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How the Syrian Games Industry Crumbled Under Sanctions and Violence
Fluffeh writes "Syria's games industry now looks like just another collateral casualty of dictator Bashar Al-Assad's struggle to hold power. 'Life for Syrian game developers has never been better,' joked Falafel Games founder Radwan Kasmiya, 'You can test the action on the streets and get back to your desktop to script it on your keyboard.' Any momentum Syria may have been building as a regional game development hub slowed considerably in 2004, when then-US President George W. Bush levied economic sanctions against the country. Under the sanctions, Syria's game developers found themselves cut off from investment money they needed to grow, as well as from other relationships that were just as important as cash. 'Any [closure of opportunity] is devastating to a budding games company as global partnerships are completely hindered,' said Rawan Sha'ban of the Jordanian game development company Quirkat. 'Even at the simplest infrastructure level, game development engines [from the US] cannot be purchased in a sanctioned country.'"
And you thought women programmers were rare HERE.
But seriously, does anyone know what games were developed there? Falafel Games seems to best be known for "Knights of Glory," which I've never heard of. But anything bigger?
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Horrible oppressive dictatorships tend to stifle small businesses.
But very clever to blame it all on George Bush.
Damn dubya, if it wasn't for him Syria would be a fun land full of gamers and anime!!!
*wacks off to huffpost* *smug grin*
Quirkat.... how do our pronounce it?
Drawing on my native language I am assuming it's "Queer cat".
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Now we'll *never* see "Grand Theft Jihad III"!
For all of their bullshit about human rights, the neocon Bush administration threw the religious and ethnic minorities of Iraq to the wolves in the name of "democracy." Iraq has lost half of its Christian population because of the violence and persecution they've faced since the fall of the Ba'athist regime. The US needs to stop meddling in these countries; the "freedom fighters" are often as bad as the regimes they want to replace. Hell, even now in post-Kadaffi Libya, the Berbers are getting mistreated even worse than before.
When this is what democracy means, I say "fuck democracy."
Never figured Syria had a large gaming economy. Sanctions were supposedly imposed when Syria supposedly started supplying weapons to Iraq. Probably just as much BS as the rest of what Bush said but I doubt it was to ruin the gaming industry there.
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And we all said, at least we got each other !! Now let's go make us some drugs we can sell to those stinkin gringos !! Only we said it in mexican !!
The Syrian regime is collateral damage to our policy against Iran.
Without Syria as an ally to Iran, Iran would be more isolated and it would work out better for us.
Let's spread democrary to Syria!
assad is a murderous tyrant, but we want to focus on sanctions george bush put on his regime... and its effects on the gaming industry? this is the important thing to talk about?
if you demonstrate an eagerness to talk about the usa and american actions, or GAMING, for crying out loud... on the topic of a country currently under the full force of mass murder of civilians by a true tyrant on a daily basis for months... you look like you are less motivated by actual principles and more like you are either obsessed with the usa or lack all proportionality in your ability to think about and understand the world you live in
really? the fucking gaming industry is the important issue here? i'm pretty fucking sure the entire syrian gaming industry would agree with me: "uhhh... that's a little unimportant right now, they are murdering us"
there are people dying in this world for rights that some people in the west take completely for granted... because obviously, it's more important to talk about fucking videogames, on the topic of syria right now
wake the fuck up, you coddled fat suburbanites
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Yes, economic sanctions harm a country's economy. This should not be news. That's precisely what they're designed to do. It's the stick to encourage behavior (in this particilar case, the decades-long occupation of Lebanon and state sponsorship of Hamas).
But, yeah, they do have side effects. And THIS is the one you're focusing on? Oh, no, we can't produce videogames domestically as easily!
You want to talk side effects of sanctions? Talk about people starving without food aid. Talk of infrastructure crumbling because they can't get funding to finance those projects (which will cripple the economy for decades). Talk about people who can't get proper medical care. Talk about small shop owners who can't make ends meet. But video game developers? THEY'RE the victims you want to cry out for?
First time I've heard of Syrian Game developers...guess it's also going to be the last.
If you post as an AC, don't expect me to spend a mod point on you.
After reading this:
How can you jump to conclusion that
The summary is politically biased, to say the least. Sanctions crippled the game industry, under dictatorship they seemed to be doing well enough.
assad is a murderous tyrant, but we want to focus on sanctions george bush put on his regime... and its effects on the gaming industry? this is the important thing to talk about?
