However with the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the shooterverse moved away from World-War II era set adventures and began the trend of high-tech modern/futuristic frag-fests. Even Medal of Honor, the franchise that started the WWII shooter craze, transitioned to Afghanistan-based operations with 2010’s reboot Medal of Honor.

Why the decline? Simple. The genre had become so prolific that is was copied, capitalized on, and pillaged to the point where the genre became stale. Clunky, single-A disasters such as Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, and The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific became prevalent, while the larger-tier franchises stumbled with lackluster games such as Medal of Honor: Airborne and Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, games that simply repeated their formula’s instead of improving on them. Modern Warfare’s success sealed the fate of WWII shooters which have been lying in a moribund state ever since.

However video game developers have been taking away the wrong messages from the failures of these games. These flops came not from the staleness of the World War II setting, but the staleness of the shooter mechanics that have dominated the industry over the last decade. The stoic, silent protagonist shtick was getting tiresome, as was the one-man killing machine act; an intriguing setting such as WWII only does so much to cover-up repetitive, shoddy gameplay and stories. A shift to a different era with its promise of a wider variety of weapon-types, settings, and storylines bought the old-shooter generation a few years but, as the recent Call of Duty games reveal, the genre is still stuck unimaginative storylines, repetitive gameplay, and generally dull experiences.

Which brings us back to World War II. What is perhaps the single-most important socio-political-cultural event of the 20^th century, was treated as a playground for adolescent power fantasies; rich seeds of powerful stories were cast aside, replaced with shallow Rambo-simulators that got old fast. It was only a matter of time before gamers got sick of it and moved on.

However, gamers should not write the obituary for the World War II genre as there is hope for new life for this manhandled setting. WWII is abundant with fascinating stories, just waiting for video games to tell. One of the more interesting aspects of Call of Duty: World At War, when it wasn’t being a generic, by-the-numbers shooter, was its no-holds-bar treatment of the brutality of war, the dismembered limbs, the disorienting chaos, the deathly screams. It is cliché but also true to say that video games have the power to supplant players in the shoes of another human being, more so than any other artistic medium. Why not use that opportunity to introduce the players to the terrifying world of an American GI in Western Europe in 1944? Why bore the player with making them a cartoonish superhero who can easily dispense of any pesky Nazi when you can make them feel the terror and helplessness soldiers must have honestly felt during those dark days. Why should the games fully focus on combat? “War is 99 percent boredom and 1 percent terror as the saying goes, why not create fleshed out characters and storylines that make the combat events ten times more thrilling and emotionally investing.

Why limit yourself in a setting of limitless possibilities? Why not create a game from the perspective of an Axis soldier, a sorely underrepresented subject in American art. Why not use video games to explore the atrocities of Hitler’s Germany and Tojo’s Japan while exposing the Allies own flaws with examinations of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Dresden? The espionage of the war would make for a thrilling spy game, would the life of an ordinary citizen, caught in the carnage of World War not make for fascinating gameplay?

Speaking of gameplay, why repeat the one-man god shtick of the past when you could do so many interesting new things in the genre? Make the player like an actual GI, limited power, relying on the collective strength of the team to accomplish their mission. Why not have more Mass-Effect style dialogue-trees, fleshing out the world of Wartime Europe and the Pacific?  Maybe have L.A Noire-style adventure game style controls, letting the player interact with the (fascinating) world around them.

If video games ever want to be taken seriously as an art form they need to deal with complex themes and storylines in a mature adult way. They also need to learn how to diversify storylines and gameplay in order to maintain relevancy and excitement. Games set in World War II provide ample opportunity for both.

Homestuck is a webcomic created by Andrew Hussie which takes pride in it’s near massive amounts of constant updates, unique style of humor and art, and unquestionably convoluted storyline. Among all this, however, is it’s huge fanbase, which makes itself apparent both in gigantic loads of fan art on the internet and the gigantic crowds of gray-bodypainted/orangehorn-donning cosplayers at comic/anime conventions.

Homestuck as of late.

Homestuck is the fourth webcomic created in 2009 by Andrew Hussie under his collection of MS Paint Adventures, a collection of webcomics based on the idea of reader interactivity, taking reader responses and progressing the comics from there. It has grown immensely from its original several thousand fans and has become one of the most prevalent fanbases on the internet. And it shows. Launched only yesterday, a Kickstarter was initiated by Andrew Hussie asking fans and others alike for $700,000 to help the development of a planned Homestuck adventure game. Within an hour, almost $100,000 were raised and by the end of the day, it had already surpassed its half-way mark, and as of writing, it is only less than $25,000 away from it’s goal, a clear sign that it’s fans WANT this game. According to the Kickstarter, development for this game will start sometime during 2013, after the webcomic finishes.

