Violence and the Assassin's Creed franchise

Examples of violence: how does AC: Mirage cultivate an ideological perspective that violence is acceptable?

• An explicit and unflinching shot of a man being stabbed in the neck, with realistic blood splatter. This is presented to the audience as a minor event
• Indirect forms of violence, for example poisoning with a poison dart, reinforces the ideology that violence can be discrete and sophisticated 
• The sheer amount of death in the video is somehow justified by a binary opposition between good and evil, where it is assumed that the professional assassin is good….
• The objective of the mission is to murder. The verb ‘assassinate’ is used many times 
• The verb ‘assassinate’ frequently appears as a contextual action, as opposed to hugging, kissing, or simply talking 
• The sheer number of people killed in just a few minutes, at least 2 a minute 
• Climbing walls and jumping off buildings is alarming behaviour, and may encourage imitable behaviour 
• The protagonist is an assassin: a paid murderer. He is represented as the ‘good guy’, and the passive guards are ‘bad’. This reinforces the ideology that violence is good and appropriate
• Violence is presented in a stylish manner, with attractive movements, and stylish bursts of blood 
• Killing is made easy through being presented as a single button press, and there is not representation of the aftermath and the trauma that comes from killing

To even move around in Assassin's Creed: Mirage is a proairetic encoding of violence. The verbs to interact with the world, climbing, jumping, stabbing, are all violent and active, yet also are all commonplace in videogames. While violent videogames may not make violent people, they clearly cultivate an ideological perspectives that violence is normal, acceptable and commonplace

Dominant ideology:  That violence is acceptable as long as it is justified through certain situations 

• The role of an assassin is presented in a positive light 
• Some people are good (eg the player), some people are bad (eg the slave owner), and some people deserve to die 
• There is no discernable political perspective in this game, just good and bad people, which the producer hopes is unlikely to offend anybody
• The game isn’t real! The violence isn’t real, and fantasy violence is different from real violence 
• The only appropriate response to a bad situation is to sneak and to kill. Negotiation is never an option 
• Baghdad is a violent and yet exciting place 

Preferred reading - agree with the ideology of the producer

Oppositional reading - disagree with the ideology of the producer

Negotiated reading - both agree and yet disagree 

Negotiated responses to AC Mirage 

• While the game has a focus on crime and murder, there are many opportunities for players to do different things, for example climbing buildings and exploring. Some players will enjoy this aspect of the game far more than the combat
• This game could potentially cultivate the ideology that certain people should be dealt with with violence 
• Players may negotiate the violence as being fun, and even silly. The violence is often over the top, theatrical, and ridiculous, and it is unlikely that many players would equate this violence with real world violence
• The violence is boring, and actually brings the game down. It would be better if there were other modes and ways of playing… but it is interesting viewing the architecture 
• It is frustrating being forced to play as a single character, even through the stealth is great!
• The middle eastern setting may be relatable to certain audiences! It is fun and exciting to see you and your location represented! However, the same player may have to negotiate the potentially problematic representation 
• Certain players may be frustrated with the lack of plot, yet they may also enjoy the more refined gameplay mechanics 

However, even through AC is filled with contentious violence, the developers have included a discovery mode in many of the games, eg Valhalla, which allows even younger players to explore and to have fun with no threat of violence. This kind of accessibility feature is only made possible through digital technology. This mode has proven extremely popular with parents and children, providing a completely new experience. Such a mode is only possible however in AAA games 

BONUS VIOLENCE - Criticisms of the effects model and of Bandura’s study

Conclusion of study: that violent media has a direct influence on it’s audiences 

• However, children are affected in completely different ways as they lack development, both cognitive and social
• Assuming that violence only occurs in media, and in one form is highly reductive
• The experiment arguably doesn’t model violence, but models play
• The media is highly structured and doesn’t resemble a film or TV show
• Imitable behaviour
• Conclusion of the experiment: that media has a direct effect on audiences
• The experiment was carried out on children who are fundamentally different, immature, still developing and vulnerable
• A big bouncy floppy doll is not the same as a human, and therefore the results cannot be evenly applied
• Children are potentially unable to differentiate between media and real life, which means ultimately the results must be questioned
• The video is wholly instructional, and does not resemble other forms of media
• The theory and the experiment are vital in proving that certain people MUST be protected by regulations, including the very young and the vulnerable, for example people with MH issues

Better theories than the effects model

• The reception model argues that there are many multiple responses to different media products and audiences can negotiate different responses
• Cultivation theory argues that prolonged exposure to media can gradually shape our ideologies and can eventually desensitise audiences