U.S. Spec Ops Veteran: Modern Warfare 3 Commercial a "New Low"
- Thread starter Hevva
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I would ask if people are offended by portrayal of service men and women in G.I. Joe?
I'm guessing most wouldn't because its so ridiculous and over the top that it lost all relation to its serious-based on real life roots; same with CoD series. It so over the top-silly in its portrayal of war that you can't find it offensive. Do you look at the CoD series and say "Wow, look at what the men and women in today's military have to face." or is it more "Dude! I just ramped a snowmobile over a canyon while duel wielding Uzis."
BTW, I have a family member serving in Afghanistan at this point, and he and his buddies play CoD in their spare time. I think it says something when soldiers see this game as an escape from reality rather than more of the same crap they see everyday.
Does the game simplify warfare? yes but to such a juvenile degree that its no different than giving a kid a bag of army men and letting him play with those.
I'm guessing most wouldn't because its so ridiculous and over the top that it lost all relation to its serious-based on real life roots; same with CoD series. It so over the top-silly in its portrayal of war that you can't find it offensive. Do you look at the CoD series and say "Wow, look at what the men and women in today's military have to face." or is it more "Dude! I just ramped a snowmobile over a canyon while duel wielding Uzis."
BTW, I have a family member serving in Afghanistan at this point, and he and his buddies play CoD in their spare time. I think it says something when soldiers see this game as an escape from reality rather than more of the same crap they see everyday.
Does the game simplify warfare? yes but to such a juvenile degree that its no different than giving a kid a bag of army men and letting him play with those.
It's even more insulting that they keep miss spelling Afghanistan in that trailer. And how it looks so much like a lot of cities in Europe.
Seriously, the guy has a point about war and trivializing it, but this is an advert for a fictional game. Hell people are already doing this kind of thing online anyway, so how is showing it in an advert any different?
Seriously, the guy has a point about war and trivializing it, but this is an advert for a fictional game. Hell people are already doing this kind of thing online anyway, so how is showing it in an advert any different?
It's a playful commercial for a game. It is different from the black ops one since the guys are kitted out like soldiers but i still think it's a far stretch to say that it is endorsing real war as fun. I'm a soldier going through training right now, and a fairly decent CoD and Battlefield player. If anything those games have reinforced for me the sense of danger inherent in modern combat. I play those games with a sense of caution for my own digital life, I would certainly be even more cautious in a real firefight, doing only what is necessary to complete the mission and guard the lives of my fellow soldiers.
I do take some exception to the "soldier in all of us" slogan, a gamer, pro, or warrior perhaps. In the end though it's all just entertainment.
I do take some exception to the "soldier in all of us" slogan, a gamer, pro, or warrior perhaps. In the end though it's all just entertainment.
Good Lord, this was pretty much my exact reaction to that commercial, although I'm not a soldier.
While I don't particularly approve of the advert, or really anything that... puts video games in a real life setting if that makes sense, I don't see how it's any worse than any gung-ho action army film. I'd say that the advert is more a parody of those films than anything to do with war itself.
I agree with the article though, I'm just trying to look at it from someone elses perspective.
I agree with the article though, I'm just trying to look at it from someone elses perspective.
I actually think those are some of the best video game commercials I have seen in a long time. But Hey! I never fought in a war, but I also never bought the game
I dont even know where i stand
I dont even know where i stand
Meh, I have no problem with it. It's the world of the game they are living in. He dies to a mine in the first scene. It's simply showing the progression from a new player (including 'noob tubing'), to a seasoned veteran who knows the way to play.
It's funny too.
It's funny too.
The one thing about this ad which irks me isn't related to the article's topic at all.
See, the Veteran character is being helpful towards the n00b (which they go out of the way to spell like this). If anything, the CoD player base is notorious for its examples of immaturity, childish cruelty and overall lack of sensitivity training. Newcomers to the game are honestly lucky if they can find someone who's half as helpful as Worthington's character is being.
