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Videogames Used to Train Terrorists?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the guessing-its-not-barbie-horse-adventure dept.

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.'"

5 of 265 comments (clear)

  1. Guns used to train terrorist too.... by RingDev · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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
  2. Why, YES! by ludomancer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They are. It goes both ways I think: http://www.americasarmy.com/

  3. So what? by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 4, Interesting
    So what?

    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?

  4. Re:Not Surprising, and it's already being done by Aim+Here · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For the record, Under Siege (and Under Ash, the other game by the same people) don't condone terrorist actions, focusing instead on attacks on the Israeli IDF, which is illegally occupying several other countries. (Attacking on-duty soldiers is warfare, not terrorism, by most definitions of the word).

    In fact, killing civilians ends the game instantly; the game is far MORE sensitive to charges of terrorism than many pro-American so-called anti-terrorist tactical FPSes.

  5. Re:"Counter Strike?" by julesh · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Congratulations. You've just read the most exemplary case of "fact-checking required" published by an international news agency since... well... probably a few hours previously, actually.

    Basically, it looks as though Reuters have simply translated an article from another language, tried to understand what the hell it was going on about, and printed the results. They've missed that the game isn't a new Iranian game called Counterstrike, but (presumably) a mod for the existing game of that name.

    But it's the third to last paragraph that really shines for me...

    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.

    Err... couldn't decide how to tranlate the name back to English, so decided to use both possible translations, eh?

    Anyway. Kuma games. I've only ever heard of them once before, and thought the review was rather fun.

    Next task: Blow up the centrifuge. So back you go, and weirdly you can't blow up the centrifuge by pumping 40mm grenades into it. You expend all the 40mm grenades on hand. Did anyone think to bring along any C4? No, I thought you packed it! You knew we were going to have to blow up a centrifuge and no one brought any C4? What kind of chickenshit outfit is this? No C4. Oh well. But! Happy thing, just a few rifle rounds makes the centrifuge blow up. Task complete!