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Videogames Used to Train Terrorists?
kalpatin writes "Reuters reports that videogames are being used to train terrorists. The title Counter-Strike is apparently being used as a tool to prepare individuals for a mission: blowing up an oil tanker. The ultimate goal is to 'make the strait of Hormuz impassable, the Jomhouri-ye Eslami daily reported. About two-fifths of globally traded oil passes through the channel. The game illustrates a warning by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said in June that oil exports in the Gulf region could be seriously endangered if the United States made a wrong move on Iran.'"
And yet we focus on video games?
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
They are all fantasy, right? And, in theory, could train people to do anything they show. Why the hell are games so put upon? Are we supposed to live in a rounded-corners world?
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
ITs unclear, but it sounds like its just a cool CounterStrike map.
If so, where can we get it, it sounds like fun!
Test your net with Netalyzr
I've heard that America's Army is useful for understanding the American military mindset. Maybe it should be reclassified as a state secret...
This guy's the limit!
So now I'm a terrorist because I can use a mouse and a keyboard?
Insane bastard writers article
Posts article
Slashdot picks it up
???
Profit?
I swear if someone is training this way they are about as dangerous as your average DnD player with a sharp pencil.
I like muppets.
They are. It goes both ways I think: http://www.americasarmy.com/
dangerous minorities^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hgames do
The thought of highly trained terrorists running around shouting 'BOOOOM Headshot' whilst shooting or stabbing randomly at the scenery or team mates, does not fill me with fear.
Ye have made your way from the worm to man, and much within you is still worm.
Summary: Jack Thompson once again pouring hot grits down your pants.
Don't know about Counter-Strike, but check out this free one. :-)
http://www.americasarmy.com/
Doh!
This is just one video game out of many that has been created to train / recruit / fulfill fantasies of would-be terrorists.
. php/ details a game in which you perform terrorist activities against Israel.
For example, http://jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/003651
Another example is a game called "Night of Bush Capturing". As its name implies, the goal of the game is to hunt down "a character representing" President George W. Bush. There are six levels with names such as "Jihad Beginning," American's Hell," and "Bush Hunter Like a Rat," and traditional jihadist songs play in the background.
That the Iranians are now doing developing a game to do the same is neither surprising nor should it be alarming. It could very well be an entertainment video game that is targetted to a very specific and narrow genre.
What now, we have to watch out for bunny-hopping arabs?
Where can we download a copy of their mission? I wanna try it!
That said, of course, if the US had a copy of their mission, they'd know the plan and how to guard it pretty well.
nothing to see here.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
And here I thought that CounterStrike would only train terrorists to lay on the ground, half-dead, shouting "OMG WTF AWP CAMPING FAG!1!1!!". Advanced CounterStrike classes involve running around vandalizing walls with pr0n.
That green slime had it coming.
All you learn is how to move a mouse/controller.
I think that we should support any terrorist who wants to use a video game as "training". It will make them that much easier to capture.
Good lord, apparently neither the submitter nor the editor (natch) read the article - there's no suggestion that this is actually being used to train anyone, any more than maps involving blowing up something in a middle eastern country are being used to train armies of nacho-eating 15 year-old super troops.
I'm confused... is this actually the CounterStrike we all know and love, or is it some game created by an Iranian company that happens to share the same name? And if it's the former, are we talking about some kind of mod for it, designed by terrorists, or did some jackass just get the box copy, see the option to play as "terrorists," and call in the press?
IAAATT (I, apparently, am a terrorist trainee), so I might not be credible, having played on both sides of Counter-Strike. Are they also trying to say that in addition to training elite terrorists, they are also training some of the best counter-terrorism operatives in the world? Clearly there is no better training than these games. Eh hem, "Simulators". Clearly, the solution to the war on terror is as simple as crying "TEAMS" and auto-assigning everyone.
Actually, America's Army IS used for training, specifically as a primer for basic training and getting used to a drill sergeant. I mean, they're not using it to "KILL TERRORISTS" or anything, which would make sense because that would be the worst training sim ever. But as for a training primer, it'd probably work pretty well. Remember Marine Doom? One of the first serious games. It may not have seemed like much, but it was mostly for training soldiers on coordinating squad movements.
my God. the bane of gamers has become the USA's last hope... lag.
certified elipsis abuser
Yes, that's right. Books have also been used to train terorrists.
