Neocolonialism in Video Games: The Social Discourse of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) is examined here as a case study of neocolonial discourse in video games, with the central thesis that the game's Western-centric narrative reinforces militarism and legitimizes interventionist policy. Drawing on postcolonial and neocolonial theory, including the work of Edward Said, along with rhetorical game analysis, the study argues that the game frames the United States as a global peacekeeper while casting Middle Eastern and Russian factions as irrational, homogeneous "others." This binary structure, the analysis notes, echoes a recurring pattern across contemporary military shooters and is contextualized against the 2003 Iraq War.

The analysis proceeds through a three-part ludic framework covering character and player representation, game world, and gameplay activities. Western protagonists are depicted as heroic and technologically superior guardians of order, while the game world sharply contrasts orderly Western spaces with chaotic, destroyed non-Western environments. Mechanics such as respawns, reward-driven missions, and fast-paced combat are argued to sanitize the human cost of war and "gamify" violence, reinforcing militarized values.

The authors conclude that missions framed as restoring order are invariably resolved through force, that civilian casualties are presented as accidental or unavoidable, and that the game's nuclear-attack storyline parallels the justifications offered for the Iraq War. The study's scope is focused on a single title and its 2007 release, and its claims are qualitative and interpretive, grounded in textual and gameplay observation rather than quantitative data.