You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in two words: virtual victory. Virtual victory at all costs — despite all terror: The Churchillian imperative is in full force throughout “Call of Duty: World at War,” but playing, in addition to being just plain fun, is also an incredibly visceral experience, especially for Jewish players.
Over and above their ease of use, story and visual appeal, video games can also become important cultural experiences when the creators make the world psychologically significant to the user. By making a World War II video game that is more realistic, and with more opportunities to make choices than any previous one, software developer Treyarch has created a game that can provide deep insights about violence, history and the Nazis’ significance as psychological demons. It is also qualitatively superior to other shoot-’em-ups, because of the elegant game-play and the surprisingly varied pacing of the complexly textured story.
Video games are instructive in a personal way that books are not, because whatever the limitations, the player makes the decisions: You navigate a character (your avatar), and that becomes your character. This process of identification removes your detachment from what is happening on the screen and scatters it into what is happening in your real life.
This is the fifth glittering installment of “Call of Duty.” It follows the extremely popular “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare,” which pitted the player against Muslim and Russian Nationalists. In this installment, you fight in battles from the end of the war, such as Stalingrad, Peleliu and Seelow Heights. In the U.S. Army in the Pacific theater, you are Private Miller; when you are in the Soviet Red army, you are Private Dimitri Petreko.
The game culminates in a thrilling battle between the Red Army and the Nazis in the Reichstag. You fight all the way up to the famous bombed-out dome, then see the defeated German army from the roof and the city of Berlin in ruins. There is simply nothing in video games that compares to storming the Reichstag.
As a Jew, being involved in virtually ending World War II allows you to experience the closest thing possible to killing the sense of victimhood created by the Holocaust. And you do it without actually hurting any real people. In fact, it’s so satisfying that when you get to shoot down the golden eagle on the Reichstag, while sniping headshots at flame-throwing Nazis, you simply don’t want the war to end. This is weird, of course, because the war’s end is the ultimate goal of the game, as well as your desperately fought aim in real life.
The realistic portrayal of violence in video games is often decried. But those who would disparage these games for being too brutal would be those who would condemn them for not showing the realities of war. It is because of its violence that the game ushers in some of the feeling of the intensity of the battlefield.
“Call of Duty” is incredibly bloody. In earlier versions, the graphics were often comical, with grenaded Nazis flying through the air like hurled vacuum cleaners. But in this one, you can immediately see the stumps of blown-off limbs. I am pretty sure one of my bullets penetrated someone’s eye, because he immediately moved his hand up to his eye socket after I shot him. Bodies crumble instead of toppling. Corpses remain on the ground or slumped on tanks or hanging out of windows.
The nonviolent atmosphere is also very detailed. When you have your character look up, the sky looks different depending on the time of day; when he looks down, you sometimes see puddles. But you have to be careful when you do either, because if you marvel too long at Treyarch’s aesthetic achievement, you will get a bullet in the ear.
A real-world side-effect of playing too much “Call of Duty” is a particular form of overspill. Familiar to anyone who has played too much of an electronic game (I have behind me, as Churchill said, “many, many long months of struggle and suffering”), overspill is when you see the virtual world in your real world. Occasionally, walking down the street of Brooklyn’s Park Slope, I have looked at the roof of a particular brownstone, thinking I should be careful, because “that would be a great place for Panzershaft.” And while some might suggest that this phenomenon is proof that the game can encourage animus toward a contingent “enemy,” I can say only that in my case, this overspill was not accompanied by any hateful emotion. It only made my nannified neighborhood more exciting.
This is the first “Call of Duty” where one can play the campaign with other users online. Through your headsets, you can speak to each other and build camaraderie with your team, sharing the experience of the virtual war. You also can revisit the sites of the battles and play against other people. It’s like a virtual game of Capture the Flag. The computer assigns you a team, so you might even find yourself fighting on the side of the Wehrmacht, which feels uncomfortable but becomes an educational experience, like seeing “Das Boot.”