All of this is truly an amazing thing to watch. This comic has been built by its readers, and now its readers are building its relatively high-budget video game. As an involved reader and somewhat obsessed fan, I am excited for what is to come. As part of the fandom, I understand that a large part of the Homestuck fanbase is actually under the age of having easy access to a credit card, bringing a thought to my mind. How much more would projects like this get funded if younger audiences could actually pitch in their own money? And for readers who are also fans, I ask this: Are you happy to see him working on this spin-off game? Andrew has said that this would be his next project after the Homestuck comic if this gets funded. He’s worked on small Flash/HTML5-based “RPG/Myst-like” games, but do you think he and a as-of-now-unknown indie game developer deliver? Would you have preferred he stuck to his roots with his web-based comics/animation/games?

(UPDATE: 32 hours after starting, and it’s funded!)

Art has always been used to not only portray tragedies, but also to help people to understand the nature of tragedy, the emotions associated with it and how people react to tragedy. From Picasso’s Guernica to Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, art has been used to help people, not only look at the great tragedies of human history, but it also helps us to understand it. The terrorist attacks on September 11^th 2001 have been the great tragedy of the 21^st century. That event has not only shaped the modern world, but it has left a dark mark on the hearts and minds, of not only people in America, but people across the world. So why shouldn’t art, particularly video games, be used to help heal the wounds of that dark day?

The key to moving past a tragedy is understanding it. Not only understanding why it happened, but the emotions by the people who lived through the event and their mindset. The perfect medium to help bring about this understanding seems to be video games. Video games put the player in the shoes of another person, they make the player embody their character and become them. If the game is made well the player feels the emotions and adopts the mindset of their character. Also, video games are great at transporting the player into a different world. The work towards making a great video game environment is painstaking, but it does make the player feel like they are actually in the world. What better way to understand the way the people at ground zero felt that day by becoming them and entering the hell that was that day. The game could feature firefighters, climbing up the doomed towers, trying to decide who will live and who will die while also trying to save themselves. Have a computer randomly generate scenarios for the players to experience, and play the game out in real-time so the player has only minutes to decide. The people in the towers who could not get out, and had to choose between throwing themselves out a window, or letting themselves burn to death. The people in United 93, knowing they were going to die, and choosing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. A game based on the events of 9/11 could help sensitize people to experience of being at 9/11. People who have lived through a tragedy say that if you weren’t there, you can’t understand. Video games are as close as you will get to experiencing 9/11.

Of course, art that portrays tragedy has always been met with criticism. It has been called exploitative, and distasteful. This criticism has been worse for the video game medium, a medium derided for its lack of intellectual depth and for inciting violence due to its interactivity. Just look at the history of Six Days in Fallujah a game based on the Iraq War battle, which was cancelled due to an enormous controversy. Video games have always been considered and have been pop entertainment, meant to please. How can you make someone feel pleasurable about terrorism? You can’t. But what you can do is use the art form to convey the emotions of the day, and make people think about the tragedy in a way someone never would because they had not lived through it. There are many ways a game about 9/11 could be seen as exploitive, but if done right it can be used as a tool to bring a greater understanding to the event. The game is not meant to be “fun” but it is meant to convey the emotions of that day. If the game accomplishes that it is not exploitive, rather, it is something quite tremendous. It uses the central tenant of the medium, interactivity, to create a better understanding of not only the awful events of that day, but also the mindset of the people who experienced it. The events are not being exploited for profit; rather they are being used to help look at the tragedy through a lens that most people have never experienced, the lens of being there.

The question of whether a video game should portray the events of 9/11 seems to come down to a central question. Are video games pop entertainment or a serious art form. The answer is yes. There are games, which are simply mindless entertainment. And that is fine; there is nothing wrong with making games like that. However, that does not mean that every single game should be mindless entertainment. There should be games, which are serious, and explore meaningful themes such as morality, heartbreak, tragedy, religion, war, politics etc. With movies there are blockbusters and art films, in music you have pop hits and more meaningful music, the distinction between the thoughtful and the thoughtless exists in all art forms. Why should video games be any different?

Should a game based on 9/11 be made right away? No. The technology has not advanced enough yet to create a realistic portrayal of 9/11. But when it does (in a very short time in my opinion) games should take the step to become more serious. Not just by portraying 9/11, but other human tragedies and events. The Holocaust, The Bataan Death March, racial violence, crime etc. I’m not saying that all games have to be super serious, but in order for the medium to mature there must be serious games about real-life. I refuse to believe that the pinnacle of video game achievement is Call of Duty. Art has always helped to mend the wounds of tragedy and to create understanding. It’s video games turn now.

