Is Call of Juarez: The Cartel Appropriate?

[JohnTC02]

Interesting article.

By all means post your thoughts about this but please don't get into a political debate or it will be locked.

With people dying every day in this Mexican border town, will Ubisoft's game shed light on the city's problems or exploit them?

The war between feuding drug gangs in this Mexican border town is something out of a nightmare. NPR’s Morning Edition reported today an average of eight people were killed a day in 2010. The show also reported 52 died after in a recent three-day bloodbath that also claimed two police officers and a state investigator.

This is life in Juarez, the murder capital of the world. It's also the setting for the next Call of Juarez game from Ubisoft: The Cartel . It's ignited a furor in Juarez, with the state legislators in Juarez asking that Mexico ban the game when it comes out this summer. Morning Edition said this morning that the game "glorifies murder and mayhem in (Mexico)," and during an interview on the show, University of Texas El Paso anthropology professor Howard Campbell said, "People see it as the ultimate dehumanization of the people of Juarez. More than 8,000 people have been killed in Juarez, and it's not something to joke about. Their problems have been so severe that for people to mock them and make light of them is very, very insulting."

Considering that much of the drug war in Mexico is fueled by the United States' consumption of illegal narcotics, is it right that gamers could be reliving the battles on the streets of Juarez in The Cartel while real people are dying because of America’s hunger for marijuana, cocaine, and other drugs? Is The Cartel appropriate?

I view this differently than the war in Afghanistan, which started as a military conflict between the Taliban and Al Qaeda and the U.S. military. To me, this conflict at least stood for something, and while civilians have died in the fighting, the U.S. at least takes pains to avoid the death of Afghanistan's citizens.

The drug gangs don't care about civilian casualties. They want their turf and profits, which is fed by America's hunger for illegal drugs--and whether your care to admit it or not, our drug policy is responsible for the deaths in Juarez. Setting a game in this situation makes me extremely uncomfortable--like we're exploiting the death and terror that's become part of life in Juarez and are turning it into a game, and like a game company is seeking to profit not only from the violence but from U.S. drug policy as well.

Is it a glorification of the drug cartels? I don’t know. Does The Cartel have the potential to address the serious issues involved in the drug war in a meaningful way? Certainly. If the game can help show how the drug war is tearing Juarez (and many other areas in Mexico) apart and result in a change to U.S. drug laws (and our consumption of illegal narcotics) and enforcement that either takes on the gangs or takes the profit away from them, The Cartel could provide a valuable service to the law-abiding citizens of Mexico, the people who just want to live their lives. But if The Cartel is more about exploitation of a horrible situation to make a game, then I hope gamers reject it.

Source.

[Ruin]

Interesting read...

Personally I see no difference between this game and games that focus on other conflicts where people have died. Civilian casualties have always been a fact of war. The recent, and current, Global War on terrorism highlights thousands of civilian deaths as well. Juarez is certainly a politically hot topic, but I see no reason to distinguish a game about it from other shooters/games involving death. There will always be someone, somewhere who is sensitive to what is being portrayed in video games regardless of the cause of the conflict. An example...

Original

The drug gangs don't care about civilian casualties. They want their turf and profits, which is fed by America's hunger for illegal drugs--and whether your care to admit it or not, our drug policy is responsible for the deaths in Juarez. Setting a game in this situation makes me extremely uncomfortable--like we're exploiting the death and terror that's become part of life in Juarez and are turning it into a game, and like a game company is seeking to profit not only from the violence but from U.S. drug policy as well.

Possibility?

Terrorists don't care about civilian casualties. They want to use violence and fear for political gains, which is fed by America's outreaching foreign policy--and whether your care to admit it or not, our foreign policy is responsible for the deaths caused by terrorists. Setting a game in this situation makes me extremely uncomfortable--like we're exploiting the death and terror that's become part of life in rogue states and war torn countries and are turning it into a game, and like a game company is seeking to profit not only from the violence but from U.S. foreign policy as well.

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Please note, these aren't my personal views or beliefs, but just a very rough way of showing how this argument could be applied elsewhere....

[2nd Ranger]

This just looked like your run-of-the-mill, knee-jerk reactionary "this time they've gone too far" game-related pomposity exercise, until I read the last paragraph.

Does The Cartel have the potential to address the serious issues involved in the drug war in a meaningful way? Certainly.

No, of course it doesn't. It's a computer game.