Now, go run off to your Salamander and start protecting yourself.
In a recent report, it was discovered that toilet paper is used by terrorists during training.
Free yourselves from the potential dangers of terrorism by burning all your TP!
Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups.
It's designed to inflame Muslim passion against the United States and the Western world. The Iranian government in particular wants to distract its population from the failing economy. The radical president of Iran was elected to fix economic woes, but he has been sidetracked by international conflict. It's also meant as a threat: bomb Iran and we will cut off your oil supply. Only in the mind of Jack Thompson do video games train people to become professional killers.
I strongly doubt that the Iranians would not use Iranian special forces to accomplish such a mission and instead use a 15 year old kid who played the game two times. Instead they want the kid to join the Iranian military or just shut up about the poor Iranian economy.
Time to resurrect the term "right wing conspiracy."
It's a friggin' game. A lot of US-made games show conflicts in areas in the Middle East. Oooh. Terrorist training!
Videogames might or might not be used to train "terrorists". Until there's actual evidence of an Iranian training videogame, rather than just scary announcements by a controlled Iranian news organization, all we're sure of is that Iran is threatening to block the straits one way or another.
Of course, the US has sent a nuclear aircraft carrier, the Enterprise, to the region, possibly to confront Iran directly - the Enterprise as instrumental in "Operation Praying Mantis", the largest surface naval battle since WWII, between the US and Iran in the Persian Gulf in 1988. So the threats are flying thick and heavy in both directions.
But this is no videogame. The people who will die and get maimed will be real. Everyone has to look away from the screens and at the reality to see that this story is part of the propaganda war between the US and Iran, and recognize our own roles perpetuating and even escalating it.
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make install -not war
the real story being overlooked here is US dependance on foreign oil. Reduce that, and any threats against trade routes become less and less impacting.
Gentlemen, it's time we declared a war on food.
For far too long, food has been aiding and abeting terrorists all over the world. It makes them stronger and healthier, keeping them in a dangerously potent condition. Studies conducted throughout history show that as stockpiles of food decrease, the morale and will of an enemy grows lower. We cannot afford to lose this vital tool in the war for freedom.
I hereby ask all Americans to voluntarily discard any food they are in possession of before it falls into the hands of the terrorists. Food has betrayed us by helping our enemies, and we can show no quarter. Remember, if it's not with us, it's with the terrorists.
Could it be that part of the motivation behind this article is the "murder simulator" argument some of the anti-gaming pundits have been trolling around since the Columbine incident? Maybe they're hoping to score points with voters by tying the "terrorism" angle in with the recent rash of school shootings to make their position seem more epic than it really is...
8==8 Bones 8==8
I have learned that the preperation and consumption of food based nourishment is an essential part of terrorist training!
I pray the government will legislate against food ASAP! If you aren't against food, you are for terrorism!
The US have plenty of "antiterrorist" video games.
The US have plenty of nukular weapons.
Why are the yankees allowed to have video games and not the iranians?
Why are the yankees allowed to have nukular weapons and not the iranians?
Just another hit piece in the tired old line of 'violent computer games create criminals' articles. Cause we all know that it is a fact that a few hours of GTA will turn you into a car stealing thug that goes on killing sprees, just as Counter Strike teaches you how to blow shit up and take hostages.
But as with most things they only need to find one example to prove their theory while all the other non-violent players fade into the background.
Nope. They won't learn anything more about tactics than they would reading a book.
To train tactics, you have to practice the tactics with your team. Video game characters all have the same characteristics. People do not. The biggest differences are speed and grace/clumsiness.
