Project: Video Game

Narrative

 

     I am playing Call of Duty Blackops II: Zombies. It is one of the options available to the gamer in the main menu of Xbox live and I am playing "survival mode". I can play with up to 4 people and since I decided to play on Xbox live, I am playing with strangers who are also interested in slaying some zombies. We all have headsets attached to our controllers and this makes it much easier to communicate with one another while strategizing through the waves of zombie attacks. Once each player indicates they are ready and prepared, the game begins to load and some old diner sounding music begins to play. As the music gets scratchy, the screen becomes visible and I can begin to see the setting of the zombie infested map. There are multiple maps available to play on, and our group chose to play in an abandoned old farm located on the "green run". The map is very dark and and there are ashes flying everywhere. There are some streams of lava flowing through the map and these can weaken my health. There is a large main barn, a stable, and a 2 story house included on this map but no farm life exists in this post-apocalypse barren land other than blood thirsty zombies. I spawn with my team in front of the barn and I see that we are all dressed in quarantine suits with gas masks. I have a loaded pistol in my hand and I soon realize it is not very effective in stopping the relentless zombie attacks. I walk around the map to get a general idea of the open windows, doors, and gates where the zombies have access to climb into the farm's property. I see my first 3 zombies as they are trying to pull off the barricade on the window. My teammates are busy killing other spawning zombies so I kill them all and suffer a little damage doing so. The barricade was damaged and I was prompted to repair it by spending a small fraction of the points that I have accumulated from killing the zombies recently. Around the map, there are various places where you can spend your points. If you have acquired enough, you could upgrade to a more effective weapon (shotgun, rifle, etc.), buy some health, open doors, or test your luck at the mystery weapon box. I decide my pistol just isnt enough for the re-occurring waves of zombies and I have enough money so I decide to run up to the second story of the house, killing a few zombies in the process, and taking a chance to upgrade my weapon. I was mad when the mystery box gave me another sub-par pistol but continued to fight and kill more zombies. Music similar to the "diner music" that was playing earlier when the game was loading was playing in the house I was in. Zombies engulfed in flames knew I was upstairs and they were moving swiftly up the stairs to try and get a piece of me (literally). I fired my handgun at them one by one and each one exploded. This was a new and exciting feature to the game. This occurred because these zombies walked through the lava streams while seeking me and this shows their dogged perseverance to eat some flesh. During gameplay, I lose too much health from the attacking zombies and eventually "go down". Once a player is down, the screen gets red and you are forced to pull out your secondary weapon (pistol). A player stays in this submissive position only being able to fire a pistol until a teammate runs over and revives the player. Reviving a player takes some strategy because you have to time it correctly so the zombies don't attack you as well. After repeated gameplay of buying guns and increasing in difficulty of zombie waves from level to level, I get swarmed, go down, and don't get revived in the required time so I then lose my life and am out of the game. I then become a spectator to the former teammates I had that are still alive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Based off of the 40's sounding music played at the beginning of the load map and the lack of modern farm equipment on the map, The time must be around the world war 2 era. Multiple images on the map contribute to the theory that an apocalypse has occurred. The fact that there is no livestock or farmers and there are ashes in the sky and lava on the ground further show the effects of the apocalypse and the zombies it produced. From my gameplay, I could gather that the farmland was once alive, well, and prosperous until a zombie apocalypse struck the land and the only way to survive the elements is to be dressed in protective suits with gasmaks and have a good aim to kill zombies. The zombies have on either male or female clothing items with multiple flesh wounds and have glowing blue eyes.  The people involved in my game are fellow players who have a desire to withstand multiple zombie waves with team work and good strategies. Through reviving people and working together, this game offers many opportunities to use teamwork and leadership skills

 

     Me, along with 3 other players with body suits are fighting the evil power of the relentless waves of zombies. A tension between the slayers and the zombies grew through the rounds as the zombies were growing in numbers and attacking quicker. I was "down" a total of 4 times and luckily got revived by my teammates each time before I died. The external conflict can best be described as a survival against an infinite relentless swarm of zombies while the internal conflict consists of helping your teammates when they are down while both running away and blasting at attacking zombies. As the game winds down, I realize only one other player and I are the only people still alive against a large volume of zombie invaders. After some success, I am taken down and eventually die because my partner couldn't revive me in time. The antagonist invaders (zombies) beat each protagonist zombie-hunting opponent one by one and eventually took over the property of farmland we were defending.

 

     When I went "down" after a zombie attack, my teammates would immediately rush to my rescue and revive me. Through this action, I gained a sight of my teammates' virtues and gained a better idea of the actual other humans playing the game. Its a great feeling to know that a player has your back and is there for you if you need them to either revive you or help you shoot up some zombies. These courteous actions shift the characters from the gameplay level to a more personal level and connects the players.

