Iraq, The Video Game: Neutral Documentary Game (and my thought about it)

Developer 'Atomic Games' and publisher 'Konami' (Yes, THAT Konami) as stated in an article from Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com), are working on a documentary-style game with the name of 'Six Days in Fallujah' Read the full article HERE. Right now I don't think we've got much to talk about the concept of this game or even the game itself because we pretty much know nothing in detail. But I have some opinions about this subject after the click...



I think this is a pretty ambitious idea to create a 'game-amentary' (the term was used by the developers of this game themselves) which lacks the commentary elements usually presented in its counterparts (films) in order to stay 'unbiased' toward a particular viewpoint about this war.

Yes, it is ideal to try to be neutral, but how can we define the 'neutrality' of this subject? Atomic Games said it took into account experiences and memos from many soldiers as well as interviews with Iraqis involved in the battle, but how can one be totally neutral when the game puts us gamers in the shoes of US Marines? How can we, who will be struggling to survive in the digital version of this reenacted conflict, learn about the pain and suffering innocent Iraqis who were caught in the conflict between US battalions and Iraqis insurgents? And last but not least, how could a piece without commentary tells you about the reactions of US soldiers after they were briefed that all Iraqi males from the age of 18 - 65 were potential threats (especially when one had Kalashnikov in his hands) or would the developer show the truth concerning Fallujah Ambush in which 4 American contractors were killed while working for Blackwater and were sent into Fallujah 'underarmed' on a food-delivery mission^*? or will they just talk about these deaths as the victims of 'insurgency'?

So what is neutrality in the context of this game?

"We're not trying to make social commentary. We're not pro-war. We're not trying to make people feel uncomfortable. We just want to bring a compelling entertainment experience,...At the end of the day, it's just a game." Anthony Crouts - VP of marketing, Konami

"In parts of the "game-amentary," as the developers of "Six Days" have called it, users are forced to make hard choices. In one opening sequence, an enemy bursts from a door without a weapon in hand. Players can decide if this character qualifies as a hostile and can act accordingly. Whether you choose to shoot the unarmed person will drastically change your experience with the game and will be heavily based on the player's own support or objections to the war. Those personal feelings are complicated by the need to survive to succeed in the game." Jamin Brophy-Warren - WSJ

Sure thing, having these kind of choice making processes would add some depth and realism to the gameplay, this doesn't sound too different from your Karma system in Fallout 3. Without commentary, would it make any difference if the player is someone who doesn't have any knowledge about the social lives of people and the environments of the place? When you had never seen the looks on faces of injured Iraqi women and children, you tend to say the same thing I always hear (or read) from a lot of people (especially Pro-War American who had no idea of what the war is all about) "Better get them before they get us!"

Personally I don't have anything against this game because we will need to see more about this game before passing any judgment on the qualities of the game itself, but it was my personally feeling toward the idea of throwing facts and the precise events taken place in Operation Fallujah (at the moment I haven't had the idea whether 'Six Days' was modeled after the event in Operation Vigilant Resolve or Operation Phantom Fury) at the players without giving out any opinion or drawing any conclusion might result into a hyper-realistic war simulation which might not be too different from any other shooting games out there.

I watch documentaries on a daily basis, and rarely did I find a documentary which gave viewers only 'facts' without creator's point of view of the subject. The point about a good documentary is that the director states his/her views while giving the viewers breathing spaces to think, to do their own research and to draw their own conclusions by themselves. Personally I think a documentary without a clear directions or thought is a little pointless.

So we'll have to wait and see which direction and what decisions the developers at Atomic Games would adopt for the subjective matters in 'Six Days in Fallujah'.

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* Go do some research about how private firms do their business and earn profit from the current war in Iraq. (I think we gamers can acquire knowledge beyond our HDTVs if we want and choose to do so)

Update: From this article on Joystiq, it's inspired by Phantom Fury