tomic Games raised quite a ruckus when it announced Six Days in Fallujah last year, inciting a media firestorm with a game that some said was hitting a bit too close to home. In the words of one former British military officer: "It's much too soon to start making video games about a war that's still going on, and an extremely flippant response to one of the most important events in modern history." But aren't heavily fictionalized representations of modern military actions just as offensive, if not more so?
Why not have a tactical game in which players learn a thing or two about world events in the process?Take, for instance, my favorite punching bag: Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2. I consider that game's flippant portrayal of an undisciplined (and downright dysfunctional) U.S. military to be utterly grotesque. Why is it somehow okay to show an Army private gunning down Russian first responders during a terrorist action while telling the harrowing experiences of the U.S. Marines 3rd Battalion in Fallujah is taboo? It just doesn't make any sense. Gamers are going to keep purchasing violent first-person tactical games, so why not have them learn a thing or two about world events in the process?
The antiseptic stories presented by most war games pale in comparison to their real world counterparts. A totalitarian regime or even a ragtag group of highly motivated gangsters is a far more terrifying (and "real") enemy than a madman toting a bazooka atop a bell tower in Mexico City (thanks for that one, Ubisoft). Here are some of the places I'd like to be taken in a modern war game, and some of the stories I'd like to be told.
Operation Barras, Sierra Leone
In 2000, an armed militia in Sierra Leone known as the West Side Boys captured and held hostage a number of West African and British peacekeepers. The rescue operation that followed was carried out by a joint British SAS/SBS taskforce and would go down as one of the most perilous covert operations of the twenty-first century. A combined aerial and amphibious assault caught the West Side Boys and their notorious commander, Foday Kallay, off guard, allowing the British to successfully rescue all of the gang's hostages. One soldier died alongside scores of militiamen in heavy fighting that lasted for hours.
Anti-Piracy Operations, Indian Ocean/Somali Coast
While last year's capture of the merchant vessel Maersk Alabama off Mogadishu by Somali pirates garnered the most press, this was neither the first (nor the last) vessel to fall prey to raiders on that dangerous stretch of ocean. A number of high profile rescue operations (and interdicting actions) have targeted the pirates of this region, though its problems don't seem to be getting better anytime soon.
The Falklands War
In 1982, the United Kingdom and Argentina went to war over the disputed sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. While geography effectively limited the scope of the conflict (and its toll on human life), it still played host to some of the most daring and unorthodox commando raids ever conceived. The most compelling of these were never actually carried out — one saw British commandos parachuting in to "neutralize" pilots of the Argentine Air Force in their barracks, and was written off as being too risky (and too motivated by revenge), despite the security it might have lent to the ships of the Royal Navy.
The 38th Parallel
No stretch of border is more hotly contested — this four-kilometer swath of land separating North and South Korea is under constant surveillance. A handful of real life crossings have been recorded, and as improbable as these may seem, the one's we haven't heard about are undoubtedly even more spectacular. As one of the last remaining vestiges of the Cold War, the 38th Parallel (and the Korean peninsula in general) is a place where clandestine operations aren't the exception — they're the norm.
Let me make myself perfectly clear: I'm not suggesting that setting war games in real theaters of operation can by itself change the generally callous nature of this entertainment. At the same time, if writers had to think a little bit harder about the ramifications of their stories, players might actually receive more from the genre besides thumb blisters and a gross misunderstanding of why humanity goes to war in the first place.
Games are perhaps too problematic when it comes to telling these sort of war stories.
For one thing, a serious depiction of war and the issues surrounding it wouldn't and shouldn't be fun to play. I think books and movies have more freedom to portray these kind of situations since they don't have to worry about interactivity and gratification.
There also seems to be a growing stigma around games that are based in or on modern or recent conflicts. Six Days in Fallujah is a good example, though even things like Rainbow Six Vegas and the original Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter came under criticism from government officials.
It's so bad that many of these games don't directly reference where they are taking place. I hear that the original Modern Warfare never nailed down the Middle Eastern country they were in. Even television shows like 24 have been taking this route.
I don't think we're at the stage where games are capable, or even allowed to, tell a really focused, mature story when it comes to war. The only ones I've experienced that try to comment on these issues have been Metal Gear Solid 1 and 4, but they ended up playing second fiddle to Kojima's bat-shit crazy mythos and the series' paradoxical love of guns and military tech.
And certainly, there's no shame in learning about these conflicts through entertainment, as one could readily do watching the History Channel.
Each of these potential settings excites me, someone who hasn't — and won't — touch the campaign in Modern Warfare 2. An authentic African milieu would provide a lot of fresh content but, too, would direct attention to countries whose turmoil — and heroism — has gone unnoticed.