Is John Kerry the Next Mario?
Internet computer game company Kuma Reality Games recently announced it would release a mission for its KumaWar gaming service based on Presidential Candidate John Kerry’s swift boat Vietnam experiences. According to the Kuma Reality Games website, the mission is “an amazing re-creation of the actions in 1969 that earned Kerry the Navy’s second highest honor.” The mission will also feature “broadband video news show, real-world intel, satellite images and the background you need to understand a key issue in this year's presidential election.”
The Kuma\War service provides a set of downloadable missions that take place within realistic military parameters.
In the September 17-19th issue of the Hollywood Reporter, Kuma Reality Games CEO Keith Halper explained the company’s reasoning behind releasing the ‘Kerry Silver Star Mission.’
“John Kerry’s swift boat mission became a center point in the election,” Halper said. “But the level of rancor has been such that few of us know what is supposed to have occurred – in anyone’s version of the story. Kuma Games is in a unique position to bring clarity to ordinary people’s understanding to swift boats, of the men who served them and the events in question.”
Halper later went on to say that the mission “will explain the issues in the current debate and, more importantly, from [Kuma Games’] perspective, the mission and operations of swift boats during Vietnam.”
Personally, the second reasoning behind the mission – that it will help explain swift boats to the common man – is a bit dubious. To try to teach a piece of solid history in the frame of a highly debated part of the presidential campaign doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. There is already plenty of information available on the subject, and I can’t imagine many history buffs feeling grateful to Kuma. Furthermore, with the use of a subject so controversial – Kerry’s service – it seems difficult to consider this an objective historical reenactment as other war-based games - such as Activision's Call of Duty and EA's Medal of Honor - often proport to be.
Then again, it’s not hard to imagine Kuma doing it for the publicity and the money. As a mainly on-line based institution, Kuma relies a lot on getting people to their website and downloading their service. Something as news worthy as a mission based on Kerry is sure to get coverage by a variety of sites – the journalist said. The more hits they get, the more business they bring in.
I find the prospect of a videogame related to Kerry’s service a slightly disquieting idea. In videogames based on wars, the characters are often rather random fictional renditions. If you fail a mission, your dead squad is not real people. Although not implicitly obvious, this does distance the player from the war itself to some extent.
In this game, the main character is a real man and the other characters are in the public record. Thus, it’s not a difficult step to imagine angry Republicans playing the game with a rather fatalistic perspective. I’m sure that Kuma will leave out the ability to shoot oneself as some Republicans have suggested Kerry has done. At the same time, imagining groups of people playing the game to simply lose the mission – Kerry’s medal unearned – or worse, getting him killed on purpose – plain hostility towards the man – is a very unsettling proposition.
At the same time, many Democrats or people on the fence might take a more personal view of Kerry from playing as him. While not a bad thing outright, this is a deceptive way to campaign. Rather than learning the complete hard truth of Kerry’s service, he can be put in a super soldier situation. Players, especially less informed players, might fall for Kuma’s suggestion of the game as historical fact. In that case, voters could be swayed by the placement of themselves as John Kerry.
But that doesn’t mean I expect the Kerry Silver Star Mission to either be bad or intentionally or historically incorrect. Yet I believe that no gamer or potential voter should play the mission as if it were a realistic recreation of the events that have been so debated in the election. Ultimately, it might be best to simply consider it an interpretation of how Kerry earned those medals he seems to love.
The Kuma\War service provides a set of downloadable missions that take place within realistic military parameters.
In the September 17-19th issue of the Hollywood Reporter, Kuma Reality Games CEO Keith Halper explained the company’s reasoning behind releasing the ‘Kerry Silver Star Mission.’
“John Kerry’s swift boat mission became a center point in the election,” Halper said. “But the level of rancor has been such that few of us know what is supposed to have occurred – in anyone’s version of the story. Kuma Games is in a unique position to bring clarity to ordinary people’s understanding to swift boats, of the men who served them and the events in question.”
Halper later went on to say that the mission “will explain the issues in the current debate and, more importantly, from [Kuma Games’] perspective, the mission and operations of swift boats during Vietnam.”
Personally, the second reasoning behind the mission – that it will help explain swift boats to the common man – is a bit dubious. To try to teach a piece of solid history in the frame of a highly debated part of the presidential campaign doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. There is already plenty of information available on the subject, and I can’t imagine many history buffs feeling grateful to Kuma. Furthermore, with the use of a subject so controversial – Kerry’s service – it seems difficult to consider this an objective historical reenactment as other war-based games - such as Activision's Call of Duty and EA's Medal of Honor - often proport to be.
Then again, it’s not hard to imagine Kuma doing it for the publicity and the money. As a mainly on-line based institution, Kuma relies a lot on getting people to their website and downloading their service. Something as news worthy as a mission based on Kerry is sure to get coverage by a variety of sites – the journalist said. The more hits they get, the more business they bring in.
I find the prospect of a videogame related to Kerry’s service a slightly disquieting idea. In videogames based on wars, the characters are often rather random fictional renditions. If you fail a mission, your dead squad is not real people. Although not implicitly obvious, this does distance the player from the war itself to some extent.
In this game, the main character is a real man and the other characters are in the public record. Thus, it’s not a difficult step to imagine angry Republicans playing the game with a rather fatalistic perspective. I’m sure that Kuma will leave out the ability to shoot oneself as some Republicans have suggested Kerry has done. At the same time, imagining groups of people playing the game to simply lose the mission – Kerry’s medal unearned – or worse, getting him killed on purpose – plain hostility towards the man – is a very unsettling proposition.
At the same time, many Democrats or people on the fence might take a more personal view of Kerry from playing as him. While not a bad thing outright, this is a deceptive way to campaign. Rather than learning the complete hard truth of Kerry’s service, he can be put in a super soldier situation. Players, especially less informed players, might fall for Kuma’s suggestion of the game as historical fact. In that case, voters could be swayed by the placement of themselves as John Kerry.
But that doesn’t mean I expect the Kerry Silver Star Mission to either be bad or intentionally or historically incorrect. Yet I believe that no gamer or potential voter should play the mission as if it were a realistic recreation of the events that have been so debated in the election. Ultimately, it might be best to simply consider it an interpretation of how Kerry earned those medals he seems to love.
posted by Mike Drucker at 9:02 PM
1 Comments:
Which is worse? That someone says a decades old war is the most important topic or that the same person says that a computer game on the subject will clear it up for folks?
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