I was at GameStop the other day, and there was a family in front of me in line -- a man, a woman, a baby, and what looked like a six-year-old girl. The little girl was wearing a bright green dress and seemed happy about everything. As the family got to the front of the line, the little girl noticed the store's DSi XL display unit, which was running the DS version of Call of Duty: Black Ops.
"Call of Duty! Call of Duty! Call of Duty! Weeee!" she squealed, jumping up and down while spinning with her arms outstretched. "No," said the one I presume was the mom, "We're getting a family game today." "But I want Call of Duty!" barked the little girl, punctuated with a pout and a "harumph!"
This isn't the first time this month I've seen a little kid proclaim their love for Call of Duty. Last week, I was shopping at Best Buy with a friend and his two nephews, ages six and eight. As we were looking at videogames, the kids were overjoyed to tell me all about how much they knew about Pokemon, Bakugan, and Kirby's Epic Yarn, but it wasn't until we saw the store's Call of Duty: Black Ops display that they really flipped out. "I love that game! I LOVE IT SO MUCH," said the eight-year-old. I asked him what he liked about it. "The killing..." he said, in a sing-song, matter-of-fact tone.
From there, I asked all my parent friends if their children were into Call of Duty. With the exception of the few who have a total ban on videogames and television, they were unanimous. Their kids thought Call of Duty was cool, regardless of whether they've played it or not. Even the kids that weren't into the series reported that everyone knows that Call of Duty is either "cool" or "super cool." Not quite as cool as Harry Potter or Justin Bieber, but still pretty cool.
So why is it that kids love -- or at least respect -- Call of Duty? How is it that they've even played these games? Aren't they rated M for mature?
Here are a few theories.
It's M for mature
Ever since the ESRB came into effect, I've noticed an inverse relationship between a game's rating and a game's target audience. Everyone I know who's over 40 only plays games that are rated E (assuming they play videogames at all), those under 40 are willing to play games that are either E, T, or M, and those under 20 tend to be particularly attracted to M-rated games. This seems to be particularly true of kids under ten. It's the same old paradigm -- kids want to be grown ups, and grown ups want to be kids again. That's pretty much common knowledge when it comes to lightweight sociology.
Even still, it's surprising to me how much younger kids are attracted specifically to videogames that are supposedly made for adults, while they are content with "age appropriate" books and music. These kids have no interest in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or the music of Tom Waits. They're totally content with kid-friendly fair, like the previously mentioned Harry Potter and Justin Bieber.
So what do Bieber, Call of Duty, and Harry Potter all have in common?
A childlike simplicity
Today's kids have grown up under the shadow of 9/11 and the wars that followed. All they've ever known is a world in which some strange men from a strange country may end up killing innocent Americans. Wrapping your head around the religious, political, geo-financial, and cultural dynamics of the War on Terror is hard enough for adults, let alone kids.
The Call of Duty series takes war and terrorism and turns it into a game. You've got a gun, and you and your team have to shoot the bad guys. That's really all there is to it, at least on the surface. While Activision definitely makes a token effort to present the series as more complex than that, it's arguable that the majority of Call of Duty fans couldn't care less about the series' narrative. You don't need to pay attention to the story to know what to do in a Call of Duty game. All you need to know is that you're one of the good guys, the other guys are bad, and that the path to awesomeness is paved with the dead bodies of your enemies.
If I were a little kid today, terrified and confused by the concepts of war and terrorism, I'd be all about Call of Duty. On one hand, the games makes the player feel empowered and turns war into a just another game, where death is no big deal and killing is fun. That's a much easier pill to swallow than the reality of modern warfare and the death that accompanies it.
Speaking of reality...
It looks so real
One of the biggest selling points for the Call of Duty series is its graphics. The explosions, the backgrounds, and the characters look more real than most games. Personally, it's been a long time since I've been impressed with a game for just its realistic graphics. Sure, if a game uses a realistic look to show us something interesting or imaginative, I wouldn't be opposed to it, but realism for realism's sake does nothing for me.
It's like a magic trick -- when you're kid, seeing a guy pull a quarter out of your ear can transport your brain to a truly amazing place. Part of you knows it must be sleight of hand, but another part of you believes that maybe the impossible is reality. When those two parts of the brain meet, magic happens.
That magic is ruined once you've looked behind the curtain. When you know how a trick is done, your childlike sense of wonder gets turned off, and your cynical "adult" brain turns on. The same goes for graphics. When all you think of when you see a "realistic"-looking game is photographs of real objects applied as texture maps, motion capture actors, particle effects, a millions of dollars worth of rendering software, the magic is gone.
