I approached the release of Modern Warfare 2 with no intention of picking up the game. I have not played a game in the series since CoD2 including the first Modern Warfare. I had no investment, nothing to gain or lose by continuing my avoidance of what could one day be considered a touchstone in the development of the FPS genre.
A weird thing happend to me. Yesterday I was at a store, paying for my copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Maybe I subconsciously wanted to be part of the ‘in’ crowd, to know what the fuss was about. I think upon reflection I wanted to play “The Level” as it has been dubbed in many a tweet these last couple of days. I wanted to be able to account for the experience it provided, to defend it in my own little microcosm of the world against those who would use it to decry one of the most important parts of my life. I did not care if it was heartless, opportunistic or careless in it’s execution or inclusion, I figured as a seasoned gamer that would not affect me much. I wanted to be informed so that I could comment.
The result: as the first shot rang out from my ‘teammates’ I paused the game. I got up and walked around the house for a bit. I sat down and started playing for a bit longer. I fired some bullets to shatter a glass roof, to ‘pretend’ I was involved in the mission. I could not be the type of warrior I had pretended to be in levels just passed. I had to take it. The feeling in my stomach was reminiscent of the time I read through Brett Easton Ellis’ American Psycho. I would finish chapters, stop and decide to stop reading, not because I did not have the opportunity to, but because I simply did not feel like it. That this game could affect me so meant that it was worth personal reflection.
As a linear narrative based shooter Modern Warfare 2 is akin to a blockbuster film in so many ways. But where it differs provides a powerful example of what makes games such an important medium for me. It challenges my expectations through it’s unique property, interactivity. Expectations are tested in cinema through narrative devices. This game does so with a challenge to my ability to take action and have a feeling of agency set up in the opening levels of the game. Modern Warfare 2 through “the level” is saying to me
“You must uncover this experience differently because it is different, accounting for the violence of the world in the game is not just about being a walking empowered gun”
Maybe I will be a action hero in this game when I laugh out loud at the spectacle of the final snow buggy jump, but I am not an action hero when playing that level.
This post was originally made on my blog: Binary Swan