Music is the shorthand of emotion. – Leo Tolstoy

In the visual and preforming arts, music has traditionally been used to underscore the emotions of characters, as well as creating an atmosphere, which allows for the audience to better understand the themes of story. This use of music however has been lacking in the video game medium. Most games simply use music as sound; it’s just there to ensure that the player’s auditory sensibilities are not lulled to sleep during the game. Only a few games such as Legend of Zelda and the Mario games have broken this mold. In recent years though, some games have been breaking the barriers between the more artistic film score world and the shallower world of video game score. Those games are Red Dead Redemption and L.A Noire.

Red Dead Redemption is a story of epic proportions. Its narrative consists of themes of heartbreak, guilt, greed, power, violence and ultimately redemption. These themes are presented through a variety of complex characters, dialogue, and visuals. However, it also conveyed these themes using its score – a rarity for video games. Every bit of music underscores the emotions of the characters at that particular moment. When John Marston is amidst an epic gunfight in Mexico, the music sweeps up the players in a raging western/Mexican score which helps the player feel the adrenaline Marston is experiencing. When Marston is dealing with the corrupt federal agent Edgar Ross, the music is mysterious and makes the character feel uneasy, just as the entire scene conveys a sense of uneasiness to the player. The score works with all of the other pieces of the game, visuals, graphics, story, and dialogue, to convey an overall message. All the individual pieces of music broadcast the driving message of Red Dead Redemption. The message that civilization is useless, that humans are a despicable and bloodthirsty species, that cynicism and nihilism are the only truths in the world. And no matter how hard you try, you can’t outrun your past. All the pieces of music in RDR make the player feel that time is running out. The fast songs make the player feel uneasy, as if death and retribution waits around every corner. As if everything the player has worked for, is about to end. For example, as Marston arrives in Blackwater, the symbol of expansionism and the end of the old west, the music takes a mysterious and dark turn. It feels as if the player has entered a film noir. The music creates an atmosphere of uneasiness. The player feels like their being watch or followed. The music makes the player feel as if they are in an alien world. The music is radically different from the more western soundtrack of Nuevo Paradiso and New Austin. The music is early 20th century ragtime mixed with a Twin Peaks type film noir soundtrack. The music also has no relation to nature. It is a distinctly urban soundtrack with no relation to the wide-open plains of the rest of Red Dead Redemption. By making Blackwater’s soundtrack so foreign, the player truly inhabits the emotions of Marston. They feel nostalgia for the old days of lawlessness and freedom. The music of Blackwater, just like the city, is choking, cold, and lifeless. The music throughout Red Dead Redemption conveys the emotions of the characters at the moment. That is the true beauty of Red Dead Redemption. It is a game that not only shows emotions through gameplay, but also used all the threads of a video game to convey a feeling and message, which is a true accomplishment for the video game medium.

Rockstar’s other period piece, L.A Noire, like Red Dead Redemption, uses music to help bolster the emotional impact of the video game, but does so in a different way. L.A Noire is set amidst a very important part of American and L.A history. L.A, along with the rest of America, was in the middle of the largest economic boom in American history. America had come out of WWII and was now an industrial superpower. Prosperity seemed to be everywhere. However, underneath the glitz and glamour sat an ugly truth. The murder rate in 1940’s L.A was one of the highest in the city’s history, only the 90’s can match it. Drugs were beginning to hit the streets with deadly consequences. Corruption was rampant, not only in the LAPD, but in every facet of LA government. White flight was primed and ready to start and the city was on the edge of falling into the decade’s long decline of racial violence, drugs, and depopulation. Deception is everywhere in L.A Noire. Cole hides the sins he committed in WWII with a tough exterior. Roy Earle hides his corrupt mafia connections underneath a veil of Hollywood glamour. The early music of L.A Noire is as deceiving as the characters. Early on in the game, when the fresh-faced Phelps is moving through patrol and traffic, the music is stirring; it is beaming of hopeful optimism. The corruptions of homicide and vice have yet to be exposed. Phelps works with honest people in traffic and patrol like Det. Bukowski and Capt. Leary. However, the soundtrack foreshadows the greed and corruption of the later desks. There are noir underpinnings in the soundtrack, brief moments of sadness and darkness in the music gives the player a sense that something awful will happen in the later desks. The music and the story work together to create this mood. For example, the scene in which Vice Detective Roy Earle, Coles’ future corrupt partner in Vice, protects a child pornographer that Bukowski and Phelps are interrogating, calling him an “informant”. The story and the music work together to create a feeling of uneasiness within the player. As the game progresses the hopeful optimism of the early music is washed away, replaced by the noir underpinnings, which now bloom throughout the soundtrack. As Phelps’s uncovers the rampant corruption in the LAPD, the soundtrack becomes mournful, as if the music if wallowing at Phelps’s loss of innocence throughout the game. When Phelps’s hits rock bottom with being demoted to Arson and losing his family, the soundtrack becomes nihilistic. Phelps’s world is loss – it can never be regained. Even as it appears Phelps may get his life back, the player knows better. The music lacks the foreshadowing of yore. It is pure darkness and sorrow. When Phelps dies it comes as no surprise, the music tipped us off. The music of L.A Noire mirrors the world of L.A Noire. It is complex, layered, and ultimately, hides an ugly truth of corruption which, in the end, crushes the optimism and good of the early music, and Phelps himself.