For most kids, none of that applies. Suspension of disbelief is a much easier feat to achieve for a young mind. When they see a realistic-looking game, they don't think about how it was made, or how much it cost to produce. They just think about how awesome it looks, and how fun it is to be in the game's world. The Call of Duty series feels more real to a kid than it ever will for me, and in that way, I envy the children.
And finally...
Competition is everything
There isn't too much to say about this one. Call of Duty multiplayer is highly competitive; just as a kid is more likely to get deeply invested emotionally in a game of dodgeball or Pokemon cards, they're also more likely to get invested in competing in an online shooter. Adults are usually too caught up in real-life pursuits like making money, finding love, and keeping from getting too fat or otherwise shortening their lifespan. Kids don't have to worry about that stuff, so by comparison, games like Call of Duty and others feels like a much bigger deal to them. In their world, ranking yourself and your peers based on stuff like your skill and dedication to gaming makes perfect sense.
This really hit home for me when I overheard my video producer Andy talking to his twelve-year-old nephew about Call of Duty: Black Ops. Growing up, Andy was his nephew's idol. Apparently, things have changed now that Call of Duty: Black Ops has entered their lives. The nephew wanted to know how many times Andy had "prestiged" in the game. Andy said, "Once, then I quit playing because I'd seen everything the game had to show me."
The nephew looked appalled.
"Only one prestige? I thought you were cool..." he said, his voice descending into a pit of genuine disappointment. "I've prestiged four times, and I'm still not as cool at my friend Lawrence. He's prestiged six times, and he's just eleven-years-old." Andy tried to defend himself with the old "Sorry dude, I was busy making money and going on dates with beautiful women," response, which apparently didn't do much for his rep.
"I don't even want to know what your highest kill streak is," his nephew muttered. "If it's below 20, I'm going to be so disappointed."
Conclusion
If you walk into a room full of adults and ask them if they want to run around outside and play with some squirt guns, chances are they'll either laugh in your face, or awkwardly look away, hoping that you're just making a weird joke. Do the same thing with a group of eight- to twelve-year-olds, and they'll immediately start dividing themselves into teams, Super Soakers in hand.
Call of Duty is just the videogame adaptation of squirt guns. It makes sense that kids would be drawn to it more so than many adults. The simplicity and sense of empowerment that come from taking a gun and shooting at something or someone knows no age restrictions. However, it does demand a child-like sensibility to take such pursuits seriously enough to prioritize them over other activities. That's why I'm guessing kids love Call of Duty so much.
Now it's just time to wait and see how long it takes for teenagers to catch on to the fact that eight-year-olds love Call of Duty before they start hating it. I wonder what they'll start playing instead? Probably something with guns and boobs. There's nothing like boobs to keep the kids away.
Contest:
4:00 PM on 07.10.2011 | 
I think the reason kids playing Call of Duty seems like such a terrible new phenomenon is because dumbshit parents let these brats on Xbox Live, so our grown up gaming experiences run the risk of being ruined by a pre-teen's voice and attitude.
I need it for research purposes of course... *Ahem.*
[url=image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/9/989149_158778_front.jpg]This would have been the happy medium.[/url]
I'm in the bizarre situation of having a young gamer (10) look up to me, and we're not even related. It's weird because I see this kid maybe once a year and yet apparently he asks after me all the time.
Thankfully I took the early opportunity to instill in the young nipper, a few choice pearls of wisdom; namely to keep an open mind and that he should play games because he likes them. Not because everyone else thinks they're cool.
@ Onyx Leo, the movie's called Bitchslap.
Look at Action Man (or G.I Joe to keep things trans-Atlantic) and any other generation of boy that was obsessed with the soldier/war toy of their time. Call of Duty taps into that with this generation's kids.
I don't know how I would react if a little kid told me the thing they liked most about something was "the killing." That just makes me kind of sad...
Well, what do you like in a good FPS? I'm guessing your response would be something along the lines of tight controls, action, 'feel' of play, etc.
To a kid, that boils down to 'the killing'. It's not so much sad as it is brutally honest, though I certainly see where you're coming from.
Which leads to why CoD is popular as hell to begin with: its easy as hell to pick up and play. Thats what Halo was so popular, that's what these people buy. Games where you only have to do one thing at a time, or in the case of Halo, a few things at a time in essentially slow motion. "Guns are cool" could apply to most games this, and maybe every console generation. CoD is simply the easiest shooter to pick up and play, and that is nearly everything in the mainstream market.
And, as has been mentioned already, kids like to do what's popular. If the classic "do everything at a million miles an hour with pinpoint accuracy" shooters made a comeback, the Quakes and Timesplitters type, then kids would want to play those too. Of course, those games are too hard to be good at for 95% of modern FPS players, so they will never see the kind of popularity they have maintained on the PC, but it would happen.
