Slashdot Mirror
How Will Contemporary War Games Affect Veterans?
An anonymous reader writes "Recently, video game developers have begun to make games about current conflicts the world over. Many veterans and current military personnel now take an active role in the video game community. Are game companies running the risk of walking into a public relations disaster when making games about current wars? More importantly, how will veterans react to playing games about a conflict in which they have participated? From the article: 'To portray conflict in a way that not only accurately depicts the acts of war, but does so in a manner that takes into account the sacrifices of soldiers within some sort of moral framing is a complicated matter. Now add to this the idea that such depictions are essentially created as entertainment and to make money. It is certainly mind numbing when looked at from a social perspective. ... Now try and apply this dynamic to a more recent conflict such as the Vietnam War or the current conflicts in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Considering that the latter wars are still in progress, the ability for a game developer to accurately gauge the morality of such a conflict is limited at best. To make a game that takes these factors into account while trying to create something that is both entertaining and capable of mass appeal among the gaming community is near impossible.'"
We caught a glimpse of this last year with the reactions to Six Days In Fallujah.
Games have meaning, they do not exist in a vacuum. A make believe scream is still a scream. How about some compassion for the feelings of others?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
So if I'm a guy who builds explosive devices to detonate in crowded markets or on school buses, I should get mad that kids get to play soldiers who kill me and men like me? Poor me!!
Or if you are part of the guys that killed thousands of innocent by dropping 2 nuclear bombs over civilian populations. Should you get mad that the rest of the world doesn't like you? Poor you.
I'm glad the military follows "bad orders" from the civilian government. It's not their job or their privilege to judge the merit of orders at that level.
That is complete horseshit. We need humans in the loop when people are being killed specifically to make that kind of judgement.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Get a new profession or stop crying. I'm not going to respect anyone for being an idiot (ie: volunteering) anymore than I have to respect the cashier at McDonald's for their life choices.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune