Military-Themed Video Games, the Concept of Citizen-Soldier, and Military Enlistment Rates Rafael Panlilio Virginia Polytechnic and

State University Overview The purpose of this study is to analyze whether or not there exists a relationship between the content of military-themed video games and military enlistment rates, or rather, if militarythemed video games promote the concept of citizen-soldier. I will suggest that there is a relationship between military-themed video game content and the promotion of the concept of citizen-soldier and that this in turn has resulted in higher enlistment rates. This will be shown if discourse on military-themed video game content exemplifies the ideals of citizen-solder and if there is a correlation of the emergence of these ideals with military enlistment rates. The hypothesis of this study will consider the rise of a video game culture, the emergence of video games as the paradigmatic media of the United States. Several authors and scholars have investigated the sociocultural force and phenomenon that is video games and considered its potential to frame the values of youths and adults alike.1 It is quickly becoming a means for young people to gather information, acquire skillsets, and determine a system of setting priorities.2 It will also consider that military-themed video games in particular instill values characteristic of the citizen-soldier concept. This proposal asks two questions: 1) Do militarythemed video games promote the concept of citizen soldier? 2) If so, does this result in higher military enlistment rates? My hypothesis is that they do promote the concept of citizen-soldier and that it does result in higher military enlistment rates. The null hypothesis will suggest that

Nick Dyer-Witheford and Greig De Peuter. Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009), xxix-xiv. 2 Ken McAllister, Game Work: Language, Power and Computer Game Culture (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004), 2.

2 there is no relationship between military-themed video games, the concept of citizen-soldier, and military enlistment rates. Several approaches to video game analysis have been proposed offering methods that would reap objective qualitative analysis. Aarseth asserted for three dimensions that characterize games in virtual environments. These were gameplay, game-structure, and game-world. Gameplay covered the players actions, strategies and motives, game-structure covered the rules of the game, including simulation rules, and game-world covered fictional content, typology/level design, textures etc. Going on that frame of thought he identified three different types of game research perspectives; gameplay to the sociological, ethnological, psychological etc., game-rules to the game design, business, law, computer science/AI, and game-world to the art, aesthetics, history, cultural/media studies, and economics.3 McAllister proposes a video game analysis that goes over five integral areas of power: agents; functions; influences; manifestations; and transformative locales.4 These will all be considered in forming a proper model with which to perform a proper qualitative analysis. Concepts The concept of video game is defined as any software intended for the purposes of entertainment that requires a computer or any console to work. The video games considered will be those that have been the top bestsellers over the years 2004 to 2012. The concept of military enlistment rates will include the number of individuals who enlisted in the military during the years 2004 to 2012. These years were chosen because 2005 saw a rise in the number of enlistments. To conceptualize citizen-soldier was difficult. It has been characterized as a

Espen Aarseth, Playing Research: Methodological Approaches to Game Analysis (Bergen: University of Bergen, 2003) 2-3. 4 McAllister, Game Work: Language, Power and Computer Game Culture, 29-30.

3 romantic tradition that persists within the military. I decided to focus on three tenets that seemed to be prevalent in previous literature on the concept: the importance of solidity within a society, a sense of duty to take up arms to defend the nation, and the ideals of democracy as citizens of the United States.56 Potential Significance I perceive video games not just as a brand new form of emerging media, but a medium slowly gaining legitimacy as a unique form of art. The authors and scholars I will address will allude to its ability to influence the ways we prioritize goals and conceptualize solutions. The notion of citizen-soldier represents not just a phenomenon, but a lasting romantic tradition that still retains a certain prominence within the military. It is an ideology that many have become enamored with. My interest in this study is to explore more the linkage between cultural works of fiction in a society with greater sociological implications. I believe that this study can act as a stepping stone for more research on determining how it is that fiction in the form of a cultural medium such as video games determines our ideologies. A prevailing theme in the literature suggests that video games are becoming a legitimate new form of media. Some writers and researchers suggest that they are violence-inducing more than value-inducing. Others would say they work to either mold or mirror society. However, all accepted that it is quickly becoming an important new field and medium for sociologists to discover and perform research on to better understand people. In this research, I am limiting myself to military-themed video games but its application and generality to other genres of video games is worth pointing out and intriguing. In games like The Sims and Second Life, economy becomes embedded in game play as players become buyers and consumers. In Grand Theft Auto,
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Lieutenant Colonel John Graham, The Citizen-Soldier Concept: Romantic Tradition to Pragmatic Exigency (Pennsylvania: US Army College, 1997), 2-3. 6 Ronald R. Krebs, The Citizen Soldier Tradition in the United States: Has Its Demise Been Greatly Exaggerated? Armed Forces& Society 36 (2009), 154.