And that doesn't even address the issue that most terrorist's "tactics" at the moment are "strap on the bomb, walk to the target and detonate yourself". If you're in a CS-type firefight, you've already fucked up the mission.
having spent 10 years in the military, training (and deploying) for war, i can attest to the fact that video games (i'm also a big-time gamer) cannot train someone for war. sure, you can get some great ideas from the minds of video game story writers, and movie script writers, but a video game in no way prepares you for rounds buzzing past your face in a 2 hour firefight. but i agree it would make a great map - maybe for BF2
Violent RTS games are influencing our leaders. These games are teaching our government about invading territories for the sake of resource control. Someone call Jack.
..
In contrast, Doom is about blowing up monsters while remembering not to use the rocket launcher in enclosed spaces, and you get to use cool weapons like a BFG-9000.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
CTs can use it to train too.
I like music
Indeed. In fact, food kills more Americans than terrorists:
)
:)
Report on Injuries in America, 2003 (http://www.nsc.org/library/report_injury_usa.htm
Leading Causes of Unintentional Injury Deaths United States, 2003
Motor Vehicle 44,800
Falls 16,200
Poisoning 13,900
Choking 4,300
Drowning 2,900
Fires, flames, and smoke 2,600
Suffocation 1,200
I'm not sure if fast food was counted in the poisoning death toll, but I'm pretty sure the majority of choking would be on food
(For those thinking to mod me Troll or Flamebait, look up the word sarcasm)
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I wonder if they play on VAC-Secured servers? Damn haxx0rs!
--"The revolution will be simulcast..."--
Why are people in such an uproar about this acting as if Iranians can't play Counter Strike? There's a lot of clueless folks commenting on this...
As for a potential cultural aspect of this? I'm sure some Islamic groups make an uproar anytime Muslims are shown as "terrorists" in popular western games. It happens on both sides, just because you only see one side of it doesn't mean that the other side is sitting still.
For God's sake, these are the same people who burn churches and embasseys when a cartoon comes out of their main prophet, do you really think CS missions like Arab Streets simply go by unnoticed in their culture.
The bottom line is that no one is banning a single thing (that takes care of about 20% of the posts I've read so far), no one is doing anything different today than they have in the past and...
VIDEO GAMES STILL SUCK FOR LEARNING HOW TO USE FIREARMS!!
Let's not take this too seriously. There's nothing substantial to see here aside from people who are making this into something that it simply isn't.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
They're using Counter Strike to train??? .338 Lapua?
Awesome. I couldn't ask for a better combat simulation... except maybe frogger.
So now we'll have to be on the lookout for terrorists standing hovering in the air with 1" of their feet touching hanging signs, making 100yd headshots with Mac10s, and never using grenades since they only kill in about a 5-10' radius? Or maybe they'll just buy an AWM and shoot it into the side of a mountain our guys are behind, hoping to hit one with the amazing 50' of stone-penetrating
Boy, the first time these guys try to apply their "training" to the real world, we're gonna see some world-class comedy!
This is just an election year bid to link something the public fears but cannot be dealt with (terroism) with something the public fears and can be dealt with (video games). If Video Games == Terrorism, then if we stop video games we can stop terroism.
Please stop listening to anything anyone says when they are up for election.
Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the king's English.
How do you say "pwned" in Arabic? :-)
nothing will change
"Counter-Terrorists win"
CS is nothing like real life.
First of all, lets talk about weapons.
M249 SAW, IRL this is the best weapon at the squad level. High cylic rate, accuracy like an M240 but light enough to easily run with, has a bipod. Great for 3-5 round bursts. You could say that an M4/M16 with an M203 attached might be overall more versatile, but still not so great at killing people. In CS, an M249 is the worst weapon you can choose, IRL the best. Don't argue with me on this, I've shot in excess of 10,000 rounds using an M60, and several thousands using both the m16, m4, m249 and M240G (was a machine gunner while active duty).
CS teaches people nothing about trigger pulling, breathing, good shooting form, proper ways to rush, pegging a target, etc. There is no concept of rolling in CS, no idea of the prone position, and the list goes on and on.
CS teaches nothing about operating at the true squad tactics in urban/MOUT operations.
Night vision in CS? lol. The US is so experienced at night ops, we actually want to do operations then.
Tactics? jump in, bunny hop, squat shoot strafe, squat shoot. I'd love to see some fundies try that against the US marines/army. They'll get those 40 virgins alot sooner lol.
