i’m gonna try to keep this short because everything about the franchise exhausts me but, yes, call of duty did some stupid shit again.
this story originally appeared on ian’s video game cavalcade, my short-lived substack newsletter.
a portion of the campaign in call of duty: modern warfare 2 (no, not that modern warfare 2, a new one, because why the fuck not, christ i’m already so tired) involves playing as a mexican special forces operative who crosses the united states border in pursuit of an iranian major with connections to both cartel and terrorist groups. pretty standard fare, i’d say.
the problems arise when you pass through a trailer park and come into contact with civilians. the residents are surprised by your presence, to say the least, and it’s up to you to make sure, for your protection and theirs, that they stay out of the line of fire. but call of duty: modern warfare 2 only gives you one way to do that: point your weapon at them.
the game refers to this as “de-escalating” the situation, a chilling parallel with america’s ongoing issues with police violence. sure, you’re not technically playing as a cop during the call of duty mission in question, but the limited (not to mention counter-productive) tactics made available to you by the developers should be all too recognizable for those who have interacted with united states law enforcement, especially during the last few years of almost constant protest against their brutality.
i’m not willing to give call of duty: modern warfare 2 studio infinity ward or publisher activision the benefit of the doubt here. this fucking sucks, and with the context of previous series gaffes like hiring iran-contra affair participant oliver north, whitewashing america’s responsibility for a very real war crime, and legitimizing far-right conspiracy theories in its marketing, seriously calls their motivations into question. this is a clear example of why you shouldn’t hire a cop to write your video game.
oh, you didn’t know about that? yeah, call of duty narrative director and modern warfare 2 head writer brian bloom “attended the sheriff’s academy and served as a reserve deputy with the orange county sheriff’s department from 1998 to 2006” according to his linkedin page. fun!
tell them i died 