In my time spent playing the online version, and despite the M rating, I encountered more than a few children who sounded as if their parents still attached their mittens to their coats. The good thing about playing against kids, however, is that they tend to name themselves things like “justabanana.” So my Xbox would inform me, “You were killed by justabanana.” This sort of feels nice and makes you cheerfully disentangle yourself from the intensity of the game for a moment. But unwelcome reminders of the real world also spill in, like when you are virtually killed by an adult whose user identity is “Ihatejews666.”
For all the effort that the creators took to make the action convincing, there are serious shortcomings, especially to your freedom. This highlights the still limited state of video games more than it does the missteps of the games’ creators. Most notably, the story consistently pushes you onward to more battle, with barely any freedom to pursue alternatives to fighting. At one point, I found myself in a decimated Berlin library and tried to get one of the sympathetic minor characters, Chernov, also a writer, to go and look at the collection. But he just pointed his bayonet forward, telling me that we had to keep up with the troops. Another time, I did not want to leave Chernov behind to die alone after he experienced a vicious attack from a Nazi who jumped out from behind a pillar, so I tried to put him out of his agony with my rifle. But the game wouldn’t let me. After trying to pull the trigger, I had to move on and leave him. In addition to having to live with what virtual violent decisions I actually made, I would have to live with what I would have done.
Although “Call of Duty: World at War” goes to great lengths to show some of the complexity and tragedy of war, there are no bystanders in the game. No emaciated Jews or Japanese children running down the street in terror. The horrors of war are significantly underrepresented. Realism? Yes. But reality? No. The realism is an aesthetic in service of entertainment.
But, from time to time, the game stakes its claim to be taken seriously. You watch as two Germans, on their knees, crying “Bitte,” are executed by your comrades. Before you enter the U-Bahn, you, too, are asked by your commander to kill some surrendering Germans. If you refuse, someone else throws a Molotov cocktail at them anyway. Because you are in the midst of storming Berlin, you see how war can make one choose killing over capture — but it’s deliberately jarring. There isn’t a “Disarm and send on their way” button in the game, and it would be hard, I imagine, to press it in real life.
The surprising benefit of the game was that throughout my entire life, since sneaking into the synagogue library with David Yagobian and paging through a book of Nazi medical experiments, I have had nightmares about Nazis. Jewish summer camp didn’t help. In games like “Call of Duty,” you get unlimited lives; you keep playing the game until you are victorious. It’s a safe place. When your character dies, you may have to go back to a checkpoint, but this is simply inconvenient, never tragic or final. You will always have another chance to kill your demons.
One morning, I woke up extremely aware that I had just had a Nazi dream. No surprise, given that I wrote this review and played the game late into the night. But I was shocked that it did not scare me as it would have done in the past: The back of my neck was dry. The game had subconsciously flipped a switch. Although clearly there are still very real threats to Jews around the world, the feeling that Nazis were a threat to my existence was created by teachers and rabbis, rightly making sure that I knew my history. In truth, that specific anxiety was not real, but virtual. And I could vanquish it virtually, as well.
One of the tragedies of World War II, and war in general, is that it puts simple dichotomies, as opposed to realistic complexities, into our minds. Although on the face of it, “Call of Duty: World at War” rewards violent methods, its overwhelming gore and possibilities for playing the heartbreaking dilemmas of the other side, present the opportunity to put those methods into context.
Training ourselves with games like this can help us resist simplistic oppositions and the brutal desire for violent justice. Understanding the horrors of war through playing games that illustrate the complexities of violence may even help us resist the real thing.
Micah Kelber is a writer and freelance rabbi who lives in Brooklyn. He is currently writing a screenplay about divorce in New York in the 1940s.
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Fascinating.
Video games are often demonized as untherapeutic escapes from reality. This perspective sheds light on the virtues of the medium and dispels the adolescent stereotype with which that gamers are often burdened.