Iran should keep in mind, their core competentcy is in terrorism and spouting anti-semetic hogwash, not confronting enemies in a real state vs. state conflict on the battlefield. It isn't like Israel is ready to drop the bomb on them already.
To prepare for the next desert storm?
Forget choking! All you have to do is count "McDonald's" as "food", and then look at heart disease statistics... :-P
a controlled situation, with no chance of anything unexpected, that has spessific set rules, is used to trail for real life, uncontrolled chaos situation where there are practicaly no rules.
i was wondering what they were gonna blame terrorism on next, and i was also wondering what they were gonna use to say "video games are bad" next.
portfolio
Somewhere in Miami, he is starting his defense plan for the terrorists. In the end, Take Two will still somehow get sued.
> The game illustrates a warning by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
> who said in June that oil exports in the Gulf region could be seriously endangered
> if the United States made a wrong move on Iran
Eh. Maybe he intended that as a threat, maybe not. Either way, the best way to deal with it is to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume it's not a threat. Such an action would only *harm* Iran (as well as some other nations that also ship oil and stuff through there) and would gain them nothing, and it would harm Iran far more than it would harm the US. If I were developing the official US position on his statement, my interpretation would be that he apparently believes the US might itself do something to endanger oil exports (e.g., by using more domestic oil and importing less), and that the Iranian government would interpret such an action as a "wrong move". That would be a much more sensible and coherent position than the one the article seems to imply he is taking.
As a terrorist threat, disrupting the Strait of Hormuz wouldn't even be scary, except to a handful of Arab nations. If a threat of terrorism was what he intended, wouldn't he at least have threatened the Suez? That would at least worry Europe, economically speaking, and would be more worrisome to the US than threatening Persian Gulf shipping.
Not that there wouldn't be an impact at all. I mean sure, the price of oil would go up a bit, for a few months. But it would be no worse than they could accomplish by just reducing their oil production and selling less (or none), if they were willing to do so. Gas would probably go up again, but we'd live through it. Iran's economy would be in much more dire straits (no pun intended).
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Soooo, we can expect terrorists to be trying to snipe while doing a crouching bunny-hop? I guess it will at least make them easier to spot...
I'd think a better "training" tool would be a Rainbow Six/Rogue Spear type game, where the object is to succeed without the enemy getting a shot off.
This is total FUD BS. Oh noes! Teh terrorists are using verbal speech to perfect their terrorist tactics!!! Must ban verbal speech!!!1!
Coding with assembly is like playing with Legos. Coding an application in assembly is like building a car with Legos.
All we need to do is spam fog grenades until they get 0 fps.
Not to mention we have the aim hacks, wall hacks, and the no clipping cheats.
Doc Ruby -- drama queen
We've had one or more carriers in that region CONTINUOUSLY since 1991. That's right, for more than 15 years there's been a US carrier battle group near the Persian Gulf. We've continously had smaller surface ships in the Persian Gulf (based in Bahrain) for decades.
If we were serious about attacking Iran, there would be SIX carrier battle groups in the region (as there was during Gulf War I), not just one. The fact that the Enterprise (our oldest nuclear carrier, btw, not as capable as our newest) is in the area is not an indication that the US military is preparing an attack.
As for this being the "largest surface naval battle since WWII", oh please, stop the dramatics. It was a piecemeal action where Iran lost a couple frigates, some speedboats, and an offshore rig.
As for terrorist groups, the tactical mission of closing the Strait of Hormuz is completely out of reach, and even if it weren't, how's Counterstrike going to help them plan? I imagine that sea-borne terrorists would use light boats or diving gear and place improvised mines into the narrow shipping lanes. So how do you propose they use Counterstrike to plan their mission?
Right, you have no idea. That's because this story, like many others, gets written before anybody thinks about it. This is written simply because it fits the convenient script according to which "They're evil and they're plotting" - which is scare tactic that's supposed to make it easier for us to abandon our freedoms and turn them over to the government.
But note that video games don't produce violence in kids, or train them to use guns.
The government can't save you.
I knew that game was evil.
