In our generation more and more games are reflecting the concepts of reality, as these games are becoming more real we are playing these games more and more and therefore it has more of an involvement in our lives, and as these games are becoming more real and improving with the growing technology is this attracting consumer? Call of duty and Grand theft auto is the two texts that I have chosen as good examples; the reason for this is because these two games stand out from most games in terms of realism.
Grand theft auto is a play station franchise that goes back way over the years in terms of the historical context, with the first game being released in 1997/1998 with Grand theft auto : 1969 and Grand theft auto : 1961 being released on march 31st 1999. The games are based on the topic of crime, but each game over the years has introduced to the audience the key themes of which the games contain, ones such as love, loss, power, betrayal, family and friendship, as these key themes are present in the games then that is a contributing factor in the audience coming to love the narrative in the way they see it. Call of duty itself in comparison to grand theft auto also has a historical context behind it, the first call of duty game being released in 2003 and simulates the infantry and combined arms or World War 2.
The modern warfare trilogy that started on the 11th of May 2007, is based on the year 2011 and is set in the Middle East and focuses on a civil war which takes place in Russia, the game is based on survival, team work and strategy, using real life weapons and locations throughout the game. For each call of duty game that has been released, infinity ward which are the game developing institution that is behind call of duty has improved and delivered and have disappointed in terms of the quality of the contents and the storyline. ‘The single player story brings the modern warfare saga to a fairly definitive end, then is cause for celebration, call of duty retains its crown as the shooter’s genre biggest, bloodiest rollercoaster ride’ this review has been published on the euro gamers’ website as tribute to the last instalment to the modern warfare trilogy. Gaming has become increasing involved within our lives over the past decade, and while technology is advancing everyday this causes the developers of different games to advance alongside it, consistently keeping the quality of the games that they produce to the satisfactory of the public.
Each grand theft auto game has a different storyline in which the audience can play a different character, each grand theft game has improved over the years so the audience can get to experience the settings and the game play and do new and different things, but over the years as the grand theft auto games have been improving is this a bad thing and has the game gone too far in terms of what reality the game is trying to reflect? Most of the grand theft auto games over the years have been linked to a particular character trying to find their place in the world, being accepted and starting over. For each of the call of duty games, it reflects reality on the concept of war as it focuses on the armies of America. The storylines of each game has a part to play in the realness of the game and how each game reflects a part of reality that the audience can see and interpret, to critics of IGN grand theft auto has been a game worthy of its name, by stating that ‘every facet of rockstar’s new masterpiece is worthy of applause’.
Each franchise contains contents, in which allows the audience to get the most out of the game, for example each franchise such as grand theft auto and call of duty is well known in their role for their multiplayer content, the multiplayer content that each game maintains allows people to play against friends and people from around the world, all at the same time, multiplayer is one of the key formats when discussion the reflection of reality in gaming, the idea that you can compete against other people adds realism and excitement to the game. In the multiplayer for Grand theft auto 4, the audience can do a variety of activities, from free roaming, to races, and death match in which the task is to eliminate the other players within the game, the audience is also allowed to customize their own characters giving them different clothes and styles, in which you can also do in reality also. The multiplayer format for the grand theft auto is reflected through e-media in which consists of website that focuses entirely on the grand theft auto multiplayer format, in which the audience can get information and tips in which they can get the best out of the game. For the call of duty franchise the multiplayer format is a gaming a phenomenon, the multiplayer format across the games is more preferable than the storyline itself, it allows the fans to get the real experience of the game, and interact with friends, using strategic game play and real life weapons so it makes the audience feel like they are literally in the experience of the game, this in itself is important to my topic is the reason being that the audience gets a chance to experience the ‘real’ potential of the game with their friends and other people in different places.
Postmodernism is one of the main theories that link with my CI, one of the main concepts of postmodernism is the way it conceptualises with media and reality. The postmodernism theory has a major part to play in these two successful franchises, these two franchises throughout the year has taken different bits of realities and manipulated them to our own entertainment purposes, this includes things that you can do in the game, that would be near enough impossible to do in real life. For example the setting of the franchise is based in three locations, Liberty City, which is new York, Vice City, which is Miami, and San Andreas, in which is San Francisco, the buildings that they use and the vehicles and people in the game, makes it all that real, but still keeping in mind that it is just a game, they make up the names for these places, so it is not mirror imaging reality too much. For call of duty the same applies, the locations of the games have been placed in places such as afghan, Middle East, Russia etc. With the game using real life weapons, it adds realism and professional experience to the game and that is what the audience loves and that is what they want in games such as Call of duty.
Feminism is another theory that I have researched that has a link to my CI question, for the call of duty franchise there is a lack of femininity, the gender demographic for this text is dominated by males, due to the violence and the blood content that is in the game, call of duty wouldn’t seem like a game that that females would be particularly interested in, due to this occurrence it can be said that as call of duty have more of the male demographical audience then it creates this masculine ideology to the idea that if they had to see or hear a female excessively speaking about call of duty then it would be seen as weird, the reason why feminism in terms of call of duty is important to my CI topic is because, in the real world wars are fought mainly by men, and it is rare to find a female in the army, speaking in the historical context mainly in WW1&2 women would stay at home and the men would go out and fight for their country, on the other hand in the grand theft auto franchise the femininity is balanced within the game, particularly in grand theft auto 4 there are female characters who have dominant roles in which they are bosses who have authority, for example in my CI investigation I have included posters of the game in which consists of the females that are involved in the game, for the females their stances is one of dominance and power, hands on the hips shows authority and demand, and that can be seen through the picture, also in one of the pictures the character is holding a gun, this creates the ideology that it is not only the males in the games that call the shots throughout the game. This particular theory applies to my CI in the idea that women in reality have authority and women are also capable of having the same amount of power that men have, as in the earlier days women were represented by the male gaze.