These two games, in terms of music, are revolutionary. The music is a breath of fresh air. They are different; not just in terms of the actual notes, but in how they are used to enhance the complex narratives which, thankfully, video games have been adapting in recent years. In order for games to reach their potential and become a high art form, all the elements of the game must meld together to create an enriching and satisfying experience. The music of L.A Noire and Red Dead Redemption are simply the beginning, but their example offers hope, that video games are entering a period of artistic prosperity, where use of music such as these two games use it, will be the norm rather than the exception

This is just the latest in a prolonged and sustained attack on Ms. Sarkeesian. An attack which is getting the attention of many anti-video game advocates. California State Senator Leland Yee, an anti-video game advocate who spearheaded the California law which prohibited minors from purchasing M-rated games (a law which was struck down by the Supreme Court last year), supported Ms. Sarkeesian  by stating, “For far too long, the video game industry has glorified violence against women and often depicted female characters as nothing more than sex objects.”

Senator Yee is correct in his assessment of the video game industry. It is an industry-wide embarrassment that for far too long has been devoid of strong, non-sexualized, and real female characters. Outside of Samus and possibly Lara Croft there have been no prominent female icons in gaming. On top of that, the majority of female characters portrayed in video games fit into a minute number of stereotypes (damsel in distress, “whore” etc.) and are almost always portrayed as objects to be desired.

This argument has already been made by people like Ms. Sarkeesian. What has not been discussed is the damage that this type of sexism is doing to the reputation of video games. Besides violence, sexual content and sexism have been the main targets for anti-gaming activists. Yee is only one of numerous activists who have made the argument that video games are an unhealthy bastion of misogyny. The disheartening part is that they are right. The prominence of sexism and misogyny in the video game industry and culture is an easy target for anti-gamers that damages the reputation of the industry as a whole.

For years prominent video game critics and academics have made the argument that video games are an art form that deserves as much respect as films, art, literature, and music. And while I do believe that video games are an art form it is hard to defend them as such if the art form propagates a sexist image of women and serves a community which consistently bemoans and attacks any attempt to make the industry more female-friendly and less male-centric. If the video game industry ever wants to be perceived as high art by a larger mainstream culture, it must finally address the institutionalized sexism that has come to define the medium.

Ms. Sarkeesian decided to create a Kickstarter account in order to raise money for her video series Tropes vs. Women In Video Games which will explore twelve (previously five) different stereotypes that exist for women in video games. She posted a video supporting the Kickstarter on YouTube and was greeted with a pernicious and repugnant response from the YouTube gaming community. And while this is to be expected from the YouTube community (a community not known for their civility and tolerance) the reaction to this video was especially vicious, even by YouTube standards. They included not only sexists and anti-Semitic slurs, but also threats of violence and rape, as well as the defacing of her Wikipedia page.

It is Library of Games’ mission to start a different dialogue in the video game community, to break away from the “Bro culture” of video game journalism and the video game community as a whole. These attacks represent the consequences of a video game community that refuses to acknowledge not only its problem with sexism, but also with racism, anti-Semitism, and numerous other prejudices. Video games are consequently labeled as immature and the community is constantly derided as immature and loathsome. These attacks do the video game culture no good and are an embarrassment to all gamers, male and female.

Library of Games condemns these attacks as well as the overall chauvinistic attitudes which dominate gaming. We salute Ms. Sarkeesian’s efforts to shed light on the rampant sexism within video games and hope that, if anything comes of this awful incident, it is the start of a conversation which will lead to a more tolerant and respectful video game community.

Sincerely,
Team Library of Games