WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.120 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. I'm so glad you're 00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:06.019 joining us today because we have a genuinely 00:00:06.019 --> 00:00:08.320 fascinating stack of sources in front of us. 00:00:08.339 --> 00:00:10.640 We really do. It's a massive topic. Yeah, we 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:13.179 are looking at a comprehensive Wikipedia article 00:00:13.179 --> 00:00:16.780 detailing a piece of media that, well, It completely 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:18.859 shook the foundations of pop culture. Absolutely. 00:00:19.079 --> 00:00:21.420 And our mission for today's Deep Dive is to figure 00:00:21.420 --> 00:00:25.039 out how a single video game managed to shatter 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:27.760 global entertainment sales records, like how 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:30.420 it redefined the cultural footprint of gaming 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:33.899 and pushed the absolute boundaries of both technology 00:00:33.899 --> 00:00:37.119 and interactive moral controversy. It really 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.429 is the perfect case study. I mean, if you want 00:00:39.429 --> 00:00:42.390 to trace the exact moment when interactive media 00:00:42.390 --> 00:00:44.570 kind of eclipsed traditional Hollywood models 00:00:44.570 --> 00:00:47.130 in terms of sheer economic power and cultural 00:00:47.130 --> 00:00:50.329 mind share, this is ground zero. Right. And to 00:00:50.329 --> 00:00:52.189 put that power into perspective for you, I want 00:00:52.189 --> 00:00:54.630 you to picture the biggest summer blockbuster 00:00:54.630 --> 00:00:56.590 movie launch you can think of. You know, the 00:00:56.590 --> 00:00:59.710 red carpet, the glowing reviews, the massive 00:00:59.710 --> 00:01:02.570 opening weekend box office. Now look at November 00:01:02.570 --> 00:01:06.469 10, 2009. On its first day alone, this game pulled 00:01:06.469 --> 00:01:10.189 in $310 million in the U .S. and the U .K. Just 00:01:10.189 --> 00:01:12.890 a staggering number. One day. It beat out the 00:01:12.890 --> 00:01:14.790 previous record holder, which is Grand Theft 00:01:14.790 --> 00:01:17.650 Auto the Fault, and it completely dwarfed the 00:01:17.650 --> 00:01:20.069 biggest Hollywood blockbuster films of that era. 00:01:20.189 --> 00:01:22.750 The velocity of those sales is just wild. Right. 00:01:23.109 --> 00:01:26.849 Within five days, it hit $550 million worldwide. 00:01:27.450 --> 00:01:31.290 And by January 2010, it had crossed the $1 billion 00:01:31.290 --> 00:01:34.780 mark. The game of course is Call of Duty. Modern 00:01:34.780 --> 00:01:37.000 warfare too. Yeah, and that kind of financial 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.260 velocity It just doesn't happen by accident to 00:01:39.260 --> 00:01:40.719 understand the phenomena. We really have to look 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:43.599 closely at the developers a studio called infinity 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:45.640 ward Okay, let's unpack this because I want to 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:48.500 figure out how they achieve such a massive unrelenting 00:01:48.500 --> 00:01:50.980 cultural grip Well our sources show how they 00:01:50.980 --> 00:01:53.140 perfectly synthesize three distinct elements. 00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:55.939 So you have these incredibly addictive competitive 00:01:55.939 --> 00:01:58.620 multiplayer loops a cinematic single -player 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:01.340 storytelling experience and a very deliberate 00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:03.620 almost reckless willingness to court intense 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:07.980 Let's start with that first pillar, the multiplayer. 