MW3 "Leaked" Scene - Controversial for the sake of it, or good story telling?

[lowkey_jotunn]

This is a Modern Warfare game, folks. Storytelling, hell the whole single-player campaign, is an afterthought at best.

But they got people suckered into CODMWTOO with the whole Airport Terrorism thing. CODBLOPS had zombies. CODMWFOUR needs something to separate it from the much better game being released next Friday.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

I have to wonder what people here would be saying if they did this in BF3...

 

[Private Custard]

Anyone got a link to the video? It seems to have been copyright-buggered!

 

[Squiggers]

Good Storytelling ? BWAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!! Im sorry, but that's just too much ! If your game can only be interesting by doing cheap controversy like this it's because either the developpers are fucking desperate for sales (coming from Infinity Ward and Activision that wouldn't surprise me) or that the game can offer nothing more than a little girl being killed. It's not brilliant storytelling it's being pretentious thinking that by killing a little girl you are playing an masterpiece that will be known for ages when in reality that's a dumb attempt for sales (and the campaign WILL probably last 4 hours anyway).

I am not offended by that, it's just that i don't see the point and to me, it's really fucking low. You know people will BUY this pile of military crap BECAUSE of this specific moment. It's controversial to the eye of people who don't play games but to us, that's nothing (to me, that's desperate).

You know what ? Im disapointed...i hope at least in Modern Warfare 4 (because you fuckin' know it's gonna happen and im pretty sure that Kotick ordered that will start working on it very soon) your character will be a member of Al-Quaida and you will pilot the actual plane and go straight through the World Trade Center (don't get offended this is sarcasm, im giving an example of how low these people can go for sales).

It's not great storytelling it's a cheap attempt for poignancy points. It's just like the children's drawing on the walls in Dead Space 2. There's nothing brilliant about the game ITSELF it's more about the marketing campaign because THIS part is only there for publicity and nothing else.

But i will tell this, if this game prevents people from creating ANOTHER topic on this forum about COD:M3 (or COD in general) or Battlefield 3 for AT LEAST a month or two than, i will be able to say that this game did something right.

In comparison to some other movies and games, TV programas well...

If you read what I said originally - apart from the "Good storytelling vs Controversy" - it could be seen as a move more towards tackling subjects that were once a bit too controversial for a game to tackle. Would I have written that scene differently? Oh god yes, its not quite.. real in terms of the script there. I don't quite regard it as a pinacle of storytelling, but more a move in the right direction towards whats actually needed. Not quite Uncharted 3's level, but you get what I mean.

Still, bear in mind - in comparison to half the games most people have seen? The writing can make the eyes actually bleed.

 

[The Floating Nose]

No, i don't think the writing is that good i mean, if you play games like Monkey Island, Dark Souls (i liked the writing), i won't name the Bioware games because they are kind of in a different category, GTA Lost and Damned and Gay Tony. These games, didn't needed THAT kind of writing to make the games interesting.

But yeah, i get what you mean though, it's nice to see something that was too controversial before but now can be accepted so, you get the feeling that the industry is progressing with the writing but i just hope that not EVERY games coming out after will try and use THAT kind of writing. To me, it's just too bombastic.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

That scene did create a response in me emotionally. When my NPC buddies get blown away I just think "Oh great. Leave me with all the work" But that girl. That seemed unneeded. Not to the extent that I hate the developers for it but to the extent that as the player I would want to stop this myself.

Pretty much what I'd regard as rather good storytelling; it means that the player is more.. emotionally tied to the experience. The idea (I'd assume) is that you can imagine a similar scene happening in real life and its meant to play on that thought - and scare the crap out of you. It unnerves me, at any rate.

In the game world, you're thinking that similar scenes have just played out across other European capitals. A quite.. horrible thought. And it does give some drive to keep going/fighting to the conclusion as a result - you might be familiar to that feeling if you have a tendency to get into the plot of a film, game, or book.

All I can think is: That's it??? THAT'S what people are up in arms about?

Not only do have zero knowledge of the people being killed, but it wasn't even that shocking. No shot of the corpses? No blood or body parts from the explosion? No scene of the injured father choking to death on the chemicals as he reaches for the dead mutilated bodies of his family? And most of all, where is the scene where you stomp on her puppy and scoop up the remains with a piece of paper that has a holocaust denial written on it?!?!?!?

It's lazy. Not only is it only for shock value, but it isn't even powerful shock value.

Whilst I see your point, there is such a thing as making a statement with your storytelling, and going a bit over the top with it. Your idea might have been in the later camp if you were the writer I think.

I don't care whether its controversial or not. But I disagree with the statement that its good storytelling. It isn't.

Good storytelling is when you create a bond with a certain character by knowing them and relating to them. When that character dies, you feel a great sense of emotion. COD has never done this. Everyone you meet just talks and shoots. When they die, who cares? I met them 5 minutes ago.

You don't learn anything about that little girl or that family. Just because she's a child, your expected to feel emotion. But she had as much deph as the pixels she's made out of.

BTW, here's another link you can put up. It still has the video.
http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/224636/modern-warfare-3s-child-killing-controversy/

 

[ParanoidJester]

I thought it was incredibly tame compared to the 'No Russian' level in MW2. It was brutal gunning down someone while they were trying to drag their loved one to safety. In this the girl is gone in a flash.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

you will see similar (admittedly, horrific) scenarios in TV dramas and films, that are liable to go more in depth than this clip. As a result, i'm not really buying into the "We can't show that, its beyond the pale" when other forms of media are more than capable of showing it.

Be that as it may, we have been shown on many occassions now that video games get "special" attention from the media. A TV show can show a graphic sex scene or make repeated sexual innuendos at 7 pm in the evening, but then a game comes along (with a 15 age rating, no less) and shows half a second of alien sideboob and all of a sudden the sky is falling and our children will become psychopathic serial killers for having seen such a travesty as a naked person.

This contradiction is well known among game developers. Infinity ward obviously knew that they were going to stir up a fuss with this scene of the game, and probably want it to be attacked by the media for the sake of increased sales. Like it or not, while we were all raging at the injustice of fox news attacking Mass Effect for it's "sexual" content, Bioware were laughing all the way to the bank.

To me, this doesn't really seem like a mature theme that is intended to develop games as an art form. A scene in which a bunch of people get killed horribly isn't really "mature", it's actually quite childish because it's so blatant, and about as subtle as a bull in a china shop. It's a bit like when The Witcher came out, and everybody praised it for having "mature content" when the extent of any maturity the game had was every male character swearing like they're Brian Blessed and all the female characters getting their tits out at every available opportunity, which is about as far removed from real maturity as you can get.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Let us be honest here: You don't get good, deep storytelling out of a work that focuses mostly on the protagonist killing hundreds of people in a violent fashion. It doesn't matter if the protagonist is Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris or some nameless U.S Marine controlled by a gamer, an action flick or an action game isn't suited for deep narratives or thoughtful exposition.

The point of Call of Duty is to get your military action freak on. The very emphasis of the game is that you kill people in warzones. Simply because it is freaking awesome to pretend to be a heroic soldier fighting for the free world. It is the game equivalent of the 80's action flicks, lots of explosions and people dying and an excuse plot to get to the explosions and killing.

There's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes mindless fun is just mindless fun. But let us try not to bullshit something about how CoD or BF is focusing on immersive stories, because it is blatantly false. They just want the player to gasp in awe at the awesome setpieces.