United States

Press Start – Call of Duty: WWII

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Call of Duty: World War II opens against the backdrop of the D-Day invasion.

As the Higgins boat ramp drops into the water, your fellow soldiers are mowed down where they stand. Blood and bullets are flying everywhere! We’ve all seen this moment in history play out in such movies as Saving Private Ryan and even video games such as Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. For some reason though, Call of Duty: WWII makes this moment in time different. There is a human angle present, in a Call of Duty game, that I haven’t felt in a long time.

Advancing up the beach, I died over and over again. Somewhere between 10-20 times, I was killed by German bullets. The game kept telling me to crouch, which I did, but I failed to realize that the game wanted me on my belly to avoid enemy fire. Once I figured out that I could run and then hit the deck, I was good to go. But in all of my dying, I got thinking about the soldiers who didn’t make it that day.

By the end of my part in the D-Day assault, my character is told that he did a good job. He survived. And then the camera pans down to the blood on his hands.

My only complaint with Call of Duty: WWII so far is that I am finding it hard to tell my squad mates a part. Underneath helmets, characters unintentionally become “Random White Dude #1”, “Random White Dude #2 with Glasses”, and so on. I am hoping that as I continue to play, that I’ll be able to tell the guys a part. Onward and forward!

Desperation

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A good quote from a USA Today article on the US deficit:

Bowles (Erskine) has been in touch with Microsoft‘s Steve Ballmer about creating a deficit-reduction video game that would enable anyone with a computer to take a stab at balancing the budget, much like the 1994 commission did.

Updated for 2010, Kerrey says, such a game could “go viral.”

*Oh yes, the video games will save us and show us the way.

*No sarcasm intended.

To Catch Accountability

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While the rest of the United States eagerly awaited the opening of Super Bowl XLIV, I was off watching Dateline NBC’s ‘To Catch a Predator‘ marathon. For those that are not familiar with this series of investigative work, ‘To Catch a Predator’ is an elaborate series of sting operations hosted by:

Through the course of one episode –that was about all I could stomach for a night– predators from all walks of life were busted by the sting operations. Like who you may ask?

  • A minister
  • A cancer researcher
  • A father
  • A guy that had just turned 22

The list goes on. When the thought of a child predator comes to mind, one does not think of a next door neighbor or a trusted family member. Perhaps they should.

In watching the show, I was struck by how much the Internet causes a loss of community. Online, people are able to live out their wildest fantasies without any sort of consequences. Unless they are caught by a hidden camera news show like ‘To Catch a Predator’. When being interrogated, after being caught, these predators showed much remorse over their actions being revealed to others (in this case the interrogator). In light of community, of a fellow man, the act of sleeping with an child seemed revolting to these would be predators. Let’s see:

Light + Community = Accountability

Accountability somehow failed in these cases though. Many of the men that were caught were married. Why didn’t their wives know about their activities online? Not trying to fault the spouse, but this shows that no accountability system was in place. There was a failure in the system. The fact that some of these guys drove 2-4 hours just for the opportunity to sleep with a little girl, demonstrates their lack of being plugged in with others.

In our brave new digital age, being known in real life is the struggle. Anyone can act out their impulses in the obscurity of the Internet. Anyone. However, it takes a real man or woman to let themselves be known by others; to plug themselves into a community. Accountability is the fruit of living in community. Accountability is something we need more of.