Call of Duty Will Kill Gaming

There’s no doubt in my mind of it. It’s a fact. And I’m sorry, I won’t do this often, but I’m going to place the blame for killing the gaming industry on the backs of every single person who has ever payed for a Call of Duty game. I can honestly, and happily, say that this does not include me. So I guess I got points for that.

Anyways, gaming isn’t dead. Not yet at least. But honestly, eventually every game will be a CoD clone. People will say it’s a CoD killer. It will be anticipated to sell amazingly, and, like Call of Duty, it will. Gamers will eat this crap up year after year after year. It’s a deadly cycle. Those of us who are more… enlightened, have already caught on to the fact that Call of Duty hasn’t done anything new in any of their games since World at War. I will guarantee that someone, somewhere, is, at this very minute, screaming at the top of their lungs, trying to explain that graphics make a game. Oh, you poor unenlightened souls.

What I, and may of my friends, have caught onto is that Infinity Ward releases the same game every year. Oh, wait, THERE ARE NEW MULTIPLAYER MAPS!!!!!!!! How silly of me to forget, because that totally justifies the sixty dollar price tag doesn’t it? At which point fanboys will start yelling OF COURSE IT DOES!!!! And, they will also have you know that Modern Warfare 3 has survival mode, which surely no other game has done before. Um….. No. I believe that back, oh SEVEN years ago Gears of War had Horde mode. Halo later followed suit with Firefight. And so have many other games. The point is, Call of Duty offers nothing new, and as long as people keep buying it, other gaming industries will make games that are extremely similar to it, and do all of NOTHING new. Oh, you poor, unenlightened souls.

Now, you may ask why this is a problem. I can agree that that is a legitimate question, as, after all, developers make games to make money, and Call of Duty makes money for them. The thing is, they are completely isolating those of us who do appreciate originality. It is my theory, that, if people keep paying for Call of Duty games, every other gaming industry (save Valve and maybe Epic Games and Bethesda) will move to your generic military first person shooter. And then, I will stop buying games. I’ll look back at the few gems that dared to be different and say, Where has all the originality gone? (Just a quick side note, this will probably also lead to a totalitarian police state where all creativity is banned and Valve will lead a glorious revolution against the world of generic people)

Ok, not really. But seriously, that’s a problem. How many games coming out in the next few months are actually new? I know, I covered this a few weeks ago. but I cannot stress enough the fact that WE NEED ORIGINAL GAMES. How many games are creating an experience that is either completely new or is rarely done? Oh yeah, the next Call of Duty takes place in the future!! How could I forget, let’s all get on our knees and praise the most unneeded sequel of all time! That’s so original! How amazing! Oh and what about Medal of Honor Warfighter, that other generic military FPS? I’m sure that that will just be soooo original!

Ok, I’m done with the sarcasm. I’m going to use Dishonored as an example. It cannot be denied that it looks fresh. Everyone who has tried to disagree with me I have destroyed in that argument. And trust me, there have been a good number of them. But the problem is, it may not sell well. Black Ops 2 will probably sell better. I sincerely hope not, but it’s likely that it will. Sorry. And you know what this will do? It will discourage originality. The same goes, for, say, Watch Dogs. Those two games are ahead of the curve. By quite a bit, actually. Black Ops 2 outselling them will be a sad thing. It will tell game developers that we, the gamers, do not, in fact, appreciate originality. And that’s sad. Oh, you poor, unenlightened souls who will but that game. Wag of the finger, shake of the head.

Oh, and I’m not even done shredding military first person shooters. Of course not. It’s just too much fun. So here’s my favorite part: Story. If anyone at Infinity Ward ever reads this, they will scratch their head and go “Story? I wonder what that is.” It’s pathetic. I’m not even going got call it a story. I’ll call it what it is. And what you’ll get when you hit Campaign on any MFPS is the deranged dreams of some batshit crazy conservative. Oh, but it’s OK because it’s “realistic”. I’m sorry, but Russia invading every single European country and the US all at the same time is not realistic. And character development? What? That’s a thing? Really? You could have fooled Infinity Ward. I have played many Call of Duty games, and you know what? I never cared at all about any of the characters. The writers didn’t write so much as vomit through their pens. I’m sorry Infinity Ward writers, but I could write better than you in, oh, sixth grade. What’s that? You threw some swear words in there? Oh, what an amazing vocabulary you must have.

So, in conclusion: Gamers, we must end the tyranny of Military first person shooters! We must end the era of developers that just repackage their games every year! (Seriously, I’d bet money that they have an annual repackaging day at some of theses companies) And we must play games that encourage developers to think outside the box! Out with the old, in with the new. It’s past time.

So what are your thoughts? Leave a comment, let’s get a discussion going!