Talking Game Design - Wordplay and the Discourse of Video Games - page 59

of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 , Activision Blizzard, fi red the heads of
the studio responsible for developing the game claiming “breaches of con-
tract and insubordination” shortly after one of the gigantic launches. 36 The
subsequent lawsuits and fallout surrounding the fi rings read “like a dra-
matic Hollywood script,” with both sides contending that the other actively
sought to undermine their positions. 37 The amount of money surrounding
the franchise sets the stage for dispute among those producing the games,
but the size and scale of the series also frames the ways in which they are
received by gamers.
The size of the Call of Duty player base alters expectations about how
games in the series should work because it draws increased attention to the
series while ratcheting up expectations for the games. It also means that any
dispute has the potential to quickly turn into an issue the game developer
must address. Changes to the game that do not meet with gamers' expecta-
tions are likely to be met with a substantial, vocal outcry. With the release of
Modern Warfare 2 for the PC, the game developer announced “that the PC
version will not include code for dedicated multiplayer servers, instead relying
on a yet to be revealed, peer-to-peer matchmaking service called IWNET.” 38
Ef ectively, this meant that PC players seeking to play against others would
need to run through the proprietary servers, which would allow “match-
making and smoother gameplay,” “playlists and private matches,” “party
system and friendslist,” and “cheat/hack free games.” 39 Gamers contended
that “dedicated servers have been known to make or break a multiplayer
game,” as the community better provides the online access to enable playing
with other people, while allowing them to set the rules for the games they
want to play. 40 With dedicated servers, gamers are also less dependent on the
ongoing support of the developer, as they can host the game on their own,
instead of being reliant on the continued goodwill of a company to provide
bandwidth and support for a game from which they may no longer be gener-
ating a large amount of revenue. Within days of mentioning the new system
on a gaming podcast, an online petition sprang up and was signed by over
100,000 gamers who sought to maintain the ability to use dedicated serv-
ers for online PC play of Modern Warfare 2 . The company responded with
the statement that the petition “defi nitely made a big wave and the response
will not be ignored.” 41 Less than a week after the game's launch, a player
hacked a developer console to “enable the ability to set up dedicated serv-
ers.” 42 In this case, players wanted a system similar to what was available
before and actively sought to ensure that dedicated servers could be used. 43
Initially moving through a petition to the game developer and subsequently
taking action into their own hands, gamers redefi ned what Modern War-
fare 2 was and how it would be played. In so doing, they demonstrated the
potentially sizable power gamers have in defi ning what video games are and
how they work. However, the controversy surrounding the next game in the
series, Call of Duty: Black Ops , made the role of gamers in the construction
of game design and play even clearer.