While it's fairly obvious that FPS's won't make you any better at shooting a gun or improve physical fitness, it does train well for coordinating and communicating amongst teammates. I don't know if they still use these in our own armed forces, but I know that they have in the past.
They use all sorts of simulations for everything, including firing (it's a lot like the sniping games they have in the arcades now).
Shaw's Principle: Build a system even a fool could use, and only a fool would want to use it.
the terrorists have already won.
Counter Strike?? If you want to teach terrorists the fine art of teabagging...
Why hasn't anyone made a stink about "America's Army"? I remember thinking that game was so cool because we could go online and find real soldiers using real military tactics that we could test our skillz against. (Then I realized they were so predictable, they sucked worse than 10 year old noobs and the game got dull.) Wouldn't a game that teaches western combat doctrine with players from the real military be a much more effective training tool for terrorists?
Anonymous denial Coward, sending the Enterprise back to the Iranian region in the current saberrattling between the US and Iran is most certainly part of the propaganda war of intimidation. I understand that you didn't click to the Wikipedia article I quoted about what was in fact "the largest surface naval battle since WWII". I understand that you didn't click to the news reports relating the Enterprise deployment to our standoff with Iran.
Anonymous denial Cowards battle curiosity with ease, refusing to "see for themselves" when they're already so sure of how the world works. "Greeted as liberators" is so much more appealing to armchair generals than "catastrophicly bungled invasion" that they won't even hear about the truth when it's beating against their ears.
But how could you read my post without understanding the distinction between an attack and just the escalation of deployments? That's what this story is all about.
You're not just an Anonymous denial Coward. You're damn stupid, too. Exactly the kind of American the Iranians have been beating since they threw out our Shah in their revolution.
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make install -not war
Bin Laden ordered Al-Qaeda to attack oil facilities several years ago. To date, the attacks consist of an attempt to drive two cars through the outer perimeter fence of a Saudi oil refinery. Two suicide bombers set off their explosives and started a small fire, which was quickly put out.
"TEHRAN (Reuters) - A new Iranian computer game sets players the task of blowing up a U.S. tanker in the Gulf to block the sea route for much of the world's oil supplies, a newspaper reported on Saturday. The game, "Counter Strike", invites players to plant two bombs on the oil tanker to sink it and make the strait of Hormuz impassable, the Jomhouri-ye Eslami daily reported. About two-fifths of globally traded oil passes through the channel. The game illustrates a warning by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said in June that oil exports in the Gulf region could be seriously endangered if the United States made a wrong move on Iran." Totally WTF? I don't know where to begin to say what is wrong with that article. Valve anyone? I always thought Reuters would be a bit more ... hm, nvm. Another example of "Never trust any media corp"(TM).
So if video games are effective tools for teaching and can actually instruct players on how to use guns in real life, then why is the Mario Kart 64 generation still getting in car accidents?
Sadly, I can see this sort of story being used to make an endrun around constitutional free speech protections in the name of national security. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see the likes of Jack Thompson take this approach once the "video games are harmful to children" approach to banning/restricting games runs its course in the courts.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
One participant was heard to comment "what do you mean there's no respawn in the live exercise??!" before stalking off the field. Others were seen to be having difficulties in climbing ladders with carrying several kilograms of weapons and explosives, while still more were seen attempting to bunny-hop their way across open fields.
I mean, really, are we afraid of fat, lazy, anti-social islamic facists who live in the basement of their parents' tent? I guess their next tactic will be to bring down our economy by downloading MP3s instead of buying the CDs.
Haven't you seen it yet?
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
If all the terrorists are using is Counter Strike and as_oilrig ... I already feel safer.
:)
Maybe we can show them how to boost through the ceiling. It would be fun to watch Ashad trying to boost his fellow mate through the ceiling
= Grow a brain...
GTA series has trained me to effectively car-jack someone. It has taught me my superb sniping skillz. Lastly, it has help me represent myself as a major crime lord, that is capable of corrupting politics & government/state/federal agencies in my community.
