And now for something completely different
After a discussion with my adviser (Rex Brynen), the topic for my thesis, or at least the details, have changed rather dramatically.
The previous plan -
Now seems like a rather (very) haphazard plan to look through some literature, and analyze computer games and “the stories they tell” from a socio-political perspective and then apply that to how it might translate into public opinion on how development policy and programmes are implimented on the ground.
The new plan -
Evaluate the division (in the U.S.) between the popular culture portrayal of counter insurgency (COIN) in first person shooter (FPS) games and the reality which the army and marine corps are trying to teach to new recruits through an analysis of FM3-24 and other military documents for field training and COIN operations.
Then apply this to modern policy decisions (public, military, legal), the potential impact it has on perspectives of US interventions in mass media (i.e. non-game popular culture) both domestically and internationally, and the impact on potential recruits and soldiers who grew up with a certain view of what COIN is like only to be re-trained in something completely different.
Resources available -
The Small Wars Journal - “Small Wars Journal facilitates and supports the exchange of information
among practitioners, thought leaders, and students of Small Wars, in
order to advance knowledge and capabilities in the field.” - Blog, analysis, articles and a forum which seems to attract a large number of very intelligent/knowledgeable COIN people who might be interested in helping add a touch more reality to my analysis (me being a tree hugging liberal pacifist and all).
FM3-24 - “With our Soldiers and Marines fighting insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is
essential that we give them a manual that provides principles and guidelines for counterinsurgency operations. Such guidance must be grounded in historical studies. However, it also must be informed by contemporary experiences.”
- Completed at the end of 2006, this new field manual attempts to address the new needs of a military fighting a different kind of war. This is what the army/marine corp WANTS counter insurgency training to look like.
Undecided computer games - FPS are easily the most popular, purchased and played games around today. They have massive budgets and massive-er returns. Many involve both single player and multi-player components. I will attempt to look at both the most popular (by sales, reviews) and the most relevant from a training perspective (i.e. America’s Army, Special Ops I and II, Full Spectrum Warrior (FSW): Military and COTS versions).
Developers - With any luck, locally based game developers (current wish list: EA Montreal’s Chris Ferriera, lead designer of “Army of Two”). “Games” by their very nature have to be fun, otherwise they wouldn’t be bought, played or developed. FSW:M has a rediculously low life expectancy of something like 30 seconds vs the FSW:COTS version because it was designed as a military trainer. What choices do developers add in, leave out, why and why can’t they make them a new challenge. Why is dialog cut and dry (very little ambiguity in translation/interpretation, on local “flavour” thrown in for “authenticity”) and why dont we see more non-verbal cues (darting eyes, tell tale signs etc)
By looking at the basic ideological underpinnings of these games - what triggers what kind of response, what actions are available to the player (torture, war crimes, negotiations, interactions etc) and the outcomes those cause, end goals, character portrayal, cut scene story line, basic political tenants etc. - we can begin to see (perhaps) a difference between what the military WANTS and what people EXPECT.
To bring this back to the development thesis is is supposed to be, a look at how games create expectations during the formative years of a person’s life (majority of players are in the x-y age group, who may or may not have opinions set yet on politics and war), how players may be getting specific (and limited) “insights” from these games while not getting other specific and limited insights from other more overtly analytical and in-depth sources (i.e. newspapers, TV, radio, field)
ok, on to reading a 260 page field manual and 1000’s of posts and articles on SWJ and other military stuff before I get to playing games.