Rather than ranting and raving about the pros and cons of Call of Duty (Modern Warfare or Black Ops) singer song-writer Rebecca Mayes sat down and penned a song to express her concerns. The result was not only entertaining in its own right but something that asked a serious question of players of these games: "Was it all that you hoped for?"
FGTV Rebecca Mayes' Call of Duty Protest Song
As we track the sales figures associated Black Ops 2 this year, they are still impressive while not quite as high as previous years. The ever more crowded shooter market along with more choice for gamers may be signalling an end to the Activision's dominance here. Time will tell.
Beyond the easy headlines though, it's interesting to engage with what these games mean for players, as Mayes does in an extended video that explains where the idea (and ideology) for the song came from.
She suggests that these games offer players the chance to experience the exhilaration of risking everything in the theatre of war, but shouldn't eclipse the everyday opportunities people have to excel.
"I could really see why it was so popular, the appeal of being able to experience being in the army" she says. "There's this sense of adventure, all the world they see and everything they do. But there's something that sits really uncomfortably with me about the game because obviously war is a really big problem in our world."
But rather than being worried about the violence or potential disturbing nature of these games, Mayes talks about how "we are all heroes and heroines of life. Having to find it in the game is a way of not claiming it for your own life. Which might just be something really small, doing something you are scared of doing."
Mayes will be addressing other games in this way including Fable, Silent Hill and Mass Effect in her YouTube playlist.