So it's depicting CoD like it's some sort of equal-opportunity game, where accomplished players are a bit grizzled, sure, but helpful. Having played the first Modern Warfare for years on end and being apparently doomed to being called a n00b (in the derogatory sense), I feel that Activision's not really aware of what its cash-cow franchise is really resting on.
As for the article's actual point, I'll join many others in saying that MW3 isn't even trying to be serious. In a game where quick-scoping is the norm and where pistols are used akimbo (something which no Army ever would advocate for safety reasons), I think lambasting the franchise for taking a casual stance on something dramatic is a little useless. It's as if the criminalized groups in Montreal took offence to how Saints Row The Third depicts gang warfare.
See, the Veteran character is being helpful towards the n00b (which they go out of the way to spell like this). If anything, the CoD player base is notorious for its examples of immaturity, childish cruelty and overall lack of sensitivity training. Newcomers to the game are honestly lucky if they can find someone who's half as helpful as Worthington's character is being.
So it's depicting CoD like it's some sort of equal-opportunity game, where accomplished players are a bit grizzled, sure, but helpful. Having played the first Modern Warfare for years on end and being apparently doomed to being called a n00b (in the derogatory sense), I feel that Activision's not really aware of what its cash-cow franchise is really resting on.
As for the article's actual point, I'll join many others in saying that MW3 isn't even trying to be serious. In a game where quick-scoping is the norm and where pistols are used akimbo (something which no Army ever would advocate for safety reasons), I think lambasting the franchise for taking a casual stance on something dramatic is a little useless. It's as if the criminalized groups in Montreal took offence to how Saints Row The Third depicts gang warfare.
Videogames, or even films and books for that matter, have always trivialised and glamorised war for the sake of making a quick buck. I guess Modern Warfare 3 might be a new low, but that's not saying much.
Ever see those soldier recruitment videos on Fahrenheit 911? That looked like something out of an action movie!
The British Armed Forces videos aren't much better...
So, yeah, what's changed?
Ever see those soldier recruitment videos on Fahrenheit 911? That looked like something out of an action movie!
The British Armed Forces videos aren't much better...
So, yeah, what's changed?
What does this ad do for a game? It just just informs us that multiplayer ... exists? Not showing how different it is from competitors (I still remember the ad for COD that introduced perks - it was good), not giving a sneak-peak at player-generated narrative (like EVE-O's ad for Tyrannis expansion - this one is a classic)
It just informs us that multiplayer... exists.
It gives a shout out to COD's target audience.
At the expense of being offensive to a vocal group capable of actually influencing public opinion about games in general and this game in particular.
And at the cost of tens of millions of USD.
You know, I feel that Activision is making so much money on the franchize, that it metaphorically flips a bird to most of the consumers on the market. Because it can.
And because COD's target audience will think Activision is "cool" and "rad" for doing that - and continue buying their games.
This ad is an equivalent of Michael Bay's "transformer with balls". He can't be so oblivious that he does not understand it to be an extreme of bad taste. But a) he knows some people will love it, b) he makes so much money anyway, that he just does not care.
It just informs us that multiplayer... exists.
It gives a shout out to COD's target audience.
At the expense of being offensive to a vocal group capable of actually influencing public opinion about games in general and this game in particular.
And at the cost of tens of millions of USD.
You know, I feel that Activision is making so much money on the franchize, that it metaphorically flips a bird to most of the consumers on the market. Because it can.
And because COD's target audience will think Activision is "cool" and "rad" for doing that - and continue buying their games.
This ad is an equivalent of Michael Bay's "transformer with balls". He can't be so oblivious that he does not understand it to be an extreme of bad taste. But a) he knows some people will love it, b) he makes so much money anyway, that he just does not care.
Seems like it was meant to be comedic or parody to me when I watched it. But then again I'm not a soldier.
