There’s no denying the ridiculous popularity of Activison’s Call of Duty franchise; it breaks sales records left and right, and is basically regarded as the King of the video game world, somehow managing to top its own success with every subsequent entry.
However, I have another theory about why Call of Duty is so popular, and that’s because it provides a safe outlet for players to purge all those nasty little personality tics that are festering deep down below in our subconscious.
Through the game’s sheer nature – especially during online play – it flips a switch in players, causing all that inner resentment, at your siblings who get more parental love, at the crush who humiliated you at school and so on, to come bubbling to the surface, remedied in a good old-fashioned bout of simulated bloody combat.
Many will say that this series is a pointless waste of time, and in many ways they’re right, but the game does at some point force you to stare yourself in the mirror and realise these 10 things about own personality.
10. A Love Of Violence
Probably the most obvious entry into this list is that, by its sheer nature, the Call of Duty games are going to appeal to people who enjoy violence; that’s not to say that everyone who plays CoD is a psychopath (though I’ll cover that point later), but simply that players are going to have an inherent predilection towards seeing people get blown to smithereens.
Alright, so what? We all watch violent movies, but that said, we probably don’t hypnotically watch death scenes from movies two or three times a minute in quite the same way that a regular game of Call of Duty will present it to us.
We’ve all racked up thousands, even tens of thousands of kills on the CoD games over the years, something of a bragging right for hardcore players, and though within the safety of the game it’s nothing more than a number, the wider implication is a celebration of violent murder.
Sure, it’s war, and some will argue it’s a healthy way to get out aggression, but wouldn’t the world be a better place if we could just all get along? No? Alright, pass me the AK…
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9 Comments
I haven’t bought a call of duty game since the first modern warfare. Now, whenever a new one comes out, I rent it out for a few days, play the ridiculously short (but still good) single player campaign and then never look at it again.
CoD is for kids, wanna play a real first person shooter that is truly competitive? Play Counter Strike, it takes real skill, there is no perks, there is actual recoil and you have to have actual shooting skills. No red dot sights or kill streaks etc. Its hard and much more challenging than CoD. Plus its only 15 bucks and way more fun. There is community maps and anywhere from 8 to 64 man servers, a much more enjoyable experience overall. But it still brings out a lot of things in yourself that this article mentioned.
Again another shooter article the someone cries about campers. I think its funny to think the way you play is the right one or because someone is killing you over and over because youre too dumb to get creative enough to counter what they are doing. Camping is actually the smart way to play because last I checked running n gunnin gets you killed way more times and isnt the idea of the game to not die and win. Whatever it takes as long as its within the rules is fine by me. So use whatever weapon you want and any perk or kill streak and camp or whatever, and have fun picking off the real noobs who cry. And to the fella who said in counter strike you have to have actual shooting skills ,you sir are an idiot. Counter strike is a great game but to compare it to COD is stupid. And im not too sure how you figure its more skillful than any other shooter. Counter Strike is and always has been a system shooter. Meaning you find a way to work the system not the players. Play Arma 2 if you wanna play a shooter which requires skill.
Camping is the bitch way to play, not the smart way. Why would there even be a smart way to play a game that involves shooting people? The idea of the game is to complete your objective. Who pays $60 to stand in a corner and shoot people? Just to brag to your friends about your high K/D that has no relevence in the real word whatsoever. Obviously you didnt read this article or know how to play COD. No ones two dumb to keep getting killed in the exact same way by a camper, its because they go to the same spot when you kill them, unless your a noob. Something tells me your a camper. Counter Strike is stupid compared to COD? Yea because the game thats actually realistic where it counts is so bad compared to a game that needs you to unload a full assault rifle, 2 pistol shots, a rocket and a grenade, into your enemy to kill them.
COD is stale, I can say Ive never bought one of their games in my life.
It’s rude to call someone an idiot over the internet for their opinion, you just sound like a big defensive baby cause people are making fun of you’re favorite game you CoD fanboy. Why is it stupid to compare CS to cod? Do you have any real facts to back up your claim? They are both team based FPS so I say they are pretty fair game to compare too. And you do need real shooting skills in CS, you can’t spray, you have no scopes or red dot sights, or noob tubes or anything. Just a gun with alot of recoil and crosshairs. You have to make precise shots in small bursts to be accurate, unlike cod, where you can spray all day and still be accurate. Its more skillful cause the guns are more difficult to use and you don’t have regenerating health, perks or kill streaks. In MW3 it wasn’t hard for me to go 45 and 5, cause that game is easy and full of people who suck and ridiculous kill streaks. In CS im lucky to go 20 and 10 cause its hard and there is actually people who play that are good, adults who have been playing it since the late 90′s. Not just children or teens who mic spam. CS is a more grown up shooter, where COD is for anyone but mostly teens. Anyway you just sound like a raging fanboy. Also no one is arguing that Arma 2 is a shooter which requires skill. So where did that come from?
Agree with number one the most.
Played MW3, guy kills me 3 times in a row, I kill him. After the game, I get a message basically using every swear word going and calling me a noob just because I killed him with an Ak-47. I only play MW3, and then I only do play it with my friends, just because its more fun then, otherwise its boring as hell on your own. I think the most Ive played on my own online, 3 games, then I quit and went on something else. Its the people that spoil it, its either kids screaming down the mic, or its people who dont know how to put down the controller and are really good at it (or cheating:P) Last weekend, there were 3 of us (me n friends) got into a with a group of all random people but were all on mic, and everyone was around the same level, and everyone was playing it for fun, with laughter down the mic, thats how it should be. Played for about an hour n half with them.
i have battlefield 3 now, COD has lost its touch for me
COD sucks. It’s the same song and dance every year and this article pretty much sums up every problem in the game. We need a new war game.