00:02:08.979 --> 00:02:10.860 Because looking at the notes here, it seems like 00:02:10.860 --> 00:02:13.159 this wasn't just a game people played for a weekend 00:02:13.159 --> 00:02:14.979 and put back on the shelf. Oh, not at all. People 00:02:14.979 --> 00:02:17.539 were logging hundreds of hours over months and 00:02:17.539 --> 00:02:20.460 months. How did they build an engagement loop 00:02:20.460 --> 00:02:24.080 that historic? It basically boils down to a master 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:26.539 class in the mechanics of progression and reward. 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:30.319 Like Modern Warfare 2 took the foundation of 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:32.860 its predecessor and turned it into a psychological 00:02:32.860 --> 00:02:35.060 engine. Interesting. Yeah, the core innovation 00:02:35.060 --> 00:02:36.800 we need to look at is the expansion of the kill 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:38.699 streak system. I remember hearing about these 00:02:38.699 --> 00:02:40.139 kill streaks, but I'm trying to wrap my head 00:02:40.139 --> 00:02:42.939 around the design philosophy here. Right. If 00:02:42.939 --> 00:02:45.539 I'm a new player and I'm getting matched against 00:02:45.539 --> 00:02:47.939 veterans who are earning these massive tactical 00:02:47.939 --> 00:02:50.800 advantages just for being good, doesn't that 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:52.879 inherently unbalance the game? Like, how did 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:55.300 that not completely ruin the experience for the 00:02:55.300 --> 00:02:58.060 casual audience? See, that is the brilliant tension 00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:01.280 of the system. For context. If you eliminate 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:03.580 a certain number of opposing players in a row 00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:06.759 without dying, the game rewards you. So three 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:10.139 kills get you a UAV radar, which reveals enemies 00:03:10.139 --> 00:03:14.120 on the minimap. Five kills let you call in a 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:16.780 Predator missile that you literally guide down 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:20.120 from the sky with a camera. Wow. And if you somehow 00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:23.330 manage a 25 player kill streak. you actually 00:03:23.330 --> 00:03:26.050 unlock the tactical nuke. Wait, a tactical nuke? 00:03:26.050 --> 00:03:28.689 Yep. Which just ends the entire match regardless 00:03:28.689 --> 00:03:31.310 of the score? You literally press a button and 00:03:31.310 --> 00:03:33.729 win the game for your team. Exactly. It is the 00:03:33.729 --> 00:03:36.270 ultimate power fantasy. That sounds insane. But 00:03:36.270 --> 00:03:39.169 what about the new players? Right, so what's 00:03:39.169 --> 00:03:41.650 fascinating here is how these mechanics manipulated 00:03:41.650 --> 00:03:44.909 player psychology across the entire skill spectrum. 00:03:45.609 --> 00:03:48.150 To answer your question about the casual audience, 00:03:48.550 --> 00:03:50.509 Infinity Ward introduced something called Death 00:03:50.509 --> 00:03:53.469 Streaks. Okay, what are those? If you are struggling, 00:03:53.569 --> 00:03:55.849 say you die three or four times without getting 00:03:55.849 --> 00:03:59.150 a single kill, the game quietly gives you a subtle 00:03:59.150 --> 00:04:01.520 boost. Maybe you drop a live grenade when you 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:04.360 fall. Or you get a temporary health increase 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:06.740 when you respawn. Oh, I see. Yeah, they actively 00:04:06.740 --> 00:04:09.099 lowered the barrier to entry, ensuring new players 00:04:09.099 --> 00:04:11.319 didn't just get completely demoralized and quit. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:13.860 So it's essentially a safety net. It keeps the 00:04:13.860 --> 00:04:16.959 bottom 20 % of players from churning out while 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:20.379 simultaneously dangling this godlike tactical 00:04:20.379 --> 00:04:22.759 nuke in front of the hardcore player. Exactly. 00:04:22.839 --> 00:04:25.470 You are never bored. Because there is always 00:04:25.470 --> 00:04:27.949 a carrot right in front of your face, whether 00:04:27.949 --> 00:04:30.209 you are dominating the match or getting completely 00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:32.550 crushed. And that dopamine loop was constant. 