 

     Through this game, the only solution to being successful in killing all the waves of zombies is strategizing with your team using a microphone and teamwork to help boost the teams performance. The typical zombie mood can best be described as relentless and never giving up. They've technically been dead before so what do they have to lose? The zombies will stop at absolutely nothing to taste some human flesh This story shows the zombies in a redundant light which agrees on Freud's idea of the "return of the repressed". According to Freud, "it is the insistent return of the repressed that can explain numerous phenomena that are normally overlooked" (Felluga). The re-occurring determination of the zombies to cause harm to the players is further ensured through the constant return of the repressed zombies into the farm. Through the gameplay, it was seen that the zombies would stop at nothing to reach a human and this is evident when they walk through the lava and become engulfed in flames just to reach a player in the farm's house. Along with the zombie's examples of perseverance, The zombies all emit a loud screeching sound once they are about to attack a player. This scream startled me a few times as it adds to the frightening image the zombie exemplifies.

 

     I can best relate this style of gameplay to my personal life through basketball. Having to work together as a team to beat the opponent applies to the style of play experienced in Black Ops II: Zombies. In basketball, when a teammate is struggling on the court, you can assure that his team is behind him offering  wise words of guidance and support. In Zombies, my teammates were always there for me when I needed them whether it be shooting at enemies or offering a hand to revive a fallen teammate. I could relate some of the gameplay to the context of my life. On the balcony of the house on the farm lies a mystery weapon box. For some money, you can gamble to try and upgrade a gun. A random gun is supplied to somebody and it is luck whether a player receives a automatic shotgun killing machine or a simple pistol. This theme of luck can easily be applied in everyday life. An example of goodluck is when my classes get cancelled in the morning. But an example of bad luck is when my bike chain breaks as I am pedaling up a hill (it's happened before). Luck is prevalant in our everyday lives as humans just as it is in the random weapon assignment in Blackops II.

 

     Many images present in this game are diverse from our known culture. The setting is in a post-apocalyptic realm where hardly anything is the same and just the remnants of society exist. All though its hard to believe, the farm was once a functional establishment before the zombie apocalypse occurred. The gamer isn't informed exactly how the apocalypse happened or even why there are zombies spawning from every direction. But the quarantine suits and gasmasks further show the severity of the apocalypse. Aside from the setting, the actual image and embodiment of the zombie can be seen in present day society. In their composition Better Off Dead, Sarah Juliet Lauro and Deborah Christie say that "the zombie is ubiquitous in popular culture cannot be disputed: From popular literature and comic books to videogames and performance art,...zombies are all around us." (pg. 1). Through the media, the public has been able to gather their own personal views about what zombies should look like and act like. The zombies in this game appear even more harmful than they would on television and movies because they interact with the player by inflicting damage on your health, screaming, and swarming you. Through playing the game, you are actually thrusted into an apocalyptic world of zombies that have both characteristics that the media and years of story telling have created.   

 

     One of Jung's own established archetypal motifs (the apocalypse) is fully portrayed in this game of zombie survival. In a Jungian journal, I found that "The word 'Apocalypse' (revelation) is from the Greek meaning 'uncovering what has been hidden.' In other words, the revelation of new truth. This process operates in four phases: revelation, judgment, destruction, and a new birth." (Wishard). Through the game, the player can only see the final two phases (destruction and new birth). The farm looks completely altered and damaged from the effects of the apocalypse that manifested itself there. From the apocalypse, a new birth of an infinite amount of zombies was created and you are constantly fighting this evil force as they keep breaking into the map seeking more and more flesh. Along with the redundancy, the Zombies also have extremely bright blue eyes. This feature of the zombie, along with the zombie's tenacious attacking, shows an immortal aspect of the zombies. The zombies clearly have supernatural powers because they have risen from the dead. There also is an evil power associated with the zombie because it wishes to eat people's flesh and will stop at nothing until it reaches a player. The actual myth involved behind the zombie is: "The origin of the concept of zombiism stems from Haitian Voodoo culture. The word zombie--in Haitian it is 'zombi'--means 'spirit of the dead.' Voodoo folklore contends that Bokors, Voodoo priests that were concerned with the study and application of black magic, posessed the ability to ressurrect the deceased." (www.umich.edu/). For hundreds of years, people have created their own image of a back from the dead zombie through growing media predominance but the original stems from Hatian Voodoo folk culture.       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources

 

Felluga, Dino. "Modules on Freud: On the Unconscious." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory.[Janruary 2012]. Purdue U. [November 11, 2013]. <http://www.purdue.edu/guidetotheory/psychoanalysis/freud2.html>.

 

Christie, Deborah, and Sarah Juli et. Lauro, eds. Better off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-human. New York: Fordham UP, 2011. Print.

 

Wishard, William V.D. "What Is the Archetype of the Apocalypse All About?" The Jung Page (n.d.): n. pag. 14 Nov. 2004. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

 

http://www.umich.edu/~engl415/zombies/zombie.html