4 modern society is envisioned as revolving around monetary value, competition and crime. These are all facets of video games that would be interesting to explore. As well, going over readings concerning the concept of citizen-soldier, I feel it is important to consider these romantic traditions that people feel are slowly fading. Ideas like morality and justice, freedom and independence, are not seen in the same light as they were before. The citizen-soldier concept is an indicator of how strong and prevalent these ideas still are. Rather than dying out, I see it as adapting to a more advanced environment and tending to a new more technologically-geared generation. We are seeing ideology meshing with world changes and the linkages between works of fiction and society is the next step to studying our history. When archeologists study an ancient culture, they learn more not from the ways that society lived, but through their cultural creations. Works of art and literature provided unique insight into how these societies idealized themselves as. We could apply the same approach used in relating military-themed video games and military enlistment rates to other aspects of culture and society. The make-up of the average American family can be analyzed via its depictions in TV sitcoms. Required reading for high school students in red, blue, and purple states could be analyzed to see if there are links to particular political ideologies. The study of the relationship between fiction and society is something that would be of great benefit to understanding people. Literature Review The literature review is made up of relevant journal articles and books that go over the sociological impact of video games on society. The literature comes from the library, scholarly journal archives, and databases of Virginia Tech. The literature also includes journal articles that go over the concept of citizen-soldier and motivations for individuals to enlist in the military. For

5 the purpose of the study, I will include only portions of the literature covering video games that address military-themed video games. The theory of video games as a powerful motivational force was introduced well in DyerWithefords and De Peuters Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games. Video games are exemplary media of Empire. They crystallize in a paradigmatic way its constitution and its conflicts Our hypothesis, then, is that video games are a paradigmatic media of Empire-planetary, militarized hyper capitalism-and of some of the forces presently challenging it.7 In the book, the authors address the notion that Empire, which they conceptualize as a planetary regime in which economic, administrative, military, and communicative components combine to create a system of power, works to reinforce its twin vital subjectives of workerconsumer and soldier-citizen. The theoretical component of a relationship between video games and military is idealized well. A main critique I have for this book is that most of the assertions are highly speculative with no real research to lean on and also I felt an inherent negative tone while I prefer to proceed with a neutral one. However, as a start off point I felt it was very helpful. An obstacle I had anticipated when I first attempted this study was a need to find a qualitative method of analyzing military-themed video games objectively. I was expecting most literature to have been done by hardcore gamers trying to legitimize their interests in the academic realm, but I was fortunate to find that work has been done sociologists who acknowledged and appreciated the emergence of video games not just as a new form of media, but as a means of observing social change. In Game Work: Language, Power and Computer Game Culture, Ken McAllister writes that the work that makes games what they are in a sociocultural context is dynamic, multidisciplinary, and frequently rendered invisible. Computer
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Dyer-Witheford and De Peuter. Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games, xxix-xiv.