00:04:32.610 --> 00:04:35.329 Like on top of the kill streaks, you have a continuous 00:04:35.329 --> 00:04:38.689 trickle of experience points or XP. Right. Almost 00:04:38.689 --> 00:04:41.410 every action you take, getting an assault, capturing 00:04:41.410 --> 00:04:43.910 a flag, even shooting down an enemy helicopter, 00:04:44.269 --> 00:04:47.569 it all gives you XP. And that XP unlocks new 00:04:47.569 --> 00:04:50.230 weapons, new attachments for those weapons and 00:04:50.230 --> 00:04:52.920 game altering abilities called perks. It sounds 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:56.220 identical to a perfectly tuned casino slot machine. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:58.480 It really does. Like, think about how you feel 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:00.759 when you pull to refresh a social media feed. 00:05:01.459 --> 00:05:04.480 Every single action in this game provides a micro 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:07.220 dose of dopamine. The yellow numbers pop up on 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:09.879 the screen. You hear this incredibly satisfying 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:11.920 guitar riff when you level up. Oh yeah, that 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:14.800 sound is iconic. You unlock a new red dot sight 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:18.509 for your rifle. Did this specific reward loop 00:05:18.509 --> 00:05:20.850 fundamentally change what players expected from 00:05:20.850 --> 00:05:23.290 an online experience, effectively making the 00:05:23.290 --> 00:05:26.470 game unputdownable? I mean, absolutely. And the 00:05:26.470 --> 00:05:28.649 economics of that addiction proved to be incredibly 00:05:28.649 --> 00:05:31.389 lucrative, too. The source material highlights 00:05:31.389 --> 00:05:33.790 the release of the game's downloadable content, 00:05:34.269 --> 00:05:36.970 specifically... the stimulus package map pack. 00:05:37.089 --> 00:05:40.189 Right, the DLC. Yeah. And keep in mind, this 00:05:40.189 --> 00:05:43.310 cost extra money on top of the base game's $60 00:05:43.310 --> 00:05:47.470 price tag. Right. Yet it saw 2 .5 million downloads 00:05:47.470 --> 00:05:50.550 in its first week alone. That is just crazy. 00:05:50.670 --> 00:05:53.790 It absolutely shattered Xbox Live records. It 00:05:53.790 --> 00:05:56.529 was a massive indicator that gamers were willing 00:05:56.529 --> 00:05:58.730 to pay a premium to extend an experience they 00:05:58.730 --> 00:06:00.810 were already completely hooked on. Which is wild 00:06:00.810 --> 00:06:02.230 when you think about it. Like, it was laying 00:06:02.230 --> 00:06:04.230 the groundwork for the modern live service games 00:06:04.230 --> 00:06:06.269 we see everywhere today. Definitely. But you 00:06:06.269 --> 00:06:08.350 know, while that addictive multiplayer loop kept 00:06:08.350 --> 00:06:10.949 people playing for months, nobody dropped $60 00:06:10.949 --> 00:06:13.889 on day one just for the promise of a good progression 00:06:13.889 --> 00:06:15.949 system. They need a spectacle. Right. They need 00:06:15.949 --> 00:06:19.569 a reason to buy in. Exactly. The staggering ambition 00:06:19.569 --> 00:06:21.850 of the single player campaign is what justified 00:06:21.850 --> 00:06:24.250 the initial hype, the midnight launch parties 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:26.689 and the breathless media attention. For sure. 00:06:27.129 --> 00:06:29.209 The campaign was explicitly designed to mimic 00:06:29.209 --> 00:06:32.959 a globetrotting Hollywood action film. Infinity 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:35.220 Ward wanted to blur the line between playing 00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:37.819 a video game and starring a summer blockbuster 00:06:37.819 --> 00:06:40.259 directed by Michael Bay. And the plot is just 00:06:40.259 --> 00:06:42.300 relentless. Looking through the synopsis here, 00:06:42.620 --> 00:06:45.560 we're talking about a scenario set in 2016 where 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:49.040 Russian ultranationalists launch a massive surprise 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:51.120 invasion on the East Coast of the United States. 