I'm a 62 year-old avid videogame player and particularly love good "shooters." I think for retirees they can be a very stimulating way of passing time, as well as exercising mental and physiological responses. They interactively engage the brain and reflexes and certainly beat just sitting back and merely watching movies or TV shows. And certainly better then gambling, drinking, or other more deleterious forms of escapism. All forms of entertainment, including reading and listening to music, and even studying are forms of escaping from mundane reality, but some forms of escapism can be actually be useful. I agree that some videogames are "over the top" in terms of gore, sex and violence, but the same can be said for many books and movies. And I disagree that they cannot be therapeutic. They can definitely be a harmless outlet for pent up frustrations and aggressiveness. Overall, for retirees I see little that could be detrimental and a lot of positives for playing once they get the "hang of it." Like learning use of computers, there is a learning curve that can be initially frustrating for older players but there are aids that can make them surmountable.
Lots of religious authorities and politicians immediately dismiss violent videogames mindless and corrupting. You, on the other hand, seemed to approach this with an open mind, and doing so, you saw what a lot of gamers see. Even games like World at War have much more to them beyond what is immediately visible on the surface. I wish more people were like you. But I have to ask, what made you play the game in the first place?
How high would you rate this as a Nazi Shooter, for a jewish person? 1-10 please.
Lots of religious authorities and politicians immediately dismiss violent videogames mindless and corrupting. You, on the other hand, seemed to approach this with an open mind, and doing so, you saw what a lot of gamers see. Even games like World at War have much more to them beyond what is immediately visible on the surface. I wish more people were like you. But I have to ask, what made you play the game in the first place?
What the heck is a "freelance Rabbi"? This guy is probably about as much of a Rabbi as I am.....Just saying.
at nearly 27, i'v been playing games since my dad brought home a IBM with mircoprose "F-117 Stealth Fighter" (7, maybe 8). In the time between i have never seen, read, or heard some one make such an arguement FOR video games.
though my time with the above mentioned game proved opposite. after playing too long i began having dreams of dodging triple-A and SAMs, only to have to eject in the end...why did i have to have a bunk bed?
Though there have been a few that defend games, those are drowned out by the drum-beats of those that only critize. Some going so far, with their energy and gestures, as to remind me of some one who once had an entire nation blindly follow his twisted dreams of a perfect world.
i am glad i read this, though. thank you for writting it.
Fantastic review, very well written and a good read into the minds eye of a "non-hardcore gamer".
I'm 35, and have been a gamer since the days of the Atari 400. I've also been to combat, having served in the US Army for over 12 years from '92-'05. I had some issues playing through COD4, mostly because of how well the developers grasped how truly gut-wrenching and frantic combat can be on a person, but also in part due to the locale. The most emotion inducing game I've ever played, hands down.
Thanks for this review!
Fantastic review, very well written and a good read into the minds eye of a "non-hardcore gamer".
I'm 35, and have been a gamer since the days of the Atari 400. I've also been to combat, having served in the US Army for over 12 years from '92-'05. I had some issues playing through COD4, mostly because of how well the developers grasped how truly gut-wrenching and frantic combat can be on a person, but also in part due to the locale. The most emotion inducing game I've ever played, hands down.
Thanks for this review!
Fantastic review, very well written and a good read into the minds eye of a "non-hardcore gamer".
I'm 35, and have been a gamer since the days of the Atari 400. I've also been to combat, having served in the US Army for over 12 years from '92-'05. I had some issues playing through COD4, mostly because of how well the developers grasped how truly gut-wrenching and frantic combat can be on a person, but also in part due to the locale. The most emotion inducing game I've ever played, hands down.
Thanks for this review!
It is refreshing to see both the reviewing of virtuality and apparently the thing itself (must check this particular one out) approach maturity. The insight that the experience of virtual violence *can* drive us away from the real thing is particularly interesting. As a long time devotee of gaming, history and martial arts, my own experience has been similar. This is in no way a universal however as there are plenty of examples -especially from relatively immature participants- of the popular virtual violence connection to real violence.
