Putting the "Duty" in "Call of Duty"

We learned earlier this semester that the average Twitter user is in his/her mid-thirties (an age I am fast approaching). I’ve had a Twitter account since 2009, but the account* is admittedly neglected - especially since I made my debut on Facebook. I have noticed, however, that a lot of really interesting people and organizations have active Twitter feeds with links to all kinds of interesting articles and information. I decided to try and get more active and revisited my tweets to see what I was tweeting about when I first decided to give Twitter a whirl...

And I found this article. Now, it’s definitely old (February 2009), but I still think that this is a brilliant idea on the part of the parent.

Hugh Spencer works as a writer and designer of museum and public educational exhibitions. He is also the father of a (at the time) thirteen year old boy (Evan) who enjoys playing first-person shooter video games like Call of Duty. When Hugh expressed his concern about Evan’s playing the game, he and Evan opened a dialog about why Evan wanted to play this game and about its accuracy in terms of depicting war.


Then Hugh took it a step further.

He asked Evan to look up and read the Geneva Conventions. They discussed it and laid down a new rule for Evan’s participation - he and his friends must abide by the Geneva Conventions during their game. If Evan or his friends violate the terms, “the play stips and Call of Duty goes away for a while”.

Taking a video game and its premise and tying it to real world concepts and laws? It’s probably pretty safe to say that Evan is now one of the most media literate (at least as it relates to this game) Call of Duty players online.


* Are you active on Twitter? Feel free to "follow" me & I'll follow you, too! @edietweets