00:06:51.339 --> 00:06:54.899 It's intense. You have Task Force 141, this elite 00:06:54.899 --> 00:06:57.480 multinational unit, hunting down a terrorist 00:06:57.480 --> 00:07:00.019 mastermind named Makarov. The narrative scale 00:07:00.019 --> 00:07:02.480 is huge and it constantly shifts your perspective. 00:07:02.540 --> 00:07:05.199 Yeah. Like one minute you're playing as Sergeant 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:07.540 Gary Roach Sanderson infiltrating a base in a 00:07:07.540 --> 00:07:09.939 freezing snowstorm. or engaging in a chaotic 00:07:09.939 --> 00:07:11.980 firefight through the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. 00:07:12.740 --> 00:07:15.279 The next, you are Private James Ramirez, an Army 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:17.839 Ranger, literally defending the suburbs of Washington 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:20.680 D .C. from invading paratroopers. The D .C. levels 00:07:20.680 --> 00:07:23.009 sound particularly insane. Oh, they are. There 00:07:23.009 --> 00:07:25.589 is a sequence where an EMP and electromagnetic 00:07:25.589 --> 00:07:28.370 pulse is detonated in the upper atmosphere. The 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:31.250 game actually shows it destroying the International 00:07:31.250 --> 00:07:34.269 Space Station, raining debris down from orbit 00:07:34.269 --> 00:07:37.189 and completely disabling all electronics on the 00:07:37.189 --> 00:07:39.470 eastern seaboard. Yeah, it plunges this massive 00:07:39.470 --> 00:07:42.449 urban battlefield into total darkness. And then, 00:07:42.529 --> 00:07:45.310 as if an invasion and an EMP aren't high enough 00:07:45.310 --> 00:07:48.209 stakes, there's a shocking betrayal by an American 00:07:48.209 --> 00:07:51.250 general, Shepard, who turns out to be manipulating 00:07:51.250 --> 00:07:54.000 the entire war. Yeah, the twists just keep coming. 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:56.540 And to sell that level of drama and keep the 00:07:56.540 --> 00:07:59.199 player invested, the studio heavily invested 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:01.519 in production values that rivaled major film 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:03.680 studios. I read they had some big names on the 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:06.180 soundtrack. They did. The audio production alone 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:08.339 was star -studded. They brought in legendary 00:08:08.339 --> 00:08:10.500 Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer to create the 00:08:10.500 --> 00:08:12.579 main theme, with the rest of the dramatic score 00:08:12.579 --> 00:08:14.899 composed by Lauren Belf. Wow, Hans Zimmer doing 00:08:14.899 --> 00:08:18.040 a video game score in 2009. Exactly. And they 00:08:18.040 --> 00:08:20.319 hired established actors like Kevin McKidd to 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:22.860 voice the protagonist, Soap McTavish, and even 00:08:22.860 --> 00:08:25.759 had rapper 50 Cent providing voice work for the 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:28.480 multiplayer modes. But, you know, having a brilliant 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:31.040 soundtrack and a wild script only gets you so 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:34.240 far. The actual technology running the game had 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:36.679 to be able to keep up with that cinematic ambition. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:40.700 Which brings us to the IW 4 .0 engine. The developers 00:08:40.700 --> 00:08:44.500 made a massive technological leap here, specifically 00:08:44.500 --> 00:08:46.879 regarding artificial intelligence. Okay, how 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:49.460 so? Well, in older shooters, including previous 00:08:49.460 --> 00:08:52.220 Call of Duty titles, the processing power just 00:08:52.220 --> 00:08:54.820 wasn't there. Enemies generally had infinite 00:08:54.820 --> 00:08:57.500 respawns and followed strictly designated paths. 