One game I enjoy playing is Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. This game is a first person shooter game taking place during a fictional world in the middle of World War III. This game heavily emphasizes harm/care and loyalty because it takes place in middle of a war. The main objective in every game mode is ultimately to survive. There three game modes are Spec Ops, Story, and Multiplayer. The Story and Multiplayer modes focus more on harm while the Spec Ops mode focuses on loyalty.
Story mode is a single player mode and the player has the ability to follow the narrative created by the game developers. This appeals the explorers because hidden Easter eggs are scattered throughout various game stages. Achievers also would enjoy this game mode because achievements can be unlocked by beating the game on various difficulties. Although the story mode provides each kind of gamer with their own objective, they still have to kill hordes of enemies throughout the progression of the mode. I mentioned before that this game takes place during a war so the ultimate objective is to survive. No matter how matter how much you may want to explore or get achievements, at some point you will have to kill (harm) in order to progress.
The other game with an emphasis on harm/care is Multiplayer. Multiplayer is a unique game mode in this game. Prior to Modern Warfare 3, multiplayer game modes favored killers because awards and achievements were based on kills. When this game came out, it created new achievement systems that also rewarded people who supported others and did in game achievements. The introduction of this increased the morality aspect of care in the game. Players were encouraged to have a choice in whether to focus on killing or aiding teammates.
The last game mode is the Spec Ops game mode: it focuses on loyalty which appeals to socializers. In the Spec Ops game mode there are survival maps that place two players on a team and force them to battle computer enemies. The player still has to kill enemies but through voice chat they can choose to talk with their partner to coordinate attacks or relax with a casual conversation in-between battles. This game mode encourages loyalty to your teammate because without them you will not be allowed to continue. If they are knocked down then you have thirty seconds to revive them or the mission is failed.
This game includes no explicit references to fairness, authority, or purity. Purity is completely vacant (as in most war-based games). Fairness may implicitly be seen in how the multiplayer game mode doesn’t only reward people for killing. The new rewards system makes the game fair by rewarding people bases on what they are good at (killing, achievements, caring for others). Authority may only be seen in the rankings. Naturally, if a player see’s another player who is ranked below them they may think their skills are superior and they deserve respect on the battlefield. This happens a lot when I play with my group of friends. We all look up to the friend who (literally) is always the top player in every online game with lobbies of sixteen players.
Based on the games other students played, I would most likely enjoy them. The game I played is very versatile in regards to gamer needs: It has something for just about everyone. On some days I may be complete garbage and my killing skills may be nonexistent. In that case, I may like to work in a team functioning as the support person or “medic”. One game another student wrote about was RuneScape. Beena mentions the main elements are “combat and murder” but she also says that a player is able to walk through cities with their friends and “slay chickens”. If I also lacked skills in killing while I played Beena’s Runescape, I may slay a chicken while walking through a town with my friend. As long as a game gives me versatility in which style I want to play, I will most likely enjoy it.
I don’t think I would enjoy this game, or any game in a war setting. This is because I’m not huge fan of killing. I know a lot of people like games where the objective is to kill or shoot as many people as you can, but I am not one of them. I’m a big achiever and explorer. I like games where I am rewarded for finding something, or doing something well. I like to be rewarded for my skills. I think the Easter Egg aspect of this game would appeal to me, but overall, the main idea of violence and killing would ultimately keep me away.
I think the one exception of me not liking violent games would be Super Smash Brothers. In that game you are rewarded for your kills, but I absolutely love it. Perhaps it’s because it isn’t graphic?