How Gaming Has Changed Since 9/11

2. The Nebulous "Terrorist" Antagonist In Action Games

Before Ubisoft showcased Vaas and later Pagan Min - ushering in the era of the "whacky" antagonist - every single evildoer was a nebulously-labelled "terrorist", because it was a simple enough go-to for any big bad.

Now, whilst the middle-east was being used frequently across scores of games, actual nationalities of terrorists varied from Russian to Mexican, to various regions of Europe. Uncharted 2's Lazarevic, Black Ops Nikita Dragovich - it felt like every other game saw you up against a gravel-voiced middle-easterner or a dastardly Russian.

Essentially, it was anything other than America - which was why when Spec-Ops: The Line dropped with its dissection of Martin Walker through quasi-"villain" John Konrad, it became a cult classic.

Only recently have we started to see villains with more nuanced motivations, setting them up for a final fight where we "save them from themselves", rather than just gunning them down and moving on.