Red Cross Wants Consequences For Video-Game Mayhem 288
Nerval's Lobster writes "The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) wants developers to consider building "virtual consequences" for mayhem into their video games. 'Gamers should be rewarded for respecting the law of armed conflict and there should be virtual penalties for serious violations of the law of armed conflict, in other words war crimes,' read the ICRC's new statement on the matter. 'Game scenarios should not reward players for actions that in real life would be considered war crimes.' Like many a concerned parent or Congressional committee before it, the ICRC believes that violent video games trivialize armed conflict to the point where players could see various brands of mayhem as acceptable behavior. At the same time, the ICRC's statement makes it clear that the organization doesn't want to be actively involved in a debate over video-game violence, although it is talking to developers about ways to accurately build the laws of armed conflict into games. But let's be clear: the ICRC doesn't want to spoil players' enjoyment of the aforementioned digital splatter. 'We would like to see the law of armed conflict integrated into the games so that players have a realistic experience and deal first hand with the dilemmas facing real combatants on real battlefields,' the statement continued. 'The strong sales of new releases that have done this prove that integrating the law of armed conflict does not undermine the commercial success of the games.'"
oddly, I support this (Score:4, Interesting)
Accounting simulator pro (Score:2, Interesting)
Earn a bunch of money in a completely ethical way, as you make sure to not cook the books when your boss asks you do. Do trivial sums, and make sure the black outweighs the red, in the most action-unpacked simulator of the year.
Escapism is bad, and we should get as much boring reality into our games as possible. No more unrealistic lack of consequences from violence.
Play the new military shooter, where you patrol the same ground for 3 weeks straight, and nothing happens until several of your friends are injured in an IED attack, and you heroically call for backup and occasionally provide cover fire, setting the stage for the next 8 weeks of recovering in the hospital.
Before people get critical, RTFA (Score:5, Interesting)
"the ICRC is not interested in all video games – only in those simulating real-life armed conflict. Some of these games are being designed and produced by the same companies developing simulated battlefields for the training of armed forces where the law of armed conflict are a necessary ingredient."
They actually make some valid points and they aren't too preachy. They want realistic war games to be more realistic.
Missing the point (Score:5, Interesting)
I think some of you are missing the point: what the Red Cross is worried about is that if you've spent all day shooting villagers in Black Ops 2, and this is your only view of what warfare is like, then when you see things like the Collateral Murder video you are much more likely to shrug and go "What's the big deal? The president says it's ok to do this, so it must be ok.".
If you consider yourself to be too informed for that to work on you, think of how informed the average person you know is, and then reflect on the fact that half of them are less informed than that. And that half is absolutely convinced that they are right about all things. Since a (large) portion of the other half is apathetic or cynical, at least 75% of the population is just fine with the status quo no matter how many war crimes the US commits (provided the war crimes are committed against someone else).
Thus, certain video games end up unintentionally acting as a very good propaganda tool in support of war crimes.
I think that is an actual problem, and is something that the Red Cross is absolutely right to worry about. I don't think that there's a good general way around this (and censoring games is the opposite of a good way to do anything), but I absolutely think that a better implementation of RoE belongs in America's Army. This is a discussion we should be having.
Re:Man i hate this game (Score:4, Interesting)
in assassin's creed if you kill 3 civilians then the level ends. i think this is a fair approach. of course in GTA if you kill a civilian then you get his money and his car, although that's not a war crime so much as a regular crime. I don't play the CoD type games so I don't know how they address the issue.
Re:Man i hate this game (Score:4, Interesting)
of course in GTA if you kill a civilian then you get his money and his car, although that's not a war crime so much as a regular crime.
And a wanted level. In GTA V, I believe murder gives you a two star wanted level which means the police come after you with force and will open fire to stop you. You could argue that evading the cops and getting them to forget about you is difficult, but having a crime witnessed in the GTA games does come with a consequence.
Re:Man i hate this game (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't want to get too deep into spoiler territory, but the person who orders the torture works for a parody of the real life US Government Agency that uses torture (or "used" torture, I suppose these days it's just "enhanced interrogation techniques"). I haven't gotten much further in the story than that scene, but I assume that the people who order the torture get what's coming to them. But regarding the Trevor driving the victim to the airport while talking about how torture is a useless interrogation tool, Trevor mentions he that did that because he was instructed to kill the victim and refused to be their hired gun. (I believe the government guys who ordered the torture threatened the main characters if they *didn't* torture the victim)
We could have a discussion on that scene and its effects on the player, but I doubt many people played through that scene and felt good about what they were forced to do. Assuming that's true, I think the game just had a more powerful effect on behavior than any Red Cross warning could.
Re:Man i hate this game (Score:2, Interesting)
Most of the real-life, actual war crimes are committed by people who never play these computer games. (More likely, ever play any computer game.)
Can't you just see the terrorists in Nigeria, Mali, Sudan, Afghanistan, etc., hauling their laptops around with them so that they can play computer games and commit "virtual war crimes" once the real battles are over?
On the flip side, how many gamers that commit "virtual war crimes" actually commit real-life war crimes? This is a "solution" without a problem. More useless regulations and laws.
The Red Cross comes across as a group of Liberal, Do-Gooders and as only having the desire to control other people. They would do better in devising better ways to place working solutions to real problems--like medical care, food, water, shelter for natural disasters, etc.
Re:oddly, I support this (Score:4, Interesting)
Have you ever read a book called "The Sacred Art of Stealing"? It kinda changed my perspective when I read it. One of the core principles was that just because you're a criminal doesn't mean you have to be a dick about it.