havedone,andis therea wayyoucouldhave defused
thesituationbetter?”
It’seasytoimaginea greatvideogame
narrativethatexplorestherulesofengagement,
communicatingsomethingofhowa soldiermight
resolveanencounterwithminimalbloodshed.Indeed,
suchstoriesarebeingtold,justnotbymilitarygames.
Telltale’sTheWalkingDeadseriesandBioWare’s
olderRPGs,forexample,oftenengagewiththe
questionofwhetherviolencecanbejustified,
andfollowthroughontheconsequenceswhenit
isn’t.Militaryshooters,however,typicallyeraseall
ambiguityinordertospeedilyengagewiththe
technicalitiesofcombatitself,andseldomaskyou to
contendwiththefallout:asThomasnotes,
despawningbodiestofreeupmemory
alsofreesyoufromthinking
aboutyourvictims.The
Division2, forexample,opens
withtheplayerencountering
twopeopleinmasks
standingoversomebody
they’vejustshot,kicking
thebody.Evenbefore
youwanderintoaggro
rangeandarefired
upon,youropponents
arethusunambiguously
markedasdeservingof
termination.TheDarkZone
is onceagaintheaspectof
thegamewhichtugsagainst
thiscreed,bysuggestingthata
bandofheavilyarmedstrangers
might(howeverinfrequently)have
friendlyintentions.
Thelackofambiguityaroundfriendandfoe
inmilitarygamesis shadowedbytheincreasing
prevalenceofunmannedvehiclesordevicesin
combat,frommountedgunstoPredatordrones,
whichoftenusegame-stylecontrollersandinterfaces.
Accordingtomanyformerdroneoperators,the
interfaceandproceduresofdronewarfaremakesit
hardtoperceivetargetsashumanbeings,andharder
toapplytherulessoldiersaresupposedtoapplyin
thefield.SpeakingtoTheGuardianin2015,former
USdronepilotMichaelHaascomparedlaunchinga
striketo“steppingonants”.Thisis partlybecause
drone programmes often operate on the fringes oflegality,andarenotsubjecttothesamejuridical
rigourasothermodesofwarfare.InJuly2018,a UK
all-partyparliamentaryprobederidedgovernment
argumentsinsupportoftwodronestrikesas
“weakandinconsistent”,andlabelledtheUSdrone
programmea potentialviolationofinternationallaw.
Dronestrikescontinuetobepopularwithpoliticians,
however,becauseasinvideogames,dronewarfare
canbewagedwithoutdirectcosttothepilot,though
thepsychologicaltollis oftensevere.
“Ourwarfareis moreandmoredronewarfare,
anddronewarfareis zerocasualtyforus,”Little
tellsus.“We’retalkingaboutpeoplesittinginboxes
in Nevada,controllingvehiclesthatarecapable
ofdoinghugeamountsofdamage,and
[thekeyskillsare]yourhand-eye
coordinationandunderstanding
ofdronetechnology,aswellas
thesoftwaredronesuse– not
necessarilyprogramming
thesoftware,buttheability
tointerfacewiththat,to
lookata screenandtreat
thatasyourworld,as
everygamerdoes.You
thinkaboutthehand-
eyecoordinationthat’s
requiredtobethebest
CallOfDutyplayer– if
youcanapplythattoa
drone,you’vegotonehellof
a soldier,onehellofa bomb-
droppingmachine.”
JosephDeLappecomments
thatthisis,inessence,thecompletion
ofthecircleofinspirationbetweenmilitary
organisationsandthegameindustry.If it’shyperbole
todeclarethatwarhasbecomea game,thereis a
senseofmutuallyreinforcingcallousnessbetween
militarygamesandtheriseofremote-controlled
weaponry.“What’sfascinatingandhorrifyingtome
is thatthingslikeAmerica’sArmyhadsimilarroots
tothetraininggamestheyweredevelopingforthe
USmilitary,andnow[thosegames]havekindof
crossedoverintoactualuse,inmilitarytechnologies
fromdronestootherremotelyguidedtechnologies,
robotics.I think we’re just seeing the tip of the
iceberg.”MILITARYSHOOTERS
TYPICALLYERASEALL
AMBIGUITYINORDERTO
SPEEDILYENGAGEWITHTHE
TECHNICALITIES
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