http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115007-U-S-Spec-Ops-Veteran-Modern-Warfare-3-Commercial-a-New-Low

Apparently an Afghanistan vet thinks that this MW3 commercial "trivializes combat and sanitizes war to an extreme."

Personally, I wasn't all that offended by it, but on the other hand, I'm not a military vet of any sort and have no idea what it would be like to be in actual combat, then come home and see that being used as cheap entertainment. Then again, is the commercial's "war is KICKASS Y'ALL!" attitude really all that more offensive than that of just about any other FPS out there? Or does MW's depiction of "realistic" (relatively speaking) modern war make its callousness all the worse?

I don't know what to think. But I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I think Mr. Grady makes a damn fine set of points. War is hell, and it shouldn't be trivialized the way it is in that commercial.

Arstechnica has a great opinion piece on this:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2012/01/modern-warfare-3-ads-dont-sanitize-war-they-reveal-games-truth.ars

Sure it does trivialise war. So what?

I can certainly see his perspective.

I don't think it's the only valid perspective.

But it's fair to bear it in mind. When you try to imagine this from the perspective of someone who has seen real warfare, real friends die, I can see why you would find it a bit.. wrong.

All War Games in general trivialize war. War is not a game. If you have a problem with the commercial you must also have a problem with the game IMO. I loved this commercial the first time I saw it on TV and immediately thought this is how any noob learns from a better player. Great Commercial.

American Culture has trivialized War. It's not just games, but Television, movies, books, comics. America didn't even raise taxes when the Iraq and Afghanistan wars started, even the material cost is ignored by the country. Only the real Soldiers know what war is like and no one in the civilian realm get it, not even the government. The Ad does no damage that hasn't already been done.

I completely agree.

I suppose from the perspective of someone who has seen real war this would be offensive, but I don't think they're trying so much to trivialize war as they are trying to depict what happens in-game. I mean, for goodness sake, they're using the word "noob" throughout the entire thing, it's hard for me to see this as anything more than a live-action representation of what happens during an actual match of MW3 (Sans slow-mo sequence).

I think it's the classic "too much, too soon." People have friends and family still fighting and dying in ways and places exactly like those a lot of games depict. Most people have no real problem with space games, or wild west games, or WWII games for the simple reason that you don't have to deal with an uncomfortable dose of reality played up for the fun factor.

So, yes, it's tasteless, but there are so many things happening in our culture that are more tasteless, I am forced to shrug and move on. I'm not a vet, though, and I haven't lost anyone close to me, so if I had I imagine I'd be a LOT more upset. I just can't lie and say I'm horrified by this specific instance of callousness.

EDIT: I just rewatched the commercial. If I had seen Taliban and dead civilians I'd be more upset. I don't see how this commercial was even about real war, and I certainly don't think they were trying to upset veterans. I guess what I said above is still probably valid for the reasons behind the upset, though.

The big problem with war games is of course, if you die you come back. In real life, it's kill or be killed. The same mentality is impossible to apply to a videogame without some kind of irreversible consequence. There's nothing inherently wrong with war games that they trivialize war of course, a majority of the people playing aren't soldiers or armed forces. Absolute serious mirror-like emulation will always be impossible to re-create. And those are the people targeted by the developers. If you want an absolutely non-trivialized war game, you need consequence that you can't reverse and a mentality that says if you lose, you've lost everything in game. The only thing though I can see being like that is something like Civilization and old RTS games like Rise of Nations.

It's Call of fucking Duty, looks who it appeals to.
Indeed.

He should play Counter-Strike.

Thanks for the most depressing thing I've heard in a while. I don't even know how to react to that :(

I've seen plenty of military recruitment ads that glamorise war.