Submitted by kmojena on Fri, 02/15/2008 - 18:07.
The Rise of the Video Game documentary we saw in class brought up an interesting point about the connection between the military and video games. I had never considered the military's influence on technology with relation to video games, but it seems the two are inextricably linked. I find it funny that the same technological advancement fostered by the military for purposes of war and destruction gave way to the creation of something as recreational and lighthearted as a video game. The military's influence is evident not only in the technology itself, but in the content of video games as well. There are a lot of games out there that try to recreate the "war" experience as realistically as possible. Games like those of the Call of Duty series recreate armed conflict and allow gamers to experience it with the element of safety that Crawford discusses in his book. The violence presented is highly stylized so as to give gamers a feel for the casualties of warfare without putting them at actual risk. read more »