I agree with the "there's a soldier in all of us bit" but that's all I agree with, to me it just seems like a live reenactment of a bunch of standard COD matches, I find it fairly amusing,
I don't really understand why he's targeting the trailer (unless he realised it's more likely to get a response). Surely complaining about the game itself is more relevant, since it has an equally awful attitude to war, except that it's 5 hours long.
Maybe it's a case of as gamers we can understand the context (they are in the game, its an experienced player coaching a bad one) but to normal people it might look kind of offensive.
Since I'm seeing it from the POV of a gamer it's hard to disconnect myself from the intended context and see it as being taken the other way.
His viewpoint is completely understandable if you look at it like that, I think.
Since I'm seeing it from the POV of a gamer it's hard to disconnect myself from the intended context and see it as being taken the other way.
His viewpoint is completely understandable if you look at it like that, I think.
Personally I just find it annoying and way too fucking long. I can live with having to watch a commercial before my video on youtube, but can you please keep them under a minute long for christ sake? And yes I know many give the option to skip after a few seconds but it gets irritating after the first dozen times hearing the same 5-6 seconds of the same annoying commercial. Yes we get it, he's a dumb noob online, its not that funny.
The ad's second-worst crime is to make shooting guns and blowing stuff up seem boring. The worst crime is having Sam Worthington in it.
The commercial is stupid inaccurate and offensively trivalising all at the same time IMO and while people who rag on video game violence are usually wrong its always because they tout the game as being "Too Realistic" which is dumb because games are almost always not and if they are the realism doesn't glorify anything, but actually brings to light why you wan't yourself as far away from the subject matter as possible. He gives a far more agreeable complaint thet if a game wants to be crazy pointless mindless fun it shouldn't pretend it makes you a great soldier or whatever.
As much as I despise what has happened to the Call of Duty series, like the lack of real changes, I don't agree with this guy for one reason: This ad explains the Call of Duty game.
If Call of Duty were trying to be a realistic shooter, and not Battlefield 3 realistic but Americas Army or Six Days in Fallujah real, then I could understand being upset about this particular ad. I can understand this soldier being upset about how the media industry makes a horrible human event into a game that people play for fun, but he cannot single out this ad.
Call of Duty isn't a war game in my opinion, it is a shooter. And while I love the Battlefield series despite EA's attempts to change it, I consider Battlefield a shooter also. I wouldn't comment on an article if it was about the whole genre of modern shooters, but to single out this seems like a stunt. The problem with this guy's arguement is simply that while I can understand being offended, picking on the wrong ads for the wrong games takes away all credibility. And I fear this may be a stunt, not by him but by the press.
War and games don't belong together, but they do in this society, focus on that and not an advertisement for an arcade style shooter that is played by kids and adults.
Also, how is this ad worse than a Battlefield 3 showing its "realistic" footage set to the sound of rap song focusing around a sexist slur? Thats what makes this seem staged is the way Battlefield 3, as much as I love it, isn't the offender.
If Call of Duty were trying to be a realistic shooter, and not Battlefield 3 realistic but Americas Army or Six Days in Fallujah real, then I could understand being upset about this particular ad. I can understand this soldier being upset about how the media industry makes a horrible human event into a game that people play for fun, but he cannot single out this ad.
Call of Duty isn't a war game in my opinion, it is a shooter. And while I love the Battlefield series despite EA's attempts to change it, I consider Battlefield a shooter also. I wouldn't comment on an article if it was about the whole genre of modern shooters, but to single out this seems like a stunt. The problem with this guy's arguement is simply that while I can understand being offended, picking on the wrong ads for the wrong games takes away all credibility. And I fear this may be a stunt, not by him but by the press.
War and games don't belong together, but they do in this society, focus on that and not an advertisement for an arcade style shooter that is played by kids and adults.
Also, how is this ad worse than a Battlefield 3 showing its "realistic" footage set to the sound of rap song focusing around a sexist slur? Thats what makes this seem staged is the way Battlefield 3, as much as I love it, isn't the offender.