.. from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
In all seriousness, Google Earth is probably the most serious threat to national security the world will ever see. Some cities are in real time for crap's sake. While planning a hypothetical attack on my own house I found out paths, shortcuts, and possible hideouts I had never seen before. In 4 years of living here. Outrageous.
But a video game? And how do they play, "team deathmatch" or "capture the flag"?
In all seriousness, I used to spend a lot of time on Flight Simulator trying to fly my plane between the two towers of the World Trade Center. It's a lot harder than you might think. Hitting the corner of one of the towers head on must be even harder.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
They're using the wrong game. They should be using Team Fortress as perfecting the rocket jump will allow them to easily bypass White House security.
And apparently all Iranians are terrorists now, too? I'm looking at you, racist article summarizer.
Q: What did the comedian say to the crowd?
A: If I knew, this joke would be funny.
Really - who could mod this moron "Insightful"? Morons with mod points, I guess.
Is Jack Thompson around? Anywhere?
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
Mike: Yeah. You know, if I had been flying that baby and had a low-altitude flameout like that, I'd just reduce my elevators, dip the nose, and fire up the engine.
Servo: You don't know how to fly.
Mike: Sure I do! I'm fully instrument-rated for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
[End of Line]
If you guys would actually READ the arcticle, it's a new game pumped out in three months by an Iranian group. The only thing it shares with our Counter-Stike is a name. And theirs doesn't even have the -. Different game. No need to worry about bunny-hopping BOOM HEADSHOT! ing terrorists, as funny as that would be. Now what we REALLY need to be afraid of is all those PS2s Saddam linked up to launch missles .
They're using BOOKS too!!! We must burn all books!!! Holy crap we gotta do it fo da cheelrin'
It is de_oilrig, and it actually is NOT on Counterstrike: Source yet, much to the dismay of many fans.
Apparently Terrorists can't afford anything above Counterstrike 1.6.
A: they try and use up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start to start the mission. Their training will be useless.
if you replace videogames with cia.
I Predict A Riot
....America's Army!!! I just last night qualified EXPERT on the M16!!! Watch out terrorist, here I come, and apparently I am a pretty good shot!!!!
F#$% Reuters for running this lame ass article with no context, poor research, and sinister implications.
I'm going to assume for the sake of argument that we're talking about a multi-player game here.
How many such games produced in the west allow you to kill Muslims/Arabs/Chinese/Vietnamese/Germans/etc... and blow up their strategic assets?
How many of the gamers who play those games give an ideological shit which side they're playing on? (that's a good question, but I suspect that in the West, and certainly among the people I play online with every day, the number is miniscule)
And what the hell does this mean:
"A popular U.S. game, called "U.S. attacks Iran" or "Assault on Iran" and made by Kuma Reality games, revolved around a special forces mission to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities."
I can only assume that the writer was too lazy to find out what the name of the game actually is. (It's a free game called Kuma\War and most of the downloadable missions take place in Iraq though there is one named "Assault on Iran".) Kuma's website provides the following info:
"Kuma\War, the first Kuma Reality Game, is a totally free, first and third-person tactical squad-based game that provides multiple updates monthly to the consumer's computer to reflect unfolding events in the real world. Each month Kuma\War subscribers receive playable missions, video news shows, extensive intelligence gathered from news sources around the world, and insight from a decorated team of military veterans.
At Kuma, we are sensitive and respectful of American and coalition soldiers and the sacrifices they are making every day. We hope that by telling their stories with such a powerful medium that we enable the American public to gain a better appreciation of the conflicts and the dangers they face. As part of our mission, Kuma Reality Games provides military training to the United States Army (contract number 1435-04-05-CT-42872)."
That's pretty sinister if you ask me. And if it's not, why imply that the Iranian game is?
Nearly as sinister, the US tax-payer funded game, America's Army, is actually promoted as a US Army recruitment & training tool and is the only multi-player game I'm aware of where no matter which side you choose, you're an American and the other team looks like stereotypical, middle eastern 'terrorists'. (at least they did when I stopped playing it several years ago)
The existence of America's Army alone justifies the Iranian CounterStrike, assuming it's an actual propaganda tool and not just gamers making games they want to play.