00:08:58.100 --> 00:09:00.220 If you learned the path, you beat the level. 00:09:00.440 --> 00:09:02.740 Right, like learning a dance routine. Exactly. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:06.080 But the IW 4 .0 engine introduced what they call 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:09.019 dynamic AI. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:12.120 Think about old AI systems like going on a haunted 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:14.779 house ride at an amusement park. The cart moves 00:09:14.779 --> 00:09:17.279 on a track and the mechanical jump scares pop 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:19.860 out at the exact same time in the exact same 00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:22.139 place every single time you ride it. But this 00:09:22.139 --> 00:09:25.240 new dynamic AI, it sounds more like being hunted 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:28.340 by an actual predator in the woods. That is a 00:09:28.340 --> 00:09:31.090 highly accurate way to visualize it. The source 00:09:31.090 --> 00:09:33.889 material explicitly notes that enemies were no 00:09:33.889 --> 00:09:37.070 longer tethered to infinite respawns or set behaviors. 00:09:37.289 --> 00:09:39.389 They were basically off the leash. Right. They 00:09:39.389 --> 00:09:41.590 were designed to act independently. They would 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:44.090 actively seek out the player, break away from 00:09:44.090 --> 00:09:46.470 their set routes, and try to flank your position. 00:09:47.009 --> 00:09:49.110 You couldn't rely on rote memorization anymore 00:09:49.110 --> 00:09:51.049 because the enemies would behave differently 00:09:51.049 --> 00:09:53.600 every single time you booted up the level. I 00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:56.100 have to admit I'm a little confused by that design 00:09:56.100 --> 00:09:59.019 choice though. How come? Because if the goal 00:09:59.019 --> 00:10:02.639 is to create a tightly paced cinematic Hollywood 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:06.120 style experience doesn't replacing carefully 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:09.740 scripted moments with unpredictable AI risk breaking 00:10:09.740 --> 00:10:13.519 that crafted pacing like doesn't giving the enemies 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:15.980 a brain introduce too much chaos into the movie 00:10:15.980 --> 00:10:18.059 you're trying to direct. That is a very valid 00:10:18.059 --> 00:10:19.919 concern and it's a tightrope developers have 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:21.679 to walk. But if we connect this to the bigger 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:25.970 picture the chaos The narrative is about a sudden 00:10:25.970 --> 00:10:28.830 overwhelming invasion and the frantic hunt for 00:10:28.830 --> 00:10:33.250 a terrorist. By utilizing dynamic AI, the developers 00:10:33.250 --> 00:10:36.730 force you the player, to remain in a constant 00:10:36.730 --> 00:10:38.610 state of high alert. You can't just memorize 00:10:38.610 --> 00:10:40.970 the spawn points. Exactly. You are never safe 00:10:40.970 --> 00:10:42.830 behind cover for too long. You can't just take 00:10:42.830 --> 00:10:45.710 a breath and relax. The unpredictability of the 00:10:45.710 --> 00:10:48.509 enemies perfectly matches the chaotic high stakes 00:10:48.509 --> 00:10:51.549 nature of the story. So it bridges the gap between 00:10:51.549 --> 00:10:54.149 the tension of the narrative and the actual tension 00:10:54.149 --> 00:10:56.470 you feel holding the controller. Precisely. That 00:10:56.470 --> 00:10:59.110 makes total sense. The immersion is driven by 00:10:59.110 --> 00:11:01.009 the fact that you genuinely do not know what's 00:11:01.009 --> 00:11:02.850 going to happen next. Your heart rate is up because 00:11:02.850 --> 00:11:07.039 the danger feels off. but that intense drive 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:10.299 for hyper -realistic immersion and that desire 00:11:10.299 --> 00:11:13.139 to tell a really gritty, uncompromising story 00:11:13.139 --> 00:11:15.490 that ultimately led the developers to create 00:11:15.490 --> 00:11:17.990 a scenario that breached the boundaries of interactive 00:11:17.990 --> 00:11:19.909 entertainment. It's fucked a level of global 00:11:19.909 --> 00:11:22.629 outrage that gaming hadn't seen in years. Yeah, 00:11:22.629 --> 00:11:24.809 we really cannot discuss the legacy of Modern 00:11:24.809 --> 00:11:28.549 Warfare 2 without exploring the intense controversies 00:11:28.549 --> 00:11:31.669 it generated and one specific level in particular. 