63 The Call of Duty Community and Their Rise to Power

The Participatory Culture of the Call of Duty Community and Their Rise to Power

In the digital era, where gaming now thrives and is a significant part of the media industry, a community has played a critical role in the rise of gaming media dominance. The Call of Duty Community has become an in-depth case study of participatory culture and its dynamics. This essay will explore the recent history of Call of Duty’s immersive world and the community contribution to what the franchise and surrounding instruments have become today. It will reveal the role of participatory culture in the community and how it shaped important narratives, the community ranges past the player base, and that will be explored in the paper as well as the game’s evolution. As the digital era became more diverse in media jobs and opportunities, the Call of Duty community slowly shifted from a passive consumer audience to an active one, this would include different types of media content revolving around the game. This shift is the very essence of the essay, it is the analysis of a gaming world where players become creators and influencers. Through the engagement of content creation and other media instruments like social media and streaming, the Call of Duty Community has come together to form a unique participatory culture that pushes the boundaries of traditional media and how it is interacted with. The community is an example of the media industry transforming along with the content within it, their rise to power shows this, with user-generated content becoming a main focus in the industry. As the Call of Duty community is analyzed in this essay, participatory culture and its dynamics will as well, we will see how this specific community has pushed to reach new heights in the media industry with an active audience and unique forms of media content within and surrounding the game.

The Call of Duty community’s rise to power involves certain formed player clans that must be credited. Clans such as Faze and Optic, which serve as powerhouses in the gaming media industry today, started with competitive Call of Duty gaming, the essence of its creation. Founded in 2010, it was an early time for more modern forms of participatory culture, however, the clan took the competitive scene to different levels with their content creation. In an era where streaming and YouTube were not yet dominating, this can be seen as a huge step in the media industry as this was the start of a new era that would prove to dominate the digital age. The clan had a unique ability to capitalize at the start and shift of an era and utilized this beyond traditional culture. They specialized in sniping, a part of Call of Duty Culture, however, the clan brought this element to a new level. They are essentially the pioneers of “trick shotting” which is sniping in unique and creative ways. This new way of using snipers spread throughout the community and became very popular among players, many players would reference Faze for their content and they are still acknowledged for this even today. Optic has a similar story, instead, they were recognized more for their competitive scene with iconic players like Scump, with that being said, clans like Optic and Faze have made known breakthroughs in the gaming industry that have reached greater heights and allowed for the culture to grow to a more active one. Analyzing the Faze clan more in-depth, throughout their history, they have pushed for new unique ways of creating content and engaging with community members of Call of Duty online. Eventually, these clans shifted from just creating content based around the game, and while Call of Duty allowed for their gaming breakthroughs, this move is what created major opportunities in the media world as a whole. The culture around their clans and the game remained significant, regardless of the shift in the content being created.

Gaming and Participatory culture took several critical steps to reach the impact level they achieve today. (Contributors to Networked Culture 3020 Wikia) acknowledges this through modern-day technology and the adaptive culture. Looking past the games themselves and analyzing their depth, these games have created new cultures that involve the sharing of lifestyles and how individuals view certain things in the world. Essentially, with these new cultures came the birth of new identities and popular culture. Due to the elements and new culture created, Call of Duty is one of those main forces, becoming a subculture of mainstream media. Technology has allowed for the mass production of gaming consoles and platforms for individuals to indulge and immerse themselves in various communities, Call of Duty exists on multiple platforms such as the Playstation, and Xbox as well as smaller platforms like the Nintendo Switch and Mobile. These various platforms, allow millions of consumers to partake in Call of Duty culture and communicate with new people who enjoy similar things, the culture expands beyond just the game. This is because of the people who exist in the community and what content is featured around it. (Contributors to Networked Culture 3020 Wikia) identifies that any consumer can be a part of creating new ideas and can produce or distribute content in the gaming world. Social media outlets also work to benefit participatory culture in the gaming community, for the Call of Duty community, many players as well as creators seek information through media tools such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc. This furthers communication due to producers, content creators, and general consumers being able to interact with each other and discuss new content. While instruments like social media have helped further the progress of participatory culture in the Call of Duty Community, other factors also play critical roles.

