No Russian (My personal opinion)

Zarni made note of this in his recent post, but for those of you who do not know, No Russian is a level in the game Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. The mission situates the player as one of five members of a Russian terrorist group that is tasked with causing carnage throughout one of Russia's international airport.

This is his post: http://ftvms212-328-2012.blogspot.com/2012/01/violence-and-controversy.html

Zarni noted that Call of Duty's No Russian exemplified the relationship between game violence and their appeal to gamers; namely the controversial “virtual slaughter” and the media hype surrounding it 2 weeks before its release. Undeniably, this seriously helped in raising attention about this game's release to everyone; unsurprisingly, sales soared. A key note in his article was that this particular mission demonstrates choice on behalf of the player: whether to partake in the slaughter of innocent civilians, to refrain from shooting at all, or to skip this sequence entirely.

When I played through this mission, I had an odd gaming experience.

1. On the one hand, I felt somewhat compelled to join in with the shooting, as if I was an actor in a role. I felt this bizarre urge participate in the sequence as if I was deeply associated with the narrative, and that my unwillingness to shoot would seem unfulfilling to the story. The fact that the game limits you to walking the same pace as the other characters made you feel even more apart of the sequence. Imagine I was acting in a dramatic scene in a film where I decided not to speak and just stood there; it was that exact feeling.

2. On the other hand, my desire to not shoot the civilians rested on my personality. Whenever I play any moral-choice game, I typically follow the path of the “good guy”. Shooting the civilians thus flew in the face of that decision.
3. Also, skipping the whole sequence was unthinkable. I paid $100 for a game and refuse to play an important sequence like this? Ridiculous. Besides, even though it is violent, it was one of the most emotionally charged pinnacles of the series.

What is common among these three options is this: I was always fully conscious of knowing that what I am playing a purely virtual world, and in no way real. I knew I wasn't shoot real people, or doing any harm to anyone.

Actually, speaking of which, I thought I might as well also mentions something which constantly bugs me. A lot of people that are against FPS games say that these games train teenagers to shoot and kill people. HOW!? Anyone who has ever picked up a pistol and fired it would know that the dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and simple feel of it is totally different to pushing some buttons on a keyboard or controller.

If anything, the remote control that we use to change channels on a television has more potential to train us to handle weapons.