6 games are, in a word, complicated.8 His take on video games as an important field to study was that the professionals who were involved with game design took into consideration how language, images, gestures, and sound worked to influence people. He recognizes that computer games exert influence on individuals, communities, culture, and societies. What I probably found most helpful in this book was his conceptualization of what he calls the grammar of gamework. We understand dialectics as a way to search for truths, and rhetoric as a way to convey truths. He proposes the need to see the dialectic and rhetoric in video games. He cites for example an observation of Mao Ze Dong. Some writers-Mao Ze Dong, for instance-have observed that contradictions may be antagonistic or nonantagonistic. Antagonistic contradictions are struggles that are closed off from the changes that dialectic makes possible; consequently, they can be resolved only by coercion (i.e., force). Consequently, nonantagonistic contradictions are struggles that are open to the changes of the dialectic; consequently, they can be resolved by rhetoric. It is important for computer game scholars to recognize these relational dynamics between the dialectic, dialectical inquiry, and rhetoric, as well as the distinction between antagonistic and nonantagonistic contradiction, because the computer game complex depends on these dynamics-arranged in particular configurationsto thrive.9 McAllisters approach draws on a Marxist understanding of dialectics, a grammar of gameworks that functions over five integral areas of power: agents; functions; influences; manifestations; and transformative locales. I will take these five areas into consideration in determining a proper model for analyzing video games. In The Nature of Computer Games: Play as Semiosis, David Myers addresses the process in which humans derive symbols and truths from video games. He writes of how war games has act very much like simulation games. I didnt get too much help from this text in terms of seeing

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McAllister, Game Work: Language, Power and Computer Game Culture, 2. McAllister, Game Work: Language, Power and Computer Game Culture, 29-30.

7 video games as a driving force; rather it was concerned more with video games as a means of generating knowledge. The articles I found in the book Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon I felt worked well together, but exhibited more or less the same message. In Programming Violence, Claudia Herbst writes of how computer games succeeded in inducing a sense of fear and mayhem and acted as mirrors to both criminal behavior and military combat. The similarities in gaming and military training products can help explain why, in Michael Moores 2004 documentary on the Iraq War, Fahrenheit 9/11, an American soldier notes that he anticipated the war to be more like a computer game.10 In Computer Games as a 9/11 Battlefield, Henry Lowood recognizes that players often look upon protagonists in video gameplay as models or idols that they aspire to be and emulate. Only days after the attacks, a group of players released a mission for Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear (1999) set in Afghanistan with the objective of hunting down Osama bin Laden (Gallagher, 2001). Osama skins were available just as quickly for most PC-based first-person action games.11 Daphnee Rentfrow writes in S(t)imulating War that the way military video games act as a very realistic portrayal of current wars, showing the gaudiness and brutality of war as something problematic. Americas Army refuses to falsify death in an attempt to make the game realistic. Its bizarre realism, then, rests specifically in a refusal of realistic representation. Yet it is this (non)realism that is used to recruit new, often nave soldiers.12 These articles seemed to work together to articulate the ideology changing effect that

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7. Claudia Herbst. Programming Violence: Language and the Making of Interactive Media, in Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon: Games Without Frontiers, War Without Tears, ed. Andreas Jahn-Sudmann and Ralf Stockmann (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 69-77. 11 8. Henry Lowood. Impotence and Agency: Computer Games as Post-9/11 Battlefield, in Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon: Games Without Frontiers, War Without Tears, ed. Andreas Jahn-Sudmann and Ralf Stockmann (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 78-86. 12 9. Daphnee Rentfrow. S(t)imulating War: From Early Films to Military Games, in Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon: Games Without Frontiers, War Without Tears, ed. Andreas Jahn-Sudmann and Ralf Stockmann (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 87-96.

8 video games indeed have but rather than address them as positive motivators, it seemed that it was keen on labeling video games as violence-inducing rather than value-inducing. Some literature over the concept of Citizen-Soldier was included to help narrow down a proper concept. Most discussed how it was characteristic of an individual who believed highly in the importance of community, and was willing and prepared to enlist into the military during times of warfare voluntarily. I found this helpful in further specifying citizen-soldier. Also included was literature that addressed other motivations for enlistment into the military. These addressed motivations such as opportunity (monetary, employment after military) and civic duty (presence of veterans within a state, patriotism). Design and Methodology This proposal asks two questions: 1) Do military-themed video games promote the concept of citizen-soldier? 2) If so, does this result in higher military enlistment rates? The approach to this study entails methods of quantitative and qualitative research and analysis. Through video game content and discourse analysis that will be modeled after previous proposals of video game analysis, the objective is to identify ideas and relations within military-themed video games that correlate with the concept of citizen-soldier. If any similarities are found, this would be evidence that the concept of citizen-soldier is indeed present within video games. The next step would be to observe the dates in which these military-themed video games were released and see if there is a correlation with any increases or decreases in military enlistment rates. The independent variables in this study are military-themed video games. The dependent variable is military enlistment rates. The null hypothesis suggests that there is no relationship between military-themed video games, the concept of citizen-soldier, and military enlistment rates. The hypothesis I suggest predicts that there is a relationship and that military-themed video

