[Dryerase] GI Joe Goes Digital

[annie v]

GI Joe Goes Digital 
by Sarah Stuteville 

You experience the nervous breath of a soldier as he
jostles the sight on his sniper rifle. He tenses as an
anonymous figure darts across the road — a button
pushed, a trigger pulled, and the shadow crumples in
the dusk. 

You are playing America’s Army, a video game designed
and created by the United States military to help with
recruitment. With 24 million plays since its June
debut, America’s Army is introducing a new generation
of children to the adventure of a camouflage lifestyle
where honor is earned guilt-free by racking up virtual
"kills" and slaying America’s enemies. 

The game’s high-tech graphics and realistic soundtrack
— including the whir of chopper propellers and radioed
instructions — have made America’s Army one of this
year’s most popular computer games. In this "T for
Teen"-rated video game, players experience virtual
boot camp, venture out on reconnaissance missions in
Afghanistan’s Tora Bora caves and hone their skills in
sniper training. 

Just coincidentally, young players can also access the
Army’s official recruitment website through a button
on the screen, which urges them to " … earn the right
to call yourself a soldier…." 

The U.S. Army isn’t the only one to cash in on making
entertainment out of the new world order. Electronic
Arts’ Delta Force is another case of turning
yesterday’s news into today’s entertainment. 
It offers an array of simulated missions ranging from
"Task Force Dagger: Afghanistan" to "Urban Warfare:
Fight Terrorism at Home" and "Black Hawk Down: Mission
Somalia." 

Like America’s Army, the weapons are realistic and the
targets are usually Arab, with familiar rhetoric such
as, "Join the 
Fight for World Justice," "Defeat the Global Threat,"
and "Terrorists behind every door." 

Interestingly, the American perspective is not the
only one offered in political video games. A Syrian
publishing house, Dar al-Fikr, has designed a video
game on the Palestinian uprising called UnderAsh. Set
in current-day Israel the protagonist of UnderAsh is
not a heavily armed soldier with full artillery
available, but a 19-year-old named Ahmad. 

The website includes Ahmad’s story, that of a hero
"born during the Israeli invasion of South Lebanon… he
belongs to Jerusalem." He is devoted to the
Palestinian resistance. In the scenes available Ahmad
is depicted throwing stones and firing machine guns at
Israeli tanks, as well as praying at the Dome of the
Rock mosque in Jerusalem and being imprisoned in an
Israeli jail. 

UnderAsh has received a flurry of attention and
elicited controversy. 
Some have hailed it to be what it claims on the game’s
web site — 
"A call to justice," and "a new form of history book …
letting others understand what’s happening in
Palestine." Others, such as Middle East Realities,
have denounced it as "disgusting propaganda." 

Whether political elements are co-opting popular
culture media to disseminate their views and market
their interest, or popular culture is using its own
tools to express and examine the growing unrest in the
world, video games are transforming the violence of
current international conflicts into another form of entertainment.

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