I remember a 10 year old kid playing TS:FP online, and not getting so much as one kill in 3 or 4 matches, all while swearing into the mic like a madman. Those same kids still play, they just like playing something they can actually be decent at.
The older brother of your best friend loves CoD, therefore your friend does too - oh and your other friends all do! MTV loves CoD and your dad also plays CoD on the sly when your mum is out shopping.
So you do what every other child does to fit in and love CoD too.
It was Goldeneye back in my day. I'd have much preffered to play Ocarina of Time or Mario Kart but instead I had to sit through hours of Goldeneye multiplayer with my mates, did I really like it? No, but as a kid you try to fit in.
Well, what do you like in a good FPS? I'm guessing your response would be something along the lines of tight controls, action, 'feel' of play, etc.
To a kid, that boils down to 'the killing'. It's not so much sad as it is brutally honest, though I certainly see where you're coming from.
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Where as a lot of older online FPS games (before CoD stagnated the genre), coming first on the leader board was enough positive reinforcement. Young kids do not always come first, if ever, so the game telling them they are super man will probably get their adrenaline going.
As for the popularity of the series among little kids, I think you hit it on the head. It's cool. Kids want to be cool so they play it.
You be 12 and try telling your classmates you enjoy Super Mario Galaxy. They'll likely call you a "fag" or a "bitch" or just a plain old wuss. Even worse, they may call you a "little kid". That's the worst thing you can call a kid - A kid.
I just thought it was cool to kill people with no consequences when I was a kid.
In my opinion, I believe that the younger crowd likes Call of Duty so much because, as you stated, it is simple.
You are 'X', your enemy is 'Y'. Shoot them in their face to win!
Believe it or not, one of(if not thee) the most popular games online to this day, is Counter-Strike. Why? Who knows, but any computer can run it and it's good guys versus bad guys in its simplicity.
I also think that Call of Duty is closer to farmville in terms of where it ranks as a 'hardcore' game. Those who enjoy Call of Duty are probably also the same crowd who frequent Madden every year. It's the repetition. The tedium, even, of doing the exact same thing over and over(prestiging) that was invented by the game companies/developers as an arbitrary way of keeping you playing the same stale game, over and over.
Don't get me wrong, I too once chased the dragon long ago with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and to a much lesser extent, Modern Warfare 2. However, once I caught on that Call of Duty was just the Gun version of Madden, I stopped falling for it, just like in 1995 when I bought my last Madden game.
I still remember when my mom bought me Street Fighter 2(SNES) for my birthday, so long ago, the fact that it was a violent videogame never once crossed her mind. I hope that the parents of underage CoD players have done-like my mother-and raised them well enough so that they understand the difference between real and videogame-violence. Though, by the time I got SF2, I'd seen much worse IRL.
I'm was raised in tha hood, ya see.
*gang-signs*
I jest(ever so slightly[I *was* raise in tha hood, YO, word]) but you get my gist.
Again, awesome article.
But seriously, I'd even just go for an actual squirt gun fight.
I understand why CoD is fun, but I would never EVER let a child play Black Ops under my watch. Who the hell lets their 10 year olds play this kind of thing anyway? When I was ten...I played Halo. Halo is an unrealistic arcade shooter that doesn't encourage visceral, realistic violence against other human beings.
I agree with MasterBalls: Parents need to do more parenting. This is outrageous.
Also wedge makes a really good point I wonder how many kids play Call of Duty out of pressure to be in the loop.
Food for thought.
Kids really are vile, hateful vermin...
@jimmyx
LOL You're 12
NOBODY GAVE A SHIT ABOUT CALL OF DUTY UNTIL MODERN WARFARE
That was the porblem. Back then COD was just another WWII shooter vying for attention with MOH and BIA. Ask sny 10 year old kid what those other...things are and they won't have a f**king clue.
I was sitting in my history class, studying a political cartoon depicting that history wouldn't repeat itself with the UN and the League Of Nations when one guy goes "Sir, why is the man holding a PPSH when he's American?"
The fact is, by being good and knowledgable at COD, you become cool. You can chat to anyone at school, gangsters, nerds, cool kids and they won't mind so long as you talk about COD...or FIFA. Everyone in my school fucking loves FIFA.
People almost forget that there were COD's before number 4. When it became modern...well it became current. Now Activision is riding the crestwave of the war on terror. But it's a fictional war on terror.
You have epic firefights and run straight into a wall of bullets, ducking behind a crate for 10 seconds to get the redness of your screen. COD has created a character which is the equivalent to John Wayne.
Can you call it exploitation?
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