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On Being a Gamer in Iraq
The increasingly excellent games coverage from MTV continues, with Stephen Totilo's conversation with an Iraqi gamer (Flash site, video in upper left-hand corner). Wisam, the 23 year old gamer Totilo speaks with, shares a few stories with the reporter about his life in Iraq. He gained some notoriety on the web after sitting for an interview with the 'Alive in Baghdad' blog, but at the moment he's only interested in games and having something to do. A recent graduate of his city's English department, current circumstances in the city makes it hard for him to find meaningful work. From the article: "The American-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime changed Wisam's taste in games. He and his gamer friends used to enjoy first-person shooters like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty. Then a real war started around him. 'We hate the attacking, the gunfire in games,' Wisam said. 'We started to hate it.' In fact, there's only one game with guns he can still tolerate. 'Grand Theft Auto is the exception. Because Grand Theft Auto is like us.'"
In this post-Columbine world, is it anything like finding porn and listening to music on a Commodre from Afghanistan?
(Sorry, could not resist - the old timers would know what I'm talking about)
"MTV" and "excellent" in the same sentence? That's not gonna go down well here...
The purpose of playing video games is often to escape reality. When you're surrounded by a war, a war game might not be the best game to play.
"Alright, we can't have everyone pick Terrorist again this time. At least some of you will have to go CT"
*ducks*
How long before Jack Thompson claims that GTA is responsible for the insurgency int Iraq?
Sadly I'm not sure if this is a joke or a serious question.
Playing Counter-Strike must be interesting if you got terrorists running out the back door and Marines crashing through the front door in real life as you're trying to sniper someone in the game. That's almost as bad as shooting the turd in the toilet.
This reminds of a show I saw on Discovery HD Saturday. Part of the show they talked about how US games are viewed in the middle east. It mainly talked about FPS games and how a lot of them show arabs as the weak enemy and that there is one company in Syria (funded by the gov't) that developed a game where Israeli soilders are seen as the enemy and the game is based on actual events in history.
This article here, along with the show I saw, goes to show that there is a big cultural imbalance in games. A lot of the kids who play FPS will gain a basic understanding (especially if they do poorly in their class-work) that all arabs are terrorists and are thus our enemy. This is, of course, not true. This current protrayal of other cultures will harm us, America, now and in the future if America wants peace over in the Middle East and in the world around us.
So as long as this current trend continues, expect to see future games depicting Arabs overthrowing our government, a game depicting WW2 where the Nazis win and the Holocaust never occured, and so on and so forth.
Previewing comments are for sissies!
How does this guy get to play his games for more than a few hours with the electrical grids popping up and down like fleas in a trailer?
Blar.
You went AFK because a mortar knocked out your internet. That's still a 50 DKP minus.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
I recently sold my WoW account to one of our servicemen in Iraq. I'm not sure if it's playable over there, but it'd be funny if our side and the bad guys were playing together, running instances, PvP. I have this funny vision of the insurgents really getting into the Alliance chars. I see them running around the real battlefield in Night Elf costumes, doing the human Saturday Night Fever dance, or better yet, the Tunak dance, since that has to do with that part of the world.
You aren't free to do anything, until you've lost everything.
since Bush seems to treat war like it was a video game, and all the soldiers and hardware and money as his toys.
Monstar L
Let's leave aside for the moment exactly in what ways GTA is 'like them.'
"This thing does science so hard, you say, 'I've never seen that much science.'" -Sam
that was the day I blocked jon katz's stories in my preferences...
good times, good times.
Blue sky in games!
Circumcision is child abuse.
So as long as this current trend continues, expect to see future games depicting Arabs overthrowing our government, a game depicting WW2 where the Nazis win and the Holocaust never occured, and so on and so forth.
Big deal, it's just games. There are plenty good ol' American games where you fight government forces. Hell, even Half-Life has you killing "the good guys who are just following orders."
"A lot of the kids who play FPS will gain a basic understanding (especially if they do poorly in their class-work) that all arabs are terrorists and are thus our enemy."
These are, of course, the same students that will gain a basic understanding that if you eat a mushroom you will grow to twice your size.
There are many tongues to talk, and but few heads to think. -Victor Hugo
He and his gamer friends used to enjoy first-person shooters like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty. Then a real war started around him.
And ofcourse according to the Bush administration those people didn't have any freedom and couldn't enjoy the things we had here. Amazing how much of the official stories turn into pure falsified information whenever you're coming into contact with information residing from someone who actually lives in the region itself...
