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.
Time stamps -
01:49 Ricky introduces Welcome to the Desert of the Real
03:25 Paolo Pedercini, Molleindustria and America’s Army
04:07 How the film subverts a military recruitment game
05:03 PTSD, the desert and the film’s central narrative
07:25 America’s Army and the controversy around military recruitment games
08:13 The soldier’s anonymity and the limitations of character animation
09:54 The sniper sequence and its carefully controlled realism
12:05 Why the original film credits matter
13:29 Pedercini’s politically engaged games and artistic practice
16:17 Counter-gaming, tactical media and culture jamming
18:57 The PTSD checklist as the film’s driving structure
20:26 The journey towards the empty desert
21:00 From first-person shooter to psychological space
23:54 Traumatic memory and fragmented visual storytelling
24:56 Wind, white noise, tinnitus and psychological pressure
27:22 How the PTSD questions change the meaning of the images
29:54 Rejecting Hollywood sentimentality and easy resolution
30:29 Turning the military’s representational machinery against itself
32:13 Does the film need to show the soldier’s face?
32:58 Comparison with Joseph DeLappe’s dead-in-iraq
34:38 Could the film be remade with contemporary technology?
35:44 Reimagining the work in Unreal Engine
36:47 Call of Duty versus Unreal Engine
37:31 Would a remake lose the original’s political irony?
38:14 Audience question and closing remarks
Credits -
Co-hosts: Ricky Grove, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer: Tracy Harwood
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Phil Rice & Suno AI
