Author: Ishmam Khan, Class of 2025

Figure 1: Social media is a common outsource for video game discussion; Reddit is the most popular source for these discussion topics
Call of Duty is an iconic first-person shooter video game published by Activision Studios. The game is known for its dynamic gunplay, innovative realistic graphics, and its gritty portrayal of war. However, Call of Duty has a contentious history in the gaming community and public media. The fear of violent video games rose as concerned parents watched their child play through the mission “No Russian” in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (MW2). In this sequence, players take control of an American spy and are forced to take part in a mass shooting at an airport. Such gruesome displays of gore and violence caused the mission, and violent video games in general, immense notoriety in many spheres of discussion. 

An observational study conducted by Bowman et al. at Syracuse University compiled responses from the online platform Reddit to analyze the eudaimonic potential of entertainment-focused violent video games, or the potential to give a positive or negative psychological feeling through a stimulus. Nearly 700 unprompted Reddit posts contributed to 12 years of online discourse regarding controversial in-game actions, moral implications, and thematic analyses of the “No Russian” level in MW2. The posts were categorized into different clusters: general video game discussions, dark humor, linking gameplay to reality, and eudaimonic reflections. It was noted that single posts could be categorized into more than one theme. Results indicated that the “linking gameplay to reality” and “eudaimonic reflections” clusters had the least frequency of occurrence. This still shows that players questioned their behavior during violent gameplay, revealing deep cognitive engagement to some degree. FPS games require rapid decision-making and heightened attention – these discussions reflect how players mentally process the consequences of virtual violence after experiencing it in real time. 

Individual and community responses suggest that instead of simply becoming desensitized to violence, many players engage in self-reflection and express feelings such as guilt or disgust, which conceptually align with eudaimonic effects. Like any tool, the responses surrounding the impact of video games come down to individual choice and consequence. Public opinion on social media demonstrates how exhaustive these discussions can be.

Works Cited:

Bowman, N. D., Bowen, D. A., Mercado, M. C., Resignato, L. J., & de Villemor Chauveau, P. (2024). “I did it without hesitation. Am I the bad guy?”: Online conversations in response to controversial in-game violence. New media & society, 26(4), 2315-2335.

Image Cited:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Social-media-3758364_1920.jpg