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      Islamophobia Studies Journal

      Volume 6, Issue 1
       
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      The Virtual Killing of Muslims: Digital War Games, Islamophobia, and the Global War on Terror

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            Abstract

            This article argues that digital war games communicate misleading stereotypes about Muslims that prop up patriarchal militarism and Islamophobia in the context of the US-led Global War on Terror. The article's first section establishes the relevance of the study of digital war games to feminist games studies, feminist international relations, and post-colonial feminism. The second section contextualizes the contemporary production and consumption of digital war games with regard to the “military-digital-games complex” and real and simulated military violence against Muslims, focusing especially on the US military deployment of digital war games to train soldiers to kill in real wars across Muslim majority countries. The third section probes “mythical Muslim” stereotypes in ten popular digital war games released between 2001 and 2012: Conflict: Desert Storm (2002), Conflict: Desert Storm 2 (2003), SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs (2002), Full Spectrum Warrior (2004), Close Combat: First to Fight (2005), Battlefield 3 (2011), Army of Two (2008), Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), Medal of Honor (2010), and Medal of Honor: Warfighter (2012). These games immerse players in patriarchal fantasies of “militarized masculinity” and place a “mythical Muslim” before their weaponized gaze to be virtually killed in the name of US and global security. The conclusion discusses the stakes of the stereotyping and othering of Muslims by digital war games, and highlights some challenges to Islamophobia in the digital games industry.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Tanner Mirrlees
            Taha Ibaid
            Journal
            Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50018795
            Journal ID (jcode): islastudj
            Title: Islamophobia Studies Journal
            Publisher: Pluto Journals
            ISSN: 2325-8381
            ISSN: 2325-839X
            Publication date (Print): 1 April 2021
            Volume: 6
            Issue: 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/islastudj.6.issue-1 )
            Pages: 33-51
            Affiliations
            Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
            Independent Researcher, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
            Article
            Publisher ID: islastudj.6.1.0033
            DOI: 10.13169/islastudj.6.1.0033
            SO-VID: bbb8cd08-97e7-4a69-89de-fccceaaea435
            Copyright © © Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, Center for Race and Gender, University of California, Berkeley
            License:

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Custom metadata
            lang eng

            ScienceOpen disciplines: Social & Behavioral Sciences
            Keywords: war,militainment,digital war games,Islamophobia,anti-Muslim stereotypes,feminism,Empire

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