9 games promote the concept of citizen-soldier and that this in turn creates higher rates of military enlistment. The qualitative research employed in this study will consist of discourse analysis done on military-themed video games, the main three franchises being Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Americas Army. The quantitative research will focus on military enlistment rates and video game sales in the US from 2004 to 2012. This time frame was chosen specifically because the year 2005 saw a rise of enlistments and around this time military-themed video games were gaining in popularity as well as criticism. Though I would prefer not to employ quantitative analysis, I will go over statistical data the main point of my research proposal is to suggest that fiction does indeed have a visible impact on society. A correlation between video game sales and military enlistment rates will suggest that. I may choose not to use quantitative data. Most of the research done will be qualitative. As I mentioned before, a main problem would be finding a method of analyzing videogames objectively. Some literature I had gone over focused too heavily on the violent content in video games looking at it negatively. Others were more promising focusing on agents within the game, functions of game play, and so on. I decided to customize a methodology utilizing parts of methodologies offered by other researchers. The difficulty is in that some methodologies were geared to specific purposes such as determining effects on social interaction or tendencies towards violence. This research project is aimed at the concept of citizen-soldier. To begin, I wanted to focus on three factors in the video-game world; game-play, game-relations, and gameknowledge. Game-play would focus on how a player wins in the game. Three different factors come in to play. First factor is what is necessary to win. Is the game objective-based or performancebased? Is the game about doing well or defeating the opponent? Second factor is the ability to

10 make decisions within games. Do we have to option to choose another solution or is there only one way? Lastly, what the actual action and game-play within the game is. Is the game composed of simply point-and-shoot action or are there different player interactions? Actual time it takes to finish these games usually takes around twenty hours. Game-play is a huge part of my methodology because whether it is a fast-or slow-paced game, a decision-making or action-doing game, an all-or-none or a possible compromise scenario, plays a part in molding how we think in these situations. Game-relations focus on a players place within the game, how he or she interacts with other non-playable characters (NPCs), and the role of these NPCs. Three different factors come into play. First is what your role within the game is. Are you the main protagonist and does everything depend on you or are you part of a bigger group of people? Second is what the makeup of other NPCs in the game is including allies and enemies. Who are part of your collective and who are the antagonists of the conflict? Lastly, what interactions does the player have with other NPCs, allies and enemies? Do we have allies that we are required to work with as a collective and are enemies simply meant to be shot at? People can sometimes generate assumptions on people based on what they see in their depictions in forms of fiction. Gamerelations goes over actual relations within society and conflict, allies and enemies, as portrayed in video games, how we are supposed to act towards these allies and enemies, and our place within that conflict. Lastly, game-knowledge focuses on how the world within the game is depicted, the storyline that drives the plot, the beginning of conflict and the movement towards resolution. Three different factors come into play. First is the actual setting and environment. Where and when does the game take place? Second is the storyline and plot. What is the motivating force

11 pushing the game forward? Third is how the world is realized and understood. Are there any judgments or biases made within the game that reflect real world sentiments in international relations, politics or anywhere? This section is concerned with dialogue, storyline, characterizations, and so on that though fictional do indeed have some influence in how we understand these matters in the real world. Game-knowledge is concerned with discourse within the game on international politics as portrayed within the game, necessary courses of action to take in times of war, and how similar this imagined world is to our own world. This rubric of analysis is simply a rough draft of how I hope to begin an objective analysis and may change over time. As I mentioned before, it is indeed customized to determine a relationship with the concept of citizen-soldier. The three main tenets of the citizen-soldier concept that I had mentioned before are the importance of solidity within society, a sense of duty to take up arms to defend a nation, and the ideals of democracy as citizens of the United States. My reasoning is to go over the importance of solidity within society throughout an analysis of game-relations, the sense of duty to take up arms to defend a nation throughout an analysis of game-play, and the ideals of democracy as citizens of the United States throughout an analysis of game-knowledge. Again, I understand that most of this may be speculative. To maintain the flexibility in this study, I may choose to adjust how I define the concept of citizen-solder and how I will approach this concept with respect to the video-game analysis. The quantitative portion of the research will involve going over statistical data on videogame sales and enlistment rates over the period of 2004 to 2012. To look into video-game sales, I will look at the companies of these franchises and go over their figures. To look into enlistment rates, I will look towards the US military website for recruiting statistics. The goal is to find a relation. Do rises and/or falls in video-game sales show a pattern with rises and/or falls in

