“Call of Duty: Reality Trailer” is a stunning piece of video art that combines genuine wartime footage in a collage that mimics how a standard video game is played. The hugely successful Call of Duty franchise is a first-person shooter game that typically begins with opposing teams of soldiers placed on opposite sides of the game map. A key objective for game players is to achieve more kills than the opposing team before the time runs out. Although designed for mature audiences, underage players often manage to gain access to the game, and, on rare occasions, can lead to physical violence between players.

The video opens with soldiers landing on a battlefield, creating a visual that directly mirrors the game itself. The shots of war being fought on both sides are interspersed with voice-overs from real Call of Duty game players. This striking contrast between the virtual reality of the game and the genuine war footage shows how players of the game and actual soldiers are entirely disconnected from each other. The game player does not experience the full harsh realities of actual war. Also, the video game industry strives for the most realistic experience possible, every year, new technologies are added to the game, enabling better graphics and audio that mimic real-world weaponry.

It raises questions about whether this quest for realism will lead to video games producing PTSD in children in the future.