00:11:31.870 --> 00:11:34.929 The level is called No Russian. And reading the 00:11:34.929 --> 00:11:37.309 description of this from our sources, it is incredibly 00:11:37.309 --> 00:11:39.649 heavy. It actively tested the limits of what 00:11:39.649 --> 00:11:41.889 was considered culturally acceptable in the video 00:11:41.889 --> 00:11:44.070 game medium. Let's walk through exactly what 00:11:44.070 --> 00:11:46.350 happens in this sequence, relying purely on the 00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:49.649 text here. You play as an undercover CIA agent. 00:11:49.710 --> 00:11:52.690 Right. Your objective is to infiltrate a Russian 00:11:52.690 --> 00:11:55.870 terrorist cell led by Makarov. To gain their 00:11:55.870 --> 00:11:58.289 trust and maintain your cover, you participate 00:11:58.289 --> 00:12:00.669 in a mass shooting of civilians at a security 00:12:00.669 --> 00:12:03.009 checkpoint in a Moscow airport. And the level 00:12:03.009 --> 00:12:05.350 design does not shy away from the visceral horror 00:12:05.350 --> 00:12:07.970 of the situation. The text notes that the scene 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:10.909 is highly graphic. Yeah. Screens are heard throughout 00:12:10.909 --> 00:12:13.580 the airport. Injured civilians are depicted crawling 00:12:13.580 --> 00:12:16.379 away, leaving blood trails or perching themselves 00:12:16.379 --> 00:12:19.659 on tables as they bleed out. The only legitimate 00:12:19.659 --> 00:12:22.399 targets you eventually face are waves of security 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:25.259 personnel and heavily armed riot squads out on 00:12:25.259 --> 00:12:27.980 the tarmac. Now, a crucial detail our sources 00:12:27.980 --> 00:12:30.299 mention is that you are never actually forced 00:12:30.299 --> 00:12:32.720 to pull the trigger on the civilians. You can 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:35.259 choose to simply walk alongside the terrorists 00:12:35.259 --> 00:12:37.960 and watch the events unfold. Which is an important 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:40.360 distinction. Furthermore, the game explicitly 00:12:40.360 --> 00:12:43.340 gives you a content warning beforehand and allows 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:45.620 you to skip the level entirely without suffering 00:12:45.620 --> 00:12:48.080 any penalty to your progression or the story. 00:12:48.659 --> 00:12:52.399 But despite those caveats, the backlash was immediate 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.490 and severe. Prior to release, footage leaked 00:12:55.490 --> 00:12:58.429 online, and once the game was out, the condemnation 00:12:58.429 --> 00:13:00.549 was widespread. Who was speaking out against 00:13:00.549 --> 00:13:03.029 it? Well, the source material details reactions 00:13:03.029 --> 00:13:04.909 from prominent British religious leaders, for 00:13:04.909 --> 00:13:07.769 example. Alexander Goldberg of the London Jewish 00:13:07.769 --> 00:13:10.909 Forum expressed deep worry about children playing 00:13:10.909 --> 00:13:13.370 it. Okay. Fasan Mohammed of the British Muslim 00:13:13.370 --> 00:13:15.389 Forum described it as an intimate experience 00:13:15.389 --> 00:13:18.210 of enacting terrorism. Stephen Lowe, the retired 00:13:18.210 --> 00:13:20.669 bishop of home, outright called it sickening. 00:13:20.759 --> 00:13:22.840 And it wasn't just religious leaders expressing 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:26.480 concern. Journalists like Mark Cieslak of BBC 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:29.720 News stated the level saddened him. specifically 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:32.539 because it disproved his long -held theory that 00:13:32.539 --> 00:13:34.759 the video game industry had finally grown up. 