Contemporary Egypt in Call of Duty Black Ops 3 and the Race 2
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Pyramids, Cats, and Arabian Nights: Contemporary Egypt in Call of Duty Black Ops 3 and The Race 2 By: Amr M. Saleh Screenshot from Black Ops 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgment ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6 2. Background ......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Culture as a concept ............................................................................................................................................ 6 2.2 Orientalism.............................................................................................................................................................. 7 2.3 Culture representation in games ................................................................................................................... 9 3. Methodology ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10 3.1 Close Reading ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 Distinctions of source material ..................................................................................................................... 11 4. ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................................................... 12 4.1 “Call of Duty: Black Ops III” Examination ...................................................................................................... 12 4.1.1 Story & First Impressions ............................................................................................................................ 12 4.1.2 The Metro Station ........................................................................................................................................... 13 4.1.3 Advertisements................................................................................................................................................ 14 4.1.4 Language ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 4.1.5 Tourist Perspective ........................................................................................................................................ 16 4.1.6 Symbolic References...................................................................................................................................... 17 4.1.7 Architecture and Interiors .......................................................................................................................... 21 4.1.8 Conclusion of the Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 23 4.2 “The Race 2: The Last Chase” Examination .................................................................................................. 23 4.2.1 Advertisements................................................................................................................................................ 24 4.1.2 Symbolic References...................................................................................................................................... 25 4.2.3 Architecture and Vehicles ........................................................................................................................... 27 4.2.4 Characters .......................................................................................................................................................... 28 4.2.5 Conclusion of the Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 29 5. Discussion .......................................................................................................................................................................... 29 6. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................................... 32 7. References ......................................................................................................................................................................... 34 2 Figure 1: Ads that can be seen in Egypt around the game ................................................................. 16 Figure 2: Cat Statue under commemoration site ................................................................................. 17 Figure 3: “Winged Scarab” symbol replacing the “Saladin's Eagle” ................................................ 18 Figure 4: Inside Ramses Station in the game ........................................................................................ 19 Figure 5: The pyramids can be seen from Cairo .................................................................................. 20 Figure 6: Inside of apartments and shops ............................................................................................. 22 Figure 7: Advertisement graffiti ............................................................................................................. 24 Figure 8: Knockoff brands. ...................................................................................................................... 25 Figure 9: Fava beans carts; Real life vs In-game .................................................................................. 26 Figure 10: Qasr el Nil bridge .................................................................................................................. 27 Figure 11: The box Microbus public transportation van .................................................................... 28 3 Acknowledgment I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Sabine Harrer, for their extraordinary efforts and knowledge that guided and inspired me to present this thesis to you; it was a great pleasure working alongside them. I would like to thank both Dr. Doris Rusch and Dr. Richard Bartle for their support and mind- opening sessions during the semester. I would also like to thank Dr. Patrick Prax for taking the time and giving me feedback on the thesis; it was of great help to me. Finally, I would like to thank my friends and colleagues for their patience and inspiring ideas. 4 Abstract This thesis aims to shed light on how contemporary Egyptian culture is represented in video games. Egypt, being part of the Middle East, and given its ancient history, has become subject to many stereotypes and tropes and falling into the realm of Orientalism. This thesis builds on previous works concerning representations of the Middle East, focusing on the representation of contemporary Egypt. In light of the problematic nature of stereotypes and Orientalism towards the Othering of the minorities, I conducted a close reading of two games depicting Egypt, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 from a western perspective and The Race 2: The Last Chase from a native perspective, comparing them in the process, to highlight the different approaches native and non- native designers used in their representation of contemporary Egypt. The analysis shows that the American game, although it tried to give an “accurate” representation of Egypt by modeling a close replica of the Ramses Station in Cairo, still managed to use Orientalist visuals and stereotypical elements in its depiction. On the other hand, the Egyptian game relied on everyday life aspects and references relating to the native. Finally, I suggest a few guidelines for game designers wanting to achieve respectful representation to follow to avoid alienation of the represented Other. 5 1. Introduction Creating games that try to depict the real world rather than an imaginary one poses big challenges for everyone involved. Because representing countries or cities with complex cultures is not easy, game designers tend to take the easy way out (Silverberg, 2014) and not reflect on what consequences a simplified version of a place will do to the audience engaging with it. In the film industry, stereotypes have been perpetuated through repetition (Shaheen, 2003), a trend that can also be seen within the video game industry. For instance, Muslims and Arabs have often been represented as blood-thirsty fanatics with covered heads and Ak-47s (Šisler, 2008) (Mirrlees & Ibaid, 2021). As an Egyptian student of game design, it has been important to focus on how Egypt and the Middle East are depicted in games for two reasons. First, as someone from that culture, I am part of what has been called the represented Other or the subaltern in postcolonial game studies (Mukherjee, 2014). Secondly, as a game designer, I am invested in shedding light