As stated previously, major clans like Faze and Optic pushed the Call of Duty community with competitive gameplay, however, their competitive play started with smaller outlets such as LAN parties and small tournaments, some of which would take place online. (Webster, 2020) identifies this by discussing the CDL, the official Call Of Duty League. The essence of its creation is due to the efforts of the original competitive clans pushing for more competitive play, the CDL is directly from Activision, the company that created Call of Duty, and features 12 teams, 11 cities, and 4 countries. The league goes beyond the game, featuring live events and celebrity hype battles for audience attraction. These celebrities are often people who are involved or around the Call of Duty community or culture. Since its creation, it has significantly impacted the esports industry and the media industry as a whole. The league has made advancements to engage fans in participatory culture and encourage active audiences, they have created a city structure that allows local fans or consumers to engage in activities or watch their content live. It is important to acknowledge that individuals and consumers in different demographics will have different ways of interacting with content, the CDL acknowledges this by creating a city-based framework. In addition, the CDL is pushing stars on teams to create stories and documentaries, much like the earlier focuses of star players on Optic like Scump. This creates influence around these players in their stories, which will drive interaction and engagement. It also creates an opportunity for outside media partnerships to get involved with the community, this ultimately gains attraction to Call of Duty and the culture around it, expanding the game and people beyond the game. The CDL works as a tool that heavily impacts the participatory culture around Call of Duty through innovative strategy and continues to push the boundaries in the media industry.

Having explored the CDL as a powerhouse tool for participatory culture and media, tools like the CDL also impact other industries and inspire new conversations, which may only sometimes be positive. An example is (Squire & Jenkins, 2011) which analyzes and reviews the book “Video Games and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age” by K. Squire. The book talks about video games and how they have the potential to be connected to education. With a game like Call of Duty and its nature, many other industries like education have shunned or looked down upon it due to its content. In addition, Call of Duty is known to be one of the most competitive games in the market, and with this has sprouted what many call a “toxic” community or culture. Aside from the intense violence and gore, the community has created a name for themselves that not everyone in the media industry seems to enjoy. Many find the community distasteful through voice channels and the surrounding culture. Some players in the community take it too far with racist or misogynistic comments, however, players who keep their competitive level to a respectable reason find that it is part of the culture. Due to toxicity becoming a problem in the media industry and other games implementing new tools to combat it, Activision launched an AI program to identify toxic chat behavior. Many in the community find that this new program defeats the purpose of the game and culture, due to its roots and the content involved. After all, the franchise built itself around war, violence, and its competitive scene. Overall, feelings are mixed about this implementation, many consumers have taken it to the community social media outlets such as Instagram. “Bring back the 2009 COD lobbies – only reason I used to play.” This comment came from an Instagram comment through a media outlet, the community, especially senior consumers is expressing, that the culture should remain what it is regardless of how other industries feel, even if it is the media industry.

Aside from the many industries that find issues in the Call of Duty culture, this does not stop consumers from producing and creating in new ways. (Jenkins, 2006) identifies that new technology has transformed the way the general public consumes media, causing many to be a part of active audiences rather than passive ones. The digital era birthed streaming, a form of content creation that allowed any regular consumer to become a producer and engage directly with community members. Streaming is also a live social media tool that allows for communication while being around like-minded individuals regarding the content being displayed as well as the culture. More popular streamers with larger audiences often do collaborations that attract twice as many viewers and ultimately grow the Call of Duty fanbase. Activision has since taken notice of these streaming collaborations and developments and has gone as far as to allow these larger streamers to have their own integrated skins in the game. Also, through Faze partnerships, many celebrities in the media industry but not in the Call of Duty community have also collaborated with various popular streamers as well as the game directly. The celebrity attraction was one of the most significant breakthroughs for the culture and community because it intertwined new cultures outside of gaming media. One of the more dominant cultures is rap, this is because Faze took steps to sign popular rap artists and expanded to the music scene. Activision also acknowledged these collaborations with the artists as this would gain positive attraction to the game and culture. The reason these collaborations work is because they work with the preexisting culture and community, the game itself is violent, fast-paced, and competitive, so adding celebrity rappers, some of whom already partake in the game serves as a good fit.

These partnerships and collaborations with people and companies are being recognized more frequently through the entire media industry. (Yu et al., 2019) did a study in 2019 at the Sport Marketing Association Conference located in Chicago. At the conference, there were discussions of athlete influence, sponsorships, and esports consumers. These discussions alone in the digital era prove that gaming in the media industry has become a major figure, Call of Duty plays a role here because some of the biggest sponsorships such as Nissan were pulled in by major Call of Duty clans which are Faze and Optic Gaming. “We’re changing the game” was Nissan’s reply on Twitter to Fazes reveal of the sponsorship. The idea of a small clan like Faze reaching a size big enough to collaborate with a major power in the automotive industry seems ridiculous, however, it is due to active audiences that clans like Faze can attract companies like Nissan to the Esports scene. The expansion results from consumers interacting with the community and producing their content. These bigger clans inspired regular consumers to create their own which led to smaller tournaments and a widespread of competitive play for rewards. By examining the Call of Duty page on Twitch, many producers connect streaming to competitive play which allows for both direct and live communication. This allows consumers who may not be as competitive in their play to still interact and enjoy the content in the community. This ties back into collaborations with celebrities or companies, Faze being a root in the Call of Duty community can identify these companies or celebrities that embrace the culture of the community. Through them, even more consumers are attracted to the culture and they can interact with more broad content while still being around the Call of Duty community.