If the game can help show how the drug war is tearing Juarez (and many other areas in Mexico) apart and result in a change to U.S. drug laws (and our consumption of illegal narcotics) and enforcement that either takes on the gangs or takes the profit away from them, The Cartel could provide a valuable service to the law-abiding citizens of Mexico, the people who just want to live their lives.

"result in a change to US drug laws"? This guy assigns waaaay too much importance to the focus of his profession. When was the last time a computer game addressed anything in a meaningful way, or was responsible for any profound changes for anything except how to better make or sell games? If anyone can think of such a time, then please, tell me. I'd be genuinely interested to know.

I mean, even if the game's message was deep and weighty enough to provoke serious thought, what would happen? Some Senator would stand up during a session and say "Holy ###### you guys, have you played the new Call of Juarez?" and they'd start fixing the problem? Could a computer game possibly tell them anything they didn't already know about the issue?

But if The Cartel is more about exploitation of a horrible situation to make a game, then I hope gamers reject it.

All games based on historical events are like this. All of them. It doesn't matter how reverently they deal with the characters, how much heroic music they compose, how many flowery quotes and dedications they put on the credits; You cannot make a game like this without glorifying death. The same way you cannot make a WW2 or Vietnam or Afghanistan game that is anti-war. If you could, they wouldn't be any fun to play.

[Tinker]

Off topic, but in line with the title

Is Call of Juarez: The Cartel Appropriate?

NO

COJ: Future cowboy?

COJ: Advanced cowboy?

Jeez, I so loved the previous titles, being in the cowboy and indian world. Is it really that hard to make a new title?

[Rocky]

Well I've just seen the

and I hate it. They've taken what was an excellent story driven COWBOY shooter and turned it into a Grand Theft Auto clone, that's what it looks like to me.

Terrible terrible decision.

A definite purchase on the strength of the first two has turned into a definite "I'll pass" for me.

The graphics looked worse too.

[Rocky]

Terrible terrible decision.

The graphics looked worse too.

I love to say it, but told you so.

The game is going for next to nothing right now, so I checked metacritic, it scored less than 50%! Techland must be ######.

I really want to know whos decision it was to take Call of Juarez out of the wild west and into modern day - they should be looking for a new job. Such a school boy error.

[vandyman84]

They've taken what was an excellent story driven COWBOY shooter and turned it into a Grand Theft Auto clone, that's what it looks like to me.

Terrible terrible decision.

Fact. Also fact, GTA is responsible for all the dead hookers and massive amounts of car theft all over Miami and Los Angeles. I can't go a day without seeing four burning cars and two dead hookers on my commute to work. Oh no wait, it's just a freakin' video game and I made up that fact.

Long story short, COJ:TC is not going to create or solve further problems. Call it exploitation, but where would video games be if there wasn't a situation, real or hypothetical, to exploit?

[petsfed]

This just looked like your run-of-the-mill, knee-jerk reactionary "this time they've gone too far" game-related pomposity exercise, until I read the last paragraph.

Does The Cartel have the potential to address the serious issues involved in the drug war in a meaningful way? Certainly.

No, of course it doesn't. It's a computer game.

I disagree. The whole "games as art" argument hinges on the idea that you can make people consider a different aspect of a situation by allowing them to experience it from a different perspective.

To say that a medium is entirely incapable of exploring a concept is ludicrous. I could as easily say that sculpting or painting can't examine the situation in a meaningful way, and I'd be just as wrong. That the subject hasn't yet been explored in a meaningful way is entirely different from saying that it can't. Furthermore, a failure on the part of the audience to explore the questions raised by a piece is not necessarily a problem with the piece.

Of course, a mainstream, would-be-profitable game is probably the wrong place to explore any weighty matter, but again, that is not a mark against the medium's ability to explore that matter.

I know that most GR fans are not that interested in story. If they were, they'd be less critical of expository elements like the NarCom. But that does not mean that story has no place in an interactive medium. Indeed, I think video games are the best place to experiment with the concept of story, like stream-of-consciousness did in prose, or like most modern and post-modern poetry has done to the concept of meter.

[WytchDokta]

Of course, the cowboy theme can seem out of place in a different (newer) timeline. But that doesn't change the fact the '50's/cold war theme fits so seamlessly into the Fallout series, which is set in the future. Just goes to show you, it's not what you do, it's how you do it. it's all in how it's presented and incorporated.