In fact, there's only one game with guns he can still tolerate. 'Grand Theft Auto is the exception. Because Grand Theft Auto is like us.'"
In related news, Jack Thompson has filed suit against Rockstar Games and the ESRB for destabilizing the middle east and causing the insurgency in Iraq.
Darth --
Nil Mortifi, Sine Lucre
That must suck to walk out the front door and be inside an actual FPS game. No wonder he doesn't want to do that in his spare time. I was waiting for the GTA reference about car bombs...
Most of the stuff on
No health packs, respawing or buy zones. Yeah, I can see why that would turn me off the alternative.
So as long as this current trend continues, expect to see future games depicting Arabs overthrowing our government, a game depicting WW2 where the Nazis win and the Holocaust never occured, and so on and so forth.
These possibilities have been explored in both fiction and movies; why shouldn't they be explored in games as well? Besides, it's not like current US fiction or games are historically accurate.
Yeah, and some video games portray Germans as evil villains, but we still love Germans and their beer.
You can't help but expect video games to imitate reality. The reality is that people that the US conflicts with the most often are from the Middle East. The majority of our terror threats come from Arabs. If we were fighting over Taiwan with China I am sure that piles of games where you beat on Chinese would be out the next day.
Games want to imitate reality. They want to give us the chance to play as our heroes and anti-heroes. The reality is that our 'heroes' are fighting Middle Easterners right now. It shouldn't come as a big shock that our games reflect this. Now, it certainly sucks if you live in the Middle East and are a gamer because the US is the Mecca of gaming.
All of that said, I think that the gaming community has been pretty even handed. Considering the nature of the conflict that we are in, I am surprised that so few games try and tackle it directly. At best, we have piles of World War II games and handful of games against faceless 'terrorist'.
If anyone has anything to bitch about in how they are portrayed in video games, it is the Germans. Man, 60 years latter and they are still villain #1 in half of all games.
Do the arab countries pissed off at the way arabs are treated ban those games?
The germans (a supposedly democratic society) ban or heavily restrict games where germans are being killed. (such as all the Wolfenstien games)
Cut the bullshit, Germans ban selling violent games (blood, gore & co.) to minors.
Get your facts straight the next time!
P.S. I think grandparent is right, dehumanization of a group of people in the media is usually the first step toward justifying a genocide in front of ones own people -- crusades,Auschwitz,Srebrenica,....
Delta-Mike November Bravo Tango
Try and buy Wolfenstein 3D in germany.
Or the version of Doom II with the hidden bonus Wolfenstein 3D levels.
I think you need to read a bit closer, Wolf3D was banned because of the nazi symbolism in the game, not the violence or the fact that germans were killed. In particular the images of Hitler on every wall, the NSDAP party anthem used as part of the games music and the large amount of swastikas used in the game served to get the game banned in Germany.
*> because the US is the Mecca of gaming.
That's the first time I've ever seen anyone spell 'Japan' that way.
Will you PLEASE F off with the Fing beta now?
Nazis win and the Holocaust never occured
Axis and Allies.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
It is great to read an article about people in Iraq and not just about Americans in Iraq. I thought this was going to be a run of the mill article about some American 18 year old gung-ho rifle-and-pistol lunatic bringing his Xbox to Iraq to play Halo 2 in multiplayer every day.
My homepage: www.erkan.se
This ban applies to games depicting Nazi symbols, not games involving Nazis (unless they're the kind made by neonazis like concentration camp tycoon). Remove the swastikas and the game can be sold freely.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Some interesting twists on gaming in the military in Iraq...
Psychologists who treat combat stress recommend video games for Marines to unwind and boost morale. "I always talk to people about all kinds of positive, pleasant events that they can use," said Lt. Erin Simmons, a psychologist with Bravo Surgical Company. "I've heard some people say they like to play the video games with the aggressive military content. I've also heard people say they don't want to play those types of games, they don't need to be reminded of it. But as far as a pleasant event, it can take their mind of things, help them relax. We encourage it."
And then there is recruiting...
The military awoke to the power of video games years ago. It developed "America's Army" as a recruitment tool, giving civilians a taste of the soldier life with scenarios that let players cooperate online in raids on guerrilla camps and bridges, among several other scenarios.
But a game is still a game, not reality...
But Marines scoff at the idea that games could somehow prepare them for combat in any significant way. In video games, they say, players are generally willing to risk their lives; that wasn't always the case in Fallujah. [source]
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The purpose of playing immersive games that simulate a virtual environment is escaping reality, because reality tends to suck. (especially in a warzone)
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.