Capture the Objective: postmodernism, creativity and Call of Duty.

Lisa Fortescue-Poole explains how "playing one of the most controversial and popular video games  of all time can become an act of resistance, an example of postmodernism in action, and contribute to your theoretical understanding."

Guerrilla postmodernism

She explains that the very act of studying a video game is a postmodernism one. "To step away from the 'high culture' choices of of Tarantino and the Coen Brothers and embrace a popular text may be an act of resistance against what german theorist Andreas Huyssens has called 'the rentless hostility to mass culture'.1" Not only is teaching Call of Duty an act of Guerrilla postmodernism, it is a particularly engaging area of study for students who can validate their wealth of prior knowledge on the subject". The creativity process of gameplay is an essential component of its appeal. This will create a very engaging subject that many students will have endless debates on about certain meanings to an ever growing and complex narrative throughout a video game series with plenty of hidden meanings to be uncovered, as much as many of the mass medias and even more.

Postmodernism and Call of Duty

Infinity Wards highly successful video game Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 earned $550 million in 5 days. More than many mass mediums could. In November 2009, gamers booked time off work and skipped school to complete the campaign and gain excessive knowledge of online maps to gain an advantage over other online players that would join them later in the day in the battleground. This is often the same for many blockbuster games that tend to be released from September to December.

She also mentions how this was coupled with media scare stories about the optional amoral campaign level 'No Russian'; predictably these were based on the hyperdermic theory of audience. She then explains about how it is not just simply addicting but the video game as many others is intellectually compelling about the creative process of gaming known as ludology and the element of immersion into the world of the game based on many postmodern features which i full agree with.

Objective : Explain how videogames can explore the changes in relationship between the audience and the text. 

Lisa now goes on to explain how the audience become immersed in video games and how it is the level of immersion that characterizes a modern gaming using Call of Duty as an example.

Her first point is the First person perspective which is the games main genre type (First person shooter). You can only see your hands holding a gun of your choice as you look forward and this makes you feel almost as if you are actually holding the gun yourself and have full control. This perspective demands your participation in the text with certain unusual acts throughout the narrative such as climbing over a snowy mountain or pulling a dagger out of your own body. The first person perspective is what makes many video games of today so immersing.

Her second point is simply the three dimensional mise-en-scene. She explains that the graphics quality also works to immerse the player into the game with its life like settings. She also makes reference to Wolfenstein 3D (1992) to show how much more sophisticated modern gaming is. The detail within the mise-en-scene is what ultimately renders the game realistic. She then explains how one of the levels in the campaign is based on the real Moscow Airport and set out exactly to feel as if you are actually in the airport.

And lastly the diegetic sound in certain scenes such as elevator music changes throughout levels and the emotional dialogue from certain characters that can convince you motivate you to keep going and can even become emotional yourself and satisfies the audience need to belong. The engagement of the player through the combined use of these elements shifts the relationship between and individual and a stand alone text where traditionally there is no connection. 

She then explains that when she showed her class a Call of Duty video of a Call of Duty 4 level on YouTube they didn't get the same amount of immersion due to not having any control and was nothing like the experience of playing the game. It is the act of creative play which is essential to the gaming experience. 

Objective: use video games to explain postmodern identity

Lisa explains that "Even though in this game you do not choose you identity there is still a sense in which postmodern gaming identity is not static. For the post modern female, the hyperreal state of maleness presents an intriguing variation. The modernist definition of a fixed impenetrable single identity is completely challenged. 

She also explains that during online play we have social 'Identity' we often play as a team and can also join clans for a more permanent identity. The fact that identities can be swapped, invented and multiplied is essential in understanding the postmodernist representation of itself. 


Objective: Explain how the gamer has become the author 


Lisa now explains that in the level 'All Ghilled up' (Call of Duty 4) there are various routes over a Russian field that you can take symbolizing the Micro-Narrative. Following Captain Macmillans lead the player can cross the field in several ways providing the patrol are not alerted an the radio active areas are avoided. Although there is an overarching narrative to this level - the checkpoint must be reached - the micro narrative  is the players individual chosen route. This creative compelling component accounts for much of the appeal of the game, a component that is directly sourced from postmodernist belief that we are all 'authors'.


 She also explains the freedom you have in online in the sandbox maps, Providing you complete the objectives of course such as Capturing the flag in 'Domination'. You are free to explore the map in whichever way you want and hide or fight in every corner of the map. This 'Sandbox' feel encourages much more creative freedom in the online play. The actions and each decision that is made during the game forms the gamers own micro-narrative or story of success in this session.


Objective complete

Lisa rounds this off by saying "The analysis of Call of Duty 4 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 in an academic context proves how useful postmodernism is in accounting for the popularity of texts in our contemporary world. It heralds the emergence of an audience who functions creatively within the text. The evolving and exciting sphere of video games is a source that we should embrace, as Julian McDougall has argued. It provides a wealth of media that is accessible and enjoyable and because of its ‘popular feel’ provides us with an accessible basis from which to explore some of the more challenging concepts for A2 Media."

(Lisa teaches Media Studies at Countesthorpe Community College and is a serious gamer.)


Sources
Appignanesi and Garrat Postmodernism
Brooker: Gameswipe (BBC4)
Butler and Ford: Postmodernism
McDougall: 'How to teach videogames' (Lecture)



Key Quotations. 

"To step away from the 'high culture' choices of of Tarantino and the Coen Brothers and embrace a popular text may be an act of resistance against what german theorist Andreas Huyssens has called 'the rentless hostility to mass culture'."