Comments on Roger Stahl's "Have You Played the War on Terror?"

One part of Stahl's article, "Have You Played the War on Terror" that I found really interesting and that we did not get a chance to cover in class was when he is discussing the ratings of video games, specifically America's Army. He discusses how when humans in the game die, they die peacefully, even though they have just been shot to death. The Army's defense to the violence and realism in their video games is that "The point is 'not to promote violence', says Army Major Bret Wilson...'it is to promote the jobs that are done by the Army'" (124). This quote was surprising for me to read, because my initial reaction to a 'job done by the Army' would include violence: the Army's job is to go to war and fight people. Upon thinking about it, however, I can think of other jobs the Army has, such as reporting for duty and physical training and pressing their uniforms...however I don't think any of these Army jobs are shown in the video games. Stahl goes on to tell us, "Game promoters are also quick to point out the parental control feature that turns all gun fighting into laser tag" (124). I found this part so ridiculous that it was almost funny. The fact that there are parental controls that can change the weapons of war does not change the fact that their children are playing war. I also get an image of people playing a video game expecting it to be violent and bloody, and finding laser tag and people flying into the sky after they get shot. The fact that there are these parental controls also reminds me of our discussion in class a few weeks ago about the militarized can of soup, and the relations between the child who wants to eat the soup because of the cool weapons, and the parent who may be against toy guns but wants their child to eat soup. Here, the parents can technically control how violent their children's video games are, but at the risk of having the child become angry at them for taking away the realism (and fun) of the game by falsifying and changing the game. This would also create a situation where it is the child and his/ her video game versus the parents who want to separate the child from the video game, making the video game even more fun, perhaps because it is forbidden. For me, the fact that parents can technically control the violence and weapons in war video games is such a small issue when considering war video games and their overall influence for the player.