The Digital Revolution

The narrative of Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a militaristic, male dominated genre with little, if any, female presence. As a female, the obvious stereotypes presented were invisible at first. I accepted what I saw as the norm because it reflects the history of warfare being a male dominated practice. The contradictory factor with Black Ops II is that it is set in the future, the year 2025. In today’s society, women are encouraged to enlist in the military, so I paid attention to the different characters during game-play. Not one female avatar. Does that mean that this game is advertised strictly for males? Probably, since the majority of gamers are male but that does not mean females are not allowed to play.

The economist (2012) discusses how society is undergoing third industrial revolution whereby manufacturing becomes digital (p. 1). This is particularly evident in COD as all the additional content (map packs) is accessed by download only whereas the initial game is available in compact disc (CD) or download. This is the perfect example of digital assimilation of manufactured products. Having the option of a digital version can be seen as reducing the carbon footprint, in association with the game, but it also threatens the factories and workers who manufacture the CD’s (Kuttainen, 2013). As society becomes digital, there are  going to be both negative and positive impacts, however there is no turning back now. It is a revolution and will change the way people produce and consume.

References

Kuttainen, V. (2013). BA1002: Our Space, Networks, Narrative and the Making of Place, Lecture 8: Stuff [Power Point Slides]. Retrieved from: http://learnjcu.edu.au

The Economist. (2012). The third industrial revolution. Retrieved from
             http://www.economist.com/node/21553017

Image Credit

Clarke, B. (2012). How to sells ebooks, apps, and other digital goods directly your prospects. [Web log post] Retrieved from: http://www.copyblogger.com/seminars-digital-revolution/