12 enlistment rates. I intend to create a graph showing these numbers to get a visual representation of this data. To conclude, I will engage in recreation or to put it simply play military-themed video games from the franchises previously mentioned, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Americas Army, whilst taking notes on the analysis rubric created along with any observations I may encounter. I intend to write up a report going over the video game discourse analysis going over any relations and contradictions I may find with the concept of citizen-soldier. Points of focus will be on social identity, depiction of moral ideology, and game storylines. To summarize, the qualitative portion of this research involves a discourse analysis on video-games following a customized rubric aimed at analyzing links to the citizen-soldier concept. The quantitative portion of this research involves analyzing statistical data on videogame sales and military enlistment rates. All this will be included in a report that will go over comparisons and contradictions between military-themed video games and the citizen-soldier concept, graphs showing a visual representation of military-themed video games sales and military enlistments rates, and any other observations I may come across. Limitations The limitations of this study are found in the majorly suggestive nature of the articles and books that go into the study and the ambiguity of a concrete analysis model. Most of the data will come from content analysis performed by the author. The limitation is that any video game is perceived differently by all individuals. An issue arises with the strength and depth with which the content analysis will be performed. I do not consider myself a hardcore gamer and have little experience playing video games. A second limitation is an inability to explore

13 video games on a whole and a need to limit to a small number of video games. There is a much wider spectrum to the video game world that is not being reached Other Considerations I acknowledge that I am neglecting to address other reasons for increases in military recruitment rates and understand that most of what is being covered in this study is extremely speculative

14 Bibliography Aarseth, Espen. Playing Research: Methodological Approaches to Game Analysis. Bergen: University of Bergen, 2003. Allen, Robertson. The Unreal Enemy of Americas Army Games and Culture 6 (2011): 38-60 Dyer-Witheford, Nick and De Peuter, Greig. Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009. Graham, John M. The Citizen-Concept: Romantic Tradition to Pragmatic Exigency. Pennsylvania: US Army War College, 1997. Herbst, Claudia. Programming Violence: Language and the Making of Interactive Media, in Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon: Games Without Frontiers, Wars Without Tears, edited by Andreas Jahn-Sudmann & Ralf Stockmann, 69-77. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Karsten, Peter. The US Citizen-Soldiers Past, Present, and Likely Future. Parameters, US Army War College Quarterly Summer 31 (2001): 61-173 Kavoori, Anandam. Gaming, Terrorism and the Right to Communicate Global Media Journal 7 Fall 2008, http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/index.htm (1 March 2012) Krebs, Ronald R. The Citizen-Soldier Tradition in the United States: Has Its Demise Been Greatly Exaggerated?. Armed Forces & Society 36 (2009): 153-174 Lowood, Henry. Impotence and Agency: Computer Games as Post-9/11 Battlefield, in Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon: Games Without Frontiers, Wars Without Tears, edited by Andreas Jahn-Sudmann & Ralf Stockmann, 78-86. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. McAllister, Ken S. Game Work: Language, Power, and Computer Game Culture. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004. Myers, David. The Nature of Computer Games: Play as Semiosis. New York: Peter Lang, 2003. Rentfrow, Daphnee. S(t)imulating War: From Early Films to Military Games in Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon: Games Without Frontiers, Wars Without Tears, edited by Andreas Jahn-Sudmann & Ralf Stockmann, 87-96. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Schacherer, Rachael A. The Conditions Affecting Military Enlistments. The Public Purpose 3 (2005): 76-82