The postmodernism theory would be the most key that would answer my CI on the idea of how games in our 21st century is reflecting different realities because of the things that the audience can do within the game, and the content of what the games contains, the settings and style of both games also has a part to play in the realness and the feel of each game that is brought across to the audience. Every game such as grand theft auto and call of duty follows the conventional structure that every game abides by, the fact that these games are put into motion to entertain and intrigue the audience, giving them something to talk about and remember in the long term, there is a considerable debate over postmodernism when it occurs.
In terms of my critical investigation, it’s important to know what type of realities do the games reflect and are these games going too far in order for that to happen? These games first of all reflect the postmodernism theory there are factors in the game that can be mimicked in the real world, and these can either have a positive or a negative effect on the audience, in my research i uncovered that Grand theft auto: vice city was to blame for a person illegally stealing a car and killing witnesses that may have been involved, for the institutions of these games this is not a good sign, if these games are supposedly making people do these kind of things then what kind of example is the games setting for the audience who are playing these games. The type of reality that the grand theft auto franchise is bringing across is that of crime, power, love, loss, status and reputation, and these are the key theme that are present into the modern reality in our everyday lives. With call of duty the entire franchise reflects the reality of warfare and conflict, a topic that is extremely present into today’s reality and something that is definitely on going, but the way the game portrays the warfare and the media language that is maintains, that is what makes the game postmodern.
For both my texts that I have researched for my CI, there is more to the games than just playing them, this is reflected through, the three media platforms, e-media, print and broadcast, for grand theft auto, the reason why the games have become so huge and as quoted ‘the highest rated PS3 game of all time’ is because of the way the game has brought itself to the audience and what the audience can do with the games that are being released linking in with the uses and gratification theory by Roland Barthes. M.I.G.R.I.A.N can be touched on in terms of my critical investigation and the idea that games in our 21st century is reflecting different realities. Giving a overview of each of the aspects of M.I.G.R.I.A.N for the Call of duty franchise, the media language involved in the game starts off with varied camera angles, the game is set in 1st person, which makes the audience feel as if they are literally part of the game, in reality it would be exactly how a soldier would be in war, everything would be coming at them, all at once in a life or death situation, the connotations of the colours that is used in the games are dark and bleak, setting off a dark atmosphere to the game, and that is how it normally is into today’s reality of warfare. The institutions involved with the franchise includes is the developers of the game which is infinity ward and treyarch, these two intuitions had made most of the call of duty games and the ones responsible for the success of the franchise. The media institutions that is involved in the game are ones such as, face book, YouTube, IGN, Gamescom, they sort out the info in the game, the sponsors and what you can expect from the game. The genre that is being focused on is gaming, in relation to my CI call of duty and grand theft auto is my main focus. The representation that is being brought across the audience is that of violence, heroism, and dedication, the game is based on war and the result of that in my research these themes are being shown, and these are the themes also that are being resulted in reality also. The target audience for call of duty is preferably teenagers, but adults are also involved in the target audience as well in terms of playing the game. The ideologies of call of duty that is being put cross is the idea of ‘being a hero’ and ‘fighting for your country’ as playing the game the audience feels that they are the character itself due to the first person game play which in that factor adds to the realness of the game, finally the game brings across a cinematic narrative, the mise-en-scene of parts of the game is quite shocking, so that adds intrigue to the audience. For the grand theft auto franchise the M.I.G.R.A.I.N differs, the media language of the game is a variety, as an audience it allows you to change the camera angles of the game in which you want to play in, but only while on the move, unlike call of duty, the view is in 3rd person, so it is as if you are following the characters every move, the colours of the game in terms of the setting is bright and vibrant and doesn’t have that dark edge as call of duty has. The institutions that is involved in the game is rockstar which are the developers of the game and have been since the beginning, on the media platforms the institutions that are involved are the same as call of duty, giving the audience reviews, ratings, and information about what is in each game. The genre of grand theft auto is also gaming and focuses entirely on that, the representation that that the game brings across are those to do with, status, power, reputation, control, love, loss, friendship, family and revenge, these are the themes that are present in reality today and that is the link that the game is reflecting. The ideology of grand theft auto is mainly to do with ‘The American dream’ this is the sort of reality I uncovered in my research, and the narrative of the game is also cinematic, with the cut scenes that the game contains.
The historical context of each game is also important, the audience can come to know and understand how the franchises has grown up and change throughout our generation, and as how each game improves it is reflecting reality more and more. Each of the franchises has gone way back and the audience of today can have that nostalgic feeling remember how the first game use to be and by this a comparison can made with the first game and the latest game and only then can we see the difference and how it has improved for the better.
In conclusion and referring back the two franchises of call of duty and grand theft auto to my CI, I believe that in our generation of gaming, games are reflecting reality more and more by what you can do in the games and the way the games are brought to the audience. I generally think it’s a good thing and also a bad thing that games like these are becoming more real, a good thing because it attracts more of a wide-range audience and the games are more enjoyable and realistic, but also a bad thing because depending on how real it is, it perhaps has gone too far, and therefore sets a bad influence on younger people such as teens, but it’s consumers that choose what they do with the games that they play, bearing in mind it is just a game.
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