacing them as educators, role model and the primary sources of information about the world and how to behave in it.” Provided the high level of violence it is known for, teenagers also have an urge to play these games in order to reduce stress with an excuse for escapism. We could argue that non violent games such as Fifa 11 which is a game based on football can have the same affect however “violent entertainment may offer viewers – especially young males – a way to explore their violent tendencies without hurting anyone.” It can therefore be argued that “media violence is a catharsis which may actually help reduce aggression” . A variety of studies and tests have been conducted and shown that there is no “link between violent games and aggressive behaviour” however also suggest that players high in trait aggression “value games with violent contents”. The actions of 9/11 have allowed media institutions to glorify these incidents and even with the use of censorship still manage to “reveal an extensive presence of violence in modern media”. Studies show “the average child will see nearly 100,000 violent images in the media before he or she reaches the age of 18.” The effects of globalisation and media technology ensures “the media makes the world a lot violent than it is”. However it can be argued that without these violent graphics “there would be no substance to a game”. Call of Duty Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 contain images and narratives that resonate with and reinforce a tabloid imagery of post 9/11 geopolitics which “glorify military power and elicit content for the idea that state violence and wars are inevitable”.

In recent times studies, surveys and research show there is an “extensive presence of violence in modern media”. Call of Duty ensures their volume of violence contribute to the way “children and youth spend an inordinate amount of time consuming violent media”. It has come to the point where “shooting dogs, beating children and murdering innocent civilians” are the norm for game developers and have many concerned that “it’s not about censorship but it’s about protecting our children”. Social philosophers such as Michael Gurian note that boys have 20 times the level of testosterone found in girls and because of that “males are more attracted to violent imagery than females are”. It is that kind of evidence which encourages Hollywood and video-game makers to undercut their own rating restrictions in order to affect the male audiences who “have more trouble controlling violent impulses”.

Many are concerned with the way Call of Duty’s influence has caused an impact on society. Stanley Cohen, a Sociology professor defines a moral panic as “a condition, episode, person or group of persons who emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values”. In context to this, Call of Duty acts as a metaphor for this “condition” whereby “children’s exposure to violence in the mass media, particularly at young ages, can have harmful lifelong consequences”. However Professor Mark Griffiths has argued that “younger gamers, typically under the age of eight, tend to be more influenced by games and what they see on screen” and so “we must get away from the habit of thinking in terms of what media do to people and substitute it for the idea of what people do with the media”. There are many concerns with media violence such as learning of aggressive behaviours and attitudes where “media violence may not make children violent, but it may teach them that violence is a normal way of solving problems.” Therefore by playing a graphic game such as Call of Duty may make audiences believe that the content is normal and acceptable within society. There is also the concern of desensitization to violence where violence and gore shock the viewers initially however eventually become use to it. Call of Duty Black Ops has a very violent scene where a character is interrogated by inserting broken glass into his mouth while numerous punches are thrown at him. It is this kind of violence which is constantly portrayed within Call of Duty and encourages young audiences to “be less shocked by real-life violence”.

In relation to theories Call of Duty has a variety of ways to get to their audience. For example the hypodermic needle theory where the audience passively intake the mass media’s portrayal and tend to believe it. The audience is injected with the idea that war and violence is an enjoyable experience and the mass media’s portrayal of gender and ethnicity are the correct portrayals within the video game. This gives the impression that “if something is repeated often enough it will tend to be believed and remembered”. It can also be shaped into the context that if violent games are continuously produced by gaming institutions it will tend to attract a more mainstream audience and make young audiences feel that the idea of this violence is socially accepted. However audiences can also take initiative of their own consumption and choose whether to believe and act upon the media. This is known as the cultivation theory where either “children replicate the behaviour they view” or instead use the games as a way to tune out of the real world and “if they want to steal a car, they steal a car in the game instead of in the real world”.

Some seem to believe that exposure to violent video games is not a contributing factor in violent behaviour and that “the scientific debate about whether exposure to media violence causes an increase in aggressive behaviour is over” and in fact should have been over 30 years ago. Recent times show that “a large portion of today’s teenage generation spends much of its free time sitting in front of a computer screen shooting aliens, zombies or other teenagers sitting at another computer screen” and could connote that because others are playing it such as their friends; they feel the need to interact with the similar behaviour. However becoming emotionally attached to games like Call of Duty increases feelings of hostility, decreases emotional response to the portrayal of violence and injury and therefore leads to “violent behaviour through imitation”.

The main cause for concern is for parents who are continuously pressurized by their children to buy these violent games and throw tantrums should their parents not agree. Michael Rich a professor of paediatrics believes that “Any parent who goes out to the supermarket and shops for food for their kid wants to look at the can and know the ingredients.” However the same does not apply for games and therefore “don’t know what we’re feeding our kids’ minds.” Daphne White believes that parents should enforce their authority over them as “we wouldn't give our children a drug just because they ask for it. It's still important for parents to say no.”

To conclude it is quite obvious that video games have contained a high degree of violence and that realism and gore levels have risen but only simply because “video games are also the more popular games on the market.” It can be argued that there is a “strong correlation now between the violent natures of games these days and the aggressive tendencies in game players” however “equally possible that violent media images serve a valuable function by providing audience with a vicarious outlet for their violent impulses”. In my opinion I do believe that the graphic violence within Call of Duty does attract a teenage demographic as it is a route of escapism and a way to vent out any aggression and stress interactively however it has come to the point where much younger audiences who are influenced easily use the violence within games as an excuse to imitate it within society and based on that enhance their game enjoyment.

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Moving Image
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Moving Image
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fvxS54r0mQ&feature=player_embedded Call of Duty: Black Ops Shows Good Guys Using Torture - Alex Jones Tv