Seems Legit

The Call of Duty: Black Ops II (COD) game is structured to symbolise military combat scenarios whilst the types of maps (stages) offered are depictions of actual geographic locations around the world. Van Luyn stated “A sense of place is created through humans perceiving and constructing that location” (2013) and the ability to consciously place the location of where your virtual avatar is within the real world gives a sense of realism about your surroundings. Similarly to this, the fact that all maps are set in the year 2025 evokes a futuristic reality which engages the users in an alternate virtual world. Conversely, the most unrealistic feature of COD is the ability to ‘re-spawn’ (re-enter the game) after you have died, thus, reminding the player that this is indeed a virtual reality. 

Another significant aspect of the construction of place within COD is the language used in gameplay, which is essentially influenced by contemporary military dialogues. Words such as ‘mission’, ‘objective’, and ‘reputation’ are utilised frequently throughout the game, via a digital voice over, to imply a sense of duty and comradeship between players on the same team. Tuan (1991) exemplifies the importance of words in that they “enhance the picture by directing attention to sensory effects that cannot be directly shown” (p. 691). This is particularly evident in COD where different game modes alter the contextual use of language. For example, in the ‘Core’ game mode the language is relatively conservative. Comparatively, the ‘Hardcore’ game mode is noticeably more direct with the use of expletives and graphic content.

References

Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), pp.684-696. Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.edu.au

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 5, Stories and Place. [Power Point Slides] Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.edu.au

Image credit: Retrieved from http://theweeklynitpick.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/55-video-games-part-ii.html