Fascinating reflection from a mature niche position though. Thank you.
The game ends on that glorious day the Russians flew the flag and set about raping tens of thousands, taking advantage of a population with no police and a defeated army. Funny how they missed that bit. It's sad that there was no German story or Japanese story. Apparently they're just not human beings.
Very thought-provoking, well written essay. I'd never of thought games had come that far.
Yeah, its pretty boring that they never have the balls to show the other side, its always those damn french villages and americans. How about one game where you can play ze jerries?
And Teegan, well obviously not! After all, they lost the war.
The author and readers of this review may also be interested in another recent article, about a father who insisted his son read and understand the Geneva Conventions before he would be allowed to play "Call of Duty": http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29417231/
Great article. As for Angela's one, perhaps the father should wait for his son to be 18 before he plays an 18+ game? He's 13, so shouldn't be playing a shooter, Geneva Conventions or not. Bad parent.
I would just like the Rabbi to know that I am a developer at Treyarch and worked on Call of Duty: World at War, I am also a Jew, and an Israeli who served in the IDF. I wanted to thank you Rabbi Kelber for writing such a wonderful article, these choices for the player were deliberate on our part, we had an opportunity to truly show how harsh war can be. This article is the greatest thing I can ask for from someone who has played this game, and the very notion that this helped you relieve some of your demons is something I will never forget.
I would just like the Rabbi to know that I am a developer at Treyarch and worked on Call of Duty: World at War, I am also a Jew, and an Israeli who served in the IDF. I wanted to thank you Rabbi Kelber for writing such a wonderful article, these choices for the player were deliberate on our part, we had an opportunity to truly show how harsh war can be. This article is the greatest thing I can ask for from someone who has played this game, and the very notion that this helped you relieve some of your demons is something I will never forget.
I would just like the Rabbi to know that I am a developer at Treyarch and worked on Call of Duty: World at War, I am also a Jew, and an Israeli who served in the IDF. I wanted to thank you Rabbi Kelber for writing such a wonderful article, these choices for the player were deliberate on our part, we had an opportunity to truly show how harsh war can be. This article is the greatest thing I can ask for from someone who has played this game, and the very notion that this helped you relieve some of your demons is something I will never forget.
I would just like the Rabbi to know that I am a developer at Treyarch and worked on Call of Duty: World at War, I am also a Jew, and an Israeli who served in the IDF. I wanted to thank you Rabbi Kelber for writing such a wonderful article, these choices for the player were deliberate on our part, we had an opportunity to truly show how harsh war can be. This article is the greatest thing I can ask for from someone who has played this game, and the very notion that this helped you relieve some of your demons is something I will never forget.
i am jew i liek gaems
and gold
Although I am not a Jew, I am not a pacifist nor warmonger, either, and have a tremendous amount of respect for the Jewish people. While the entire Call of Duty series is really fun to play, I was also struck by the realism, both physical and moral. Exposure to such challenges to our values and mores in a safe environment is an excellent way to address those issues in one's own mind and heart, while still keeping one's life, limbs and humanity. Not to mention the valuable history lessons. I understand that this may be the last CoD installment, but I'd like to see another CoD game that takes the player to Vietnam and Korea, and some exposure to the other side's woes, as well.
Awesome article. I agrees with most of what you wrote.
My father was in the camps as a child. He had trouble watching anything on the tv that was related. I doubt he would be able to deal emotionally with playing CoD, the realism really wouldnt help. I am 40yo and still really enjoy console games, esp the CoD series.
Thanks for a very well written article.
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I wonder what a virtual vs. real survivor thinks about making a game out of the holocaust?
for all you people that feel persecuted. i totally understand. i am native american and i sympothize with you cause we were murdered for our land. but its just a video game. its history at its best. chill out. and as for the people that want to rid of violent games. gun's don't kill people. peopl kill people. if thats the case then i can blame my pencil for misspelled words.