Through these breakthroughs, new media industries not only acknowledge sites like Twitch, but they also respect that the shift in livestream content came strictly from gaming and then moved to wider media audiences and cultures. “Although live-streaming has been “technically within the realm of the possible” [1] for years, the recent surge in popularity was primarily driven by the broadcasting of videogames. In the past two years, gaming-centric live streaming platforms such as Twitch.tv (US-based) and Douyu.TV (China-based) took off as not merely a novel media platform but a ubiquitous everyday entertainment for millions among other media platforms such as YouTube and Netflix.” (Witkowski, Recktenwald, Manning, & Ge, 2016) is a text that acknowledges this idea, in terms of Call of Duty, live streams around the game present shared experiences in big or viral moments. These experiences, depending on how large or significant they are could become part of the community culture and allow for consumers who were not directly involved to engage in discussion and conversation later on. These moments also do not have a range cap on them, meaning it doesn’t have to be about the game itself, it can be a crazy clip of a “trickshot” or glitch in the game, or it can be a funny dialogue between popular players or celebrities. Regardless, a moment cherished by the community through live streaming lives on after the stream is off. It allows for continuous engagement around the moment and embraces the culture. The Call of Duty community utilizes live streaming effectively through these elements, and since the growth of the streaming industry, producers of content have put in significant hours and time to monetize their content. As shown previously, popular streamers and figures in the community used the culture to get to new heights. From these heights, they were able to expand out to different media sub-industries and make a profit, all while still being involved in the base community.

Analyzing the digital game industry as an entirety, it is evident that the shift from traditional retail distribution to online reinforced culture change, especially around games like Call of Duty. The breakthrough point in culture for Call of Duty was its online presence and what active audiences could do with it. Jöckel, S., Will, A., & Schwarzer, F. (2008) discuss this shift and the mass media it attracted as well as figure comparisons with other industries such as the music and cinema industry. According to this text, the cinema industry has already been surpassed by the gaming industry and it can be said that Call of Duty the franchise plays a critical role in these rising figures. The direct sales Activision brings in are also influenced by indirect elements as stated previously. Ranging from popular streamers, celebrities, or smaller content creators, these active audiences engaging with the content influence passive audiences to consume it with them. These influences eventually turn into profit for Activision and Call of Duty and are one of the many reasons content creators and producers can turn their creations into profit. The gaming industry today works alongside creators, which could be anyone because influence turns into consumption and attracts mass attention. Jöckel, S., Will, A., & Schwarzer, F. (2008) mention this through the discussion of “user-generated content into the value chain.” Since root producers of content on Call of Duty have pushed new creation traditions, Activision has since integrated tools for creators to help in their production such as “streaming mode” or even custom lobbies, all of which one way or another contribute to participatory culture. It is the same reason why the  Call of Duty community has achieved so much in the media industry.

To conclude, Call of Duty and its community’s rise to power in the media industry is an example of a shifting participatory culture in the digital era. Through this essay, the history of gaming was explored along with its respective diverse communities. In its early days, audiences were much more passive until technological and cultural breakthroughs were made by producers engaging in the industry. Call of Duty and the Community became pioneers of shifting participatory norms through the creation of narrative, diverse content creation, and new media interaction. Iconic groups in the community such as Faze and Optic were critical in Call of Duty’s success due to their involvement in the competitive culture which evolved to unique content creation. This eventually led to a new technological era of media with the introduction of streaming and new YouTube content. With that being said, these new types of participatory culture impacted more than the gaming culture, Call of Duty has now become a pillar and subculture in the media industry. The game and culture taking over most of the gaming world created active engagement with consumers as well as new identities and popular culture. The idea of the community and culture is not always well received, with some media consumers finding its content “toxic.” These discussions have created mixed feelings between the culture and the outside community, however, it does not have enough force to root out the culture regardless of the implementation of AI tools and new policies. Due to the nature of the culture, Call of Duty audiences have expanded to include rap and celebrity culture which has heavily influenced the audience’s engagement which can now be seen in livestreaming and content creation. Overall, Call of Dutys rise to power is through participatory culture and shifting technological norms.