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:36.899 Right, there was this debate about maturity in 00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:39.679 gaming. On the flip side, you had staunch defenders 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:42.500 arguing that this was strictly an M -rated game, 00:13:42.820 --> 00:13:45.200 it was meant for adults, and it should be treated 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:48.000 with the exact same creative latitude as an R 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:50.840 -rated movie exploring dark themes. Which brings 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:53.120 up other cultural missteps noted in the text, 00:13:53.480 --> 00:13:56.019 highlighting a studio culture that was perhaps 00:13:56.019 --> 00:13:58.059 pushing the envelope without always considering 00:13:58.059 --> 00:14:00.360 the broad - implications. Like what else happened? 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:03.080 For example, in a multiplayer map called Karachi 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:06.080 set in Pakistan, they mistakenly used Arabic 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:08.860 on the signs and banners instead of Urdu. Which 00:14:08.860 --> 00:14:11.679 is a pretty glaring oversight for a game striving 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:14.960 for absolute hyperrealism. Yeah, exactly. There 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:17.059 was also an issue with a promotional video they 00:14:17.059 --> 00:14:19.720 posted on YouTube featuring baseball player Cole 00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:22.039 Hamels. Oh, I read about this. It was framed 00:14:22.039 --> 00:14:24.460 as a public service announcement against throwing 00:14:24.460 --> 00:14:26.620 too many grenades in multiplayer what players 00:14:26.620 --> 00:14:30.549 call grenade spam. But the video used an acronym, 00:14:31.470 --> 00:14:34.769 FAGS, which was widely criticized by gaming journalists 00:14:34.769 --> 00:14:37.789 as condoning homophobic slurs. The community 00:14:37.789 --> 00:14:39.950 manager claimed it was a joke about gamer stereotypes, 00:14:40.490 --> 00:14:42.409 but they ultimately pulled the video after realizing 00:14:42.409 --> 00:14:45.129 it crossed the line from edgy to offensive. So 00:14:45.129 --> 00:14:48.370 what does this all mean? The no -Russian level, 00:14:48.409 --> 00:14:51.549 specifically, forces us to confront how we view 00:14:51.549 --> 00:14:54.610 video games versus other art forms. Because, 00:14:54.809 --> 00:14:56.970 let's be honest, imagine sitting in your living 00:14:56.970 --> 00:14:59.230 room watching a Quentin Tarantino movie or a 00:14:59.230 --> 00:15:01.990 Martin Scorsese film. If you saw an undercover 00:15:01.990 --> 00:15:04.070 cop doing something horrific to maintain his 00:15:04.070 --> 00:15:06.509 cover in a cartel, you wouldn't blink. It might 00:15:06.509 --> 00:15:09.029 even win an Oscar for its gritty realism and 00:15:09.029 --> 00:15:11.409 challenging themes. Does the physical act of 00:15:11.409 --> 00:15:13.649 holding a controller fundamentally change the 00:15:13.649 --> 00:15:16.279 moral math of engaging with dark art? raises 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:18.240 an important question about the double standards 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:21.080 often applied to video games. The core difference 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:24.080 in why this level sparks such a visceral, undeniable 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.779 reaction is interactivity. Right, because you 00:15:26.779 --> 00:15:29.519 are physically involved. Exactly. In a film, 00:15:29.700 --> 00:15:32.340 you are a passive observer. You are watching 00:15:32.340 --> 00:15:34.720 a director's vision unfold from a safe distance. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.259 But a video game requires your active participation. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:41.019 Even if you choose not to shoot the civilians 00:15:41.019 --> 00:15:44.820 in no Russian, you are physically moving the 00:15:44.820 --> 00:15:47.019 joystick to walk in step with the terrorists. 