The sanctions are part of the history of Syria's currently ailing game development industry. Think of this as maybe a case history of how a destabilized nation can lose out on arts and entertainment due to sanctions. This is, arguably, the point of sanctions: not to deplete food, water, shelter but more so the nice-to-haves (one of which is games).
if you demonstrate an eagerness to talk about the usa and american actions, or GAMING, for crying out loud... on the topic of a country currently under the full force of mass murder of civilians by a true tyrant on a daily basis for months... you look like you are less motivated by actual principles and more like you are either obsessed with the usa or lack all proportionality in your ability to think about and understand the world you live in
really? the fucking gaming industry is the important issue here? i'm pretty fucking sure the entire syrian gaming industry would agree with me: "uhhh... that's a little unimportant right now, they are murdering us"
You seem to have misread this article from the PoV as we are trying to help save Syrian lives. That's not really the case and the mainstream media has already covered this issue fairly well. You're actually reading a techie site called Slashdot where games and technology are two important topics. While politics and conflict sometimes find their way into the discussion, it's usually kept to the topics most important to us. Just because humans are losing their lives and that's the most important thing, doesn't mean we have to ignore the facets that are important to us and also affected by this conflict. As such, you can turn your attention to a variety of other news sources if you want body counts or UN actions. But if you're curious about the collateral to Syria's Games Industry, here is a unique story on it. It's not meant to replace the reporting on the actual conflict but mildly augment it.
there are people dying in this world for rights that some people in the west take completely for granted... because obviously, it's more important to talk about fucking videogames, on the topic of syria right now
wake the fuck up, you coddled fat suburbanites
You seem to make the assumption that because we're talking about Syrian games and not people dying that we don't care about it. Did you know that last night The Simpsons aired at its regular time slot instead of emergency 24/7 reporting on all television channels about the conflict in Syria? And I suppose we're all horrible awful inhuman demons for not constantly talking about death in Syria? Instead of instructing me to "wake the fuck up, you coddled fat suburbanite" I suggest you consider the possibility that I am capable of consuming a very diverse range of news reports, this being one of a particular topic. And to stop assuming that this is the only coverage of Syria I'm being exposed to.
Here at Slashdot, games are art. Art is culture. And a destruction of culture is indeed an important topic. Syria appeared to be a major hub of game development in the Middle East and Arab World so of course it is important to note when their game industry is sent back to the stone age. This means that a large part of the world isn't getting something that is integral to our lifestyle and it will be a long time before that industry catches up with the West. Which is truly unfortunate because, unlike nuclear weapons, these are cultural experiences that can be enjoyed the world over.
My work here is dung.
Basher has 55% popularity in Syria, his oppression of the other 45% is definitely wrong, however there are places like Bahrain where the rulers have only 30% support, they are killing doctors who happen to help peaceful protesters shot by shotguns at point blank range by the local enforcement. The difference is that Assad is supported by Iran and Bahrain is a western ally.
What bull shit, the mighty west comes screaming foul when one of those pissed and frustrated by their policies does something stupid.
"People are starving all around the world and yet you focus on patent wars between technology companies? Shame on you, slashdot! Shame on you!"
We all know what economic sanctions do to a country. I, for one, thought it was fascinating to read a bit about the middle eastern games industry and how the current politics affect it. If you want to know about the situation in general, there is always the... you know... rest of the media. I think that this approach is both educational and interesting and suits this target audience well.
But I guess we could just forget the target audience and state that there is no reason to have news about layoffs of large tech companies when there are still children starving. And forget Raspberry Pi while there are military dictatorships. And forget copyright issues when there are still rainforests that are being cut down...
Game development is no longer Syria's business?
i too like to look at ants building small mounds on the side of the road instead of the fiery multicar pile up and people screaming for their lives two feet away
zzz
Well, back in 2009, you were submitting and commenting on a story about violent video game law in the United States. At the time the United States was being accused of civilian deaths in Afghanistan yet you seemed capable to "look at ants building small mounds on the side of the road" in that situation. Now what is so special about Syria that we can't talk about the state of their video games? Surely -- if you yourself can submit and comment on articles about US video game law while said country wages war and kills innocents and insurgents -- we can comment at this point in time on Syria's video games industry, can't we?
