In this episode, Tracy Harwood, Ricky Grove and Damien Valentine discuss Paolo Pedercini’s 2009 machinima film Welcome to the Desert of the Real. Created using the US military recruitment game America’s Army, the film overturns the game’s heroic presentation of warfare to explore post-traumatic stress disorder and the psychological consequences of combat.

We examine Pedercini’s use of the US military’s own PTSD checklist, fragmented desert imagery, shifting viewpoints and an unsettling soundscape of wind, footsteps and white noise. Together, these elements transform the game world from a tactical arena into the isolated psychological space of a traumatised soldier.

The discussion situates the film within the traditions of counter-gaming, tactical media and culture jamming, comparing Pedercini’s approach with Joseph DeLappe’s dead-in-iraq. We also consider whether the soldier’s anonymity strengthens the film, why its lack of sentimentality is so effective, and how the work might be remade using a contemporary game or Unreal Engine.

Content note: This episode discusses warfare, killing and post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Show Notes & Links

Welcome to the Desert of the Real by Paolo Pedercini, released in 2009

A couple of posts worth reading for further anlaysis of this film when it was originally released –

A blog by Simon Ferrari http://simonferrari.com/2009/06/08/desert-of-the-real/

As well as a blog post about Molleindustria, here http://simonferrari.com/2009/06/08/desert-of-the-real/

The historical checklist used is the 17-item DSM-IV PCL-M, not today’s 20-item DSM-5 PCL-5. It was a self-report measure of symptom severity rather than, by itself, a clinical diagnosis. The National Center for PTSD retains the historical PCL-M, while the film is documented as juxtaposing that checklist with footage from the Army game in its Wikimedia record. The Army’s own historical material confirms the involvement of OEMA and its America’s Army team in military game development and training applications.