The Art of Videogame War

Does changing the name of the bad guys in a videogame help separate entertainment from reality?

Shooting a 3-D animation in the head is OK. Shooting a 3-D animation in a U.S. army uniform is OK. Shooting a 3-D animation in a U.S. army uniform as a Taliban insurgent is not OK.

At least not according to the U.S. Army and EA executives. In a new game, designers made the bad guys Taliban insurgents, and in multi-player mode players could play as the Taliban pitted against U.S. soldiers. The U.S. military banned the game from army bases, igniting a slew of protests against the socio-political impact of such realistic depiction.

EA has responded by changing the name of the bad guys in the game to simply the “opposing forces,” and now everyone seems happy to virtually shoot each other in the head again. The army may even reverse the ban.

The most troubling question isn't why we play these games – that's been debated already – but rather why changing the name of the bad guys makes such a difference.

EA executives complained that movies are allowed to depict real-life conflicts, but video games can't. EA president Frank Gibeau even referenced the recipient of last year's best picture award, The Hurt Locker, as an example: "At EA we passionately believe games are an art form, and I don’t know why films and books set in Afghanistan don’t get flak, yet [games] do," he told the Develop-Online website. "Whether it’s Red Badge Of Courage or The Hurt Locker, the media of its time can be a platform for the people who wish to tell their stories. Games are becoming that platform."

In the realm of animation, there is an obstacle that plagues artists and animators known as the “uncanny valley.” The term refers to a phenomenon most commonly observed in robotics: when a robot reaches an almost life-like state, it suddenly goes from being cute to repulsive to the human mind. When animation becomes too realistic, it is no longer appealing.

Ernst Jenstch first articulated the notion of the “uncanny valley” in a 1906 paper entitled “On the Psychology of the Uncanny.” In the paper, Jenstch described the psychological state of discomfort one feels when encountering life-like objects.

The shiver down the spine we experience when we see a picture of a robot that looks like a person but doesn't act perfectly human is common and somewhat objective. But maybe there is also an “uncanny valley” of social issues – a line when the virtual becomes too real and something just doesn't feel right.

Yes, directors can depict real violence in films and have everyone leaving the theatre feeling excited. But, as much as video games want to be compared to films, they are a totally different art form. They demand action from the audience. As the artistic form of 3-D art is nearly perfect, the emotional blows of a video game are much more visceral than those of a film or play. In a video game you can feel an adrenaline rush, but if you push too far you can start to feel queasy.

With that in mind, the reaction to the portrayal of the Taliban in EA's new game makes sense. For those who have experienced direct conflict with the Taliban (such as the military and military families), the depiction of the enemy in the game felt too real. Just like the human-looking robot whose eyes are eerily vacant, players of Medal of Honor sensed and reacted to the fact that something wasn't right.

Did EA remedy the problem with a simple name change? The location, look, and feel of the game didn't change at all. The content of the game is exactly the same. What the name change does do, though, is distance the game just a little bit more from the edge of the “uncanny valley.” And maybe that's enough to relieve the discomfort of the emotional blow.