But It's Only a Game: Military-Themed First Person Shooters and Players' Attitudes About War

Playing war is big business, and the continued development and sale of military-themed first person shooters provides a substantial portion of revenue for the video game industry. These games provide an immersive experience that allows players to participate in the excitement of armed conflict through heroic, adrenaline soaked, high octane virtual gun battles. Players experience warfare vicariously through the eyes of an abstract soldier within a virtual world, an experience that may cultivate certain opinions, attitudes, and/or values in players. To best understand how military-themed first person shooters construct, reveal, and reinforce attitudes about the military and American foreign policy regarding the continued War on Terror, I conducted a two-pronged exploratory study analyzing the narrative thematic content of the popular Call of Duty series and the beliefs and preferences of its players measured in an online survey. The results are laid out in detail in the dissertation pages that follow. Key findings include: 1) Call of Duty games released since 9/11 promote the ideas that war is constant, war is clean, and War is Cold; 2) Call of Duty players think the greatest enemies of the United States today are China, North Korea, and Russia; 3) Most Call of Duty players would never consider joining the U.S. military; and 4) Most Call of Duty players have a positive attitude towards the U.S. military and its capabilities.