I love wargames & shooters but I prefer them to be based firmly in historical or hypothetical land and not financed by a government. Wargames based on current events (esp. Govt funded or associated games) creep me out in the same way that pseudo -fictional movies and TV shows about 9/11 or any recent, traumatic event do. I don't trust the motives of their publishers and I won't support them. I'd hope the same from my Iranian counterparts.
At no point in the article does Reuters say that the game is actually being used to train terrorists. What they say is that the game puts the players in the position of carrying out an attack on a U.S. Tanker. Such an attack, in real life, would be terrorism. It also notes U.S. made games that put the players in the position of blowing up Iranian Nuclear facilities. But it does not suggest that they are being used to train Special Forces operatives in any way.
The post summary is wrong.
What is this?? Germany early 1930s??
There are dozens of CS mods that have one mission: bomb,kill & destroy muslims as game objective. When there is two games developed with missions against us, this is act of terrorism? common!
An NO. I am not a terrorist. Stupid facist US!
A substance going under the name "food" is allegedly being used to keep terrorists healthy and trained. Sources world wide report that it is sold on a regular basis by a variety of stores. Moves should be made immediatly to ban this lethal, liberal terrorist substance from the face of this planet!
I have spent many hours with Battlefield-2 training in counter-insurgency warfare!
10 years ago, the USMC modified the source for DOOM II for training US Marines in combat tactics. The result was Marine DOOM. Check out the wikipedia article. There are also other games on consumer platforms used by the military to keep troops sharp.
"If your parents never had children, chances are you wonât either." -Dick Cavett
Leave them alone. They're not trying to make a move on you.
If it weren't for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no songs.
Found near the terrorist watercooler:
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world. Those that understand binary and those that don't.
Why is this defined as terrorism? This is self defense by a country that doesn't want to be invaded by the United States. If the United States doesn't bomb Iran, Iran won't be sinking any oil tankers in the strait of Hormuz. Iran does not have the sophisticated air force, communications, and naval capabilities of the United States military. It is only natural that they would defend themselves by the means available to them, including economic warfare against the most indebted country in the world.
Since the Reuters article doesn't talk about the relation of this software to the Counter-Strike, and was confused myself by an article by the german magazine Der Spiegel, which states that there is no connection. However, having searched Google News and some other search engines, it seems that this Iranian software is in fact a map or mod to Counter-Strike (the Half-Life mod). The best evidence for this I could find was an article supposedly quoting Ahmadreza Nouri, who is apparently one of the designers. I also found some other pages supporting this view.
Axe me while I slumber
Mmmmm... CS makes for very realistic training doesn't it. We can magically appear on the map and select weapons and run and jump around real fast, even if we've gotten shot and when we die we get to fly around, la la la, and see how our teammates are doing against those mean counter terrorists. And what do you know after a few minutes we can start playing all over again despite dying in the previous round, and we even get money for losing!
I wish terrorists trained with counter strike to get good... I know a 10 year old who could kick all their asses.
Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
If they are being traied based on counterstrike drone AI then doesnt that work in our favor...assuming our soldiers can think independently and aim straight.
Well, from the posturing of leaders of Iran, and the U.S. proving there are more Horses Asses than Horses, it becomes clear why Holliburton is building a pipeline from IRAQ to the Mediterranean; But this is only a short term solution. With more of the world turning to the fossil fuel solution, and the price approaching $4.00 per gallon of gas, here in the U.S.; One has to wonder what the break even point to switch between the oil dollar to the hydrogen dollar is?
To train tactics, you have to practice the tactics with your team. Video game characters all have the same characteristics. People do not. The biggest differences are speed and grace/clumsiness.
Simulation training isn't about "speed and grace/clumsiness", but about command, control, coordination, procedures, and rehearsal. Simulations can do a very capable job for that.
The US Army makes a heavy investment in simulation, like the other services, and has an entire command dedicated to simulation training.
It is also worth noting the the 9/11 highjackers trained on simulators in preparation for their mission.
And that doesn't even address the issue that most terrorist's "tactics" at the moment are "strap on the bomb, walk to the target and detonate yourself". If you're in a CS-type firefight, you've already fucked up the mission.