My work here is dung.
misread the time stamp on that article
on the subject of syria, it is absurd to focus on molehills instead of mountains. don't ask me, i would be willing to wager any syrian would agree with me here
on the subject of the usa in 2009, the involvement of the usa in afghanistan would be topic #1... in a topic thread about afghanistan. any afghani would agree with you on that
so if those topics you cite had to do directly with afghanistan, you would be correct
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Not sure by whom, but I've heard about something like this (>5?) years ago.
inb4 some liberal rambling about how Bush hates the gaming industry.
George Bush destroyed the hopes and aspirations of game developers working in oppressive dictatorships around the globe. We should provide low interest business development loans to these downtrodden developers so that computer gaming can thrive, even in countries where most people have never seen a computer and are mistakenly concerned with peripheral nonsense like eating and freedom.
another collateral casualty of dictator Bashar Al-Assad's struggle to hold power
Whether you like Al-Assad or not, it is not his fault the West is imposing sanctions on the country and terrorizing the Syrian people. This is an aggression by the Western Powers that has been planned for over 10 years just like General Wesley Clark told the world back in 2007.
Yes, that is a nice bit of spin you've engaged in. The sanctions came as a result of Syria's actions, not the other way around. And saying that it was the sanctions which are terrorizing the people is just fucking retarded. I'm pretty sure it was the part where the government was shooting unarmed civilians that caused the bulk of the terror. But please, tell me more about how not having access to John Carmack's latest 3D game engine has struck fear in the hearts of the population.
Fucking Muppets...
So Bush made the conscious decision to prohibit investment in Syria, but Syria's president is responsible for this. And when a man beats his wife, it's her fault for "making him do it," right?
Liberty in your lifetime
Okay, so here's the thing. It's not like Bashir Assad came to power just before the industry...small as it may have been...crumbled. He was there all along, and his father Hafez before him, who was even worse. So, if the dictatorship is what killed the industry, how did the industry come to be in the first place, eh? Sanctions kill business; that's the whole point of them. They deny trade and commerce, and in doing so cause economic hardship. And I think you're reading too much into the Huffington Post's comment; it's not like they are saying the sanctions are bad. If anyone's putting the logic and facts aside for the purposes of pure political loyalty, it's you.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
If these sanctions took effect in 2004, and the rebellion didn't start until 2011(?), then that means there were ~7 years in which the game developers were sitting around playing games instead of making them. Therefore, either video games don't cause violence, or there is a 7 year lead time. Since we never consider cause-effect beyond the previous U.S. presidential term (1997-2004 it was Clinton's fault, 2005-2012 it was Bush's fault, 2013-? it was Obama's fault) then that means a 7 year lead time is preposterous. The only logical conclusion is... video games don't cause violence.
Bashar can't have 55% popularity, since popularity in Syria runs along sectarian lines - the Alawites, Shia, Druze and Christians support the regime, while the Sunnis, who are 80%+ of the population, oppose it. In Muslim countries, the principle of 'live & let live' is unheard of, as can be seen today in Iraq, which Christians have fled to Syria. Iraq becoming 'democratic' meant Shia getting power, and enabling Iraq to become a protege of Iran. Egypt, Libya and Tunisia becoming democratic has meant Islamic parties coming to power, and supressing everyone else. The Bahreinis - 75% Shia - tried to revolt, but the Saudis prevented it, rightly fearing that if the Hanafa dynasty falls, it will become a Shia republic, like Iraq. Similarly, in Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood dominates the opposition to the regime, but if the Assads were to fall, what would replace them wouldn't be any democracy, but more of a Sunni theocracy like Egypt is close to becoming, which will spill into Lebanon.
One can blame the West for ignoring Sunni fanaticism backed by the Saudis while being hostile to Shia fanaticism, rooted in Iran, which is an out and out double standard. However, there is nothing that any non-Muslim powers could - nor should - do given that sooner or later, like in Iraq and now in Afghanistan, Muslims would have to be left to their own devices, and then their internecine fighting would resume. Just ignore what goes on there, and hope that both sides are duly armed, so that neither has the power to wipe out the other, and that they never get to unite to threaten other non Muslim countries either within the region, nor beyond.
US dont need any more associations with ahole muslims and their ahole countries
I thought it said Symbian games industry. I wasn't aware there was such a thing.
Now the Sybian games industry, that's a different kettle of fish altogether...
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."