Representation of Iranians and Muslims in Video Games as Terrorist

Video games have become a popular form of entertainment among different groups of people around the world so that the game industry has become a high competitor of Hollywood movies. War as the old sign of hostile relationship among people has become the main theme of many video games in order to attract more audiences. Research on how Iranians and Muslims are represented in video games has become important because the games have become a hegemonic tool for manufacturing consent about American military actions in Islamic countries. Most Iranian research studies about representation of minorities in video games have used research methods such as discourse analysis, narratology and semiotics. These methods cannot explain how new media technological features in comparison with non-interactive media represent minorities. Our research method contributes to Iranian research studies about representation of minorities in video games. In this research, we have analyzed structural characteristics of popular video games such as “Battlefield 3”, “Splinter Cell: Black List”, and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” to explain how game features are used for representation of Muslims and Iranians as terrorists. We have also analyzed political video games such as “America’s Army”, “Kuma/war” and “America’s Army 2: Special Forces” that are manufactured by American military organizations for recruiting American young people in military organizations. We found that antagonists’ appearance, names and cloths are used to represent Iranians and Muslims as terrorists. Political oppsitions between Iranian and Islamic countries with U.S.A are represented as protagenists’ missions