So, a referee does the scoring instead of the game. Whoop.
I think it is a potentially fatal mistake to underestimate either the Iranians or the various Islamist extremist terrorists (many of whom are funded by the Iranian government).
By the way.... did you know that Iranian funded Hezbollah has agents operating in the US?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
So with all of these stories going about of people using videogames to train, making us nerds killers... how come we aren't signing these kids up for the military involuntarily?
Granted they're all from different countries but I would assume that by getting a large multi-national military force consisting of X'Ds-Grrrr..., SlayerS `BoxeR', [NC]...YellOw, Garimto. These top-dollar commanders would organize and lead this task force with the best strategies and lead us to complete and total victory. Meanwhile, "Team 3D" could form an elite Navy SEAL squad that would eliminate all opposition with insane reflects and perfect KDR.
Putting things in a real perspective makes it sounds a heck of a lot more ridiculous than any of these articles.
It is kind of hard to say what they would do now. The Iranian military is much better equipped today than they were in the early '80s, but would they resort to tactics like this again? Who knows? I expect that they would if push came to shove.
#908 - Iranian Animated Film for Children Promotes Suicide Bombings which aired on IRIB 3 TV on October 28, 2005.
#371 - Mothers of Hizbullah "Martyrs": We Are Very Happy And Want to Sacrifice More Children "Martyr's Day" On Hizbullah TV Al-Manar TV (Lebanon) November 11, 2004
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
I don't see anywhere in the article where it says this is used to train terrorists. It looks like more of a propagander type game, just like the American Army game that is free. The FA refers to some 'popular' game I've never heard of called 'American Attack on Iran' which is also free.
Many criminals are heroes, standing up against laws that have no moral or ethical legitimacy or against rulers without any valid claim to their position. Murdering a tyrant is a heroic criminal act. Blowing pot smoke in a cop's face too (although it's a very impolite heroic criminal act). Shooting the soldiers who invaded your country and destroyed any semblance of peace or prosperity? Definitely heroic and criminal.
Let's cut to the chase
Where can we download this thing?
The article says "downloadable to any Iranian household with a mouseclick."
Well... where?
http://www.kobra.ir/ they appear to just be cs maps
Because games aren't responsible for an Amish kid shooting up his school so they grab some obscure fact from some distant and completely unknown Nut-wing blogger someplace and fold it into the news cycle.
Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. -Anonymous
That quote is from an old good game called Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. It's a bit of voice acting from one of the factions, I think it was Provost Zakarov of the University. Or Chairman Yang of the Hive. Anyway it's a bit of voice acting definately from that game. I'd still play it today if I could get it to run on Win XP.
Shh.
...only my terrorist organization standardized on Duke Nukem Forever for its training needs.
You can hardly use a videogame to train someone in military operations. Recruit them, yes (America's Army, anyone), but train them?
DoD is considering winmine.exe as minesweeper training software.
Update: Terrorists are using pencils to write down their plans. Please help the world to get rid of every single pencil before its too late.
So what? The US Military's been doing it for years.
Yes they are when they foam at the mouth at cartoons of mahomet and ask for the head of anyone who dares think that islam is the most moronic religion ever.
Can you imagine a medieval Vatican with nukes ? That's what Iran is going to be.
how can they even be allowed to publish these lies... this is why i dont watch any news but fox news and even then it is hit and miss
No one was ever given a licence practice medicine after practicing their stiching on melons. I'm fairly certain that at some point, they were given a real body to try out.
The whole America's Army thing came out of a Doom mod many years prior, a handful of camps with small groups used the program in a classroom environment to teach effective communication and working as a team. This proved easier than organizing complicated field missions and scattering students where a trainer couldn't keep track of them all.
However, this wasn't the length and breadth of their training, but it had to make things smoother when they got on the field with honest to goodness guns.
I sent this in two days ago with detailed links on the Straits. Why does Kalpatin get the credit?
Tracy Johnson
Old fashioned text games hosted below:
http://empire.openmpe.com/
BT
Just look at "America's Army".
Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to conviction