00:15:47.019 --> 00:15:49.480 Wow, yeah. You were navigating the physical space 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:52.299 of the massacre. The emotional weight of simulated 00:15:52.299 --> 00:15:54.799 terrorism hits entirely differently when you 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:56.539 were the one pressing the buttons to move the 00:15:56.539 --> 00:15:58.740 character forward. It transforms you from an 00:15:58.740 --> 00:16:01.360 audience member into an accomplice. And that 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:04.039 distinction was so potent that the level was 00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:06.500 heavily censored in several international versions 00:16:06.500 --> 00:16:09.120 and removed entirely from the game in Russia. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:11.940 The medium's interactivity is its absolute greatest 00:16:11.940 --> 00:16:14.159 strength for immersion. But it's also why it 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:17.100 faces far more intense moral scrutiny than film, 00:16:17.139 --> 00:16:19.539 television, or literature. Which really brings 00:16:19.539 --> 00:16:21.960 us back to you listening to this deep dive right 00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:24.080 now. Whether you consider yourself a hardcore 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:26.480 gamer who remembers the adrenaline rush of getting 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:29.259 a 25 kill streak, or someone who only casually 00:16:29.259 --> 00:16:31.580 plays puzzle games on your phone, or just someone 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:34.360 fascinated by how pop culture evolved. It touches 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:36.899 all of those areas. It really does. Call of Duty. 00:16:37.210 --> 00:16:40.090 Modern Warfare 2 is an absolute masterclass. 00:16:40.429 --> 00:16:42.769 It shows us how bleeding -edge technology, a 00:16:42.769 --> 00:16:45.350 deep understanding of human psychology through 00:16:45.350 --> 00:16:47.830 those multiplayer reward loops, and a willingness 00:16:47.830 --> 00:16:50.509 to court massive controversy can all combine 00:16:50.509 --> 00:16:53.409 to create a billion -dollar cultural flashpoint. 00:16:53.509 --> 00:16:56.070 Its impact is undeniable. I mean, the fact that 00:16:56.070 --> 00:16:58.470 the single -player campaign was given a full, 00:16:58.789 --> 00:17:01.509 ground -up visual remaster in 2020 for modern 00:17:01.509 --> 00:17:04.630 consoles proves how enduring its legacy is. Right. 00:17:04.789 --> 00:17:07.840 The mechanics have popularized the constant the 00:17:07.840 --> 00:17:10.180 customizable loadouts, the premium map packs, 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:12.359 they're still foundational to the games industry 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:14.960 today. It's set a template that entire massive 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:17.819 studios are still copying, but it also leaves 00:17:17.819 --> 00:17:19.460 us with something really challenging to think 00:17:19.460 --> 00:17:21.500 about. We talked earlier about the developers 00:17:21.500 --> 00:17:24.519 wanting to blur the line between a game and reality 00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:26.859 with their technology and their storytelling. 00:17:27.059 --> 00:17:29.680 Yeah. As virtual reality headsets become more 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:32.680 mainstream and as gaming engines become truly 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:35.569 indistinguishable from real life, Will society 00:17:35.569 --> 00:17:38.450 ever fully accept the interactive medium as a 00:17:38.450 --> 00:17:40.910 legitimate space for exploring extreme moral 00:17:40.910 --> 00:17:44.170 ambiguity? Or, as the graphics get more and more 00:17:44.170 --> 00:17:46.569 photorealistic, is the no -Russian debate just 00:17:46.569 --> 00:17:48.769 going to repeat itself over and over again with 00:17:48.769 --> 00:17:50.769 every technological leap? It's a tough question. 00:17:50.970 --> 00:17:52.410 Something to chew on the next time you pick up 00:17:52.410 --> 00:17:52.829 a controller.