Play war games? You're a war criminal.
- Thread starter Servo
- Start date
When I play Civilization, I always break out the nukes. Do I have an indictment from the ICC coming to me?
To be fair, they actually do kind of have a point regarding the way war is portrayed in video games. I could see someone cutting their teeth on this stuff in their early/mid-teens, and then thinking they could join the military to do it for real. While they would be trained to respect international laws and human rights, they would also have been "trained" to ignore them, too, by playing those games. As for which one would win out, it's hard to say. You're essentially talking about modeling real-life situations here. How you react to them in person may not be all the different from how you reacted to them in a game.
Of course, they shouldn't be pulled from the shelves or anything. Rather, I think war games could become valuable military simulators if they are built to respect the conventions of modern war. I remember playing F-19 back in the day, and if you were in a Cold War or Limited War situation, you got slapped down pretty hard if you blew up civilian structures that were not part of your mission objectives. However, in a Conventional War, anything was fair game--which, again, is not how it really works. Games could certainly be made more challenging by requiring you to abide by the conventions of today's warfare. Collateral damage is frowned upon, and intentional killing of civilians should be an automatic loss.
Of course, they shouldn't be pulled from the shelves or anything. Rather, I think war games could become valuable military simulators if they are built to respect the conventions of modern war. I remember playing F-19 back in the day, and if you were in a Cold War or Limited War situation, you got slapped down pretty hard if you blew up civilian structures that were not part of your mission objectives. However, in a Conventional War, anything was fair game--which, again, is not how it really works. Games could certainly be made more challenging by requiring you to abide by the conventions of today's warfare. Collateral damage is frowned upon, and intentional killing of civilians should be an automatic loss.
One game I just thought of that kind of turns this idea on its head is Rise of the Triad. Older than dirt, I know. 
But if you seriously wounded one of the typical enemies, he would fall to his knees and cry, "don't shoot, please!" and beg you not to kill him. If you don't kill him, he'll grunt and fall over, and you'll probably assume he's dead.
Only he'll get up a short while later and start shooting at you again! The lesson here is obvious: spare no one!
But if you seriously wounded one of the typical enemies, he would fall to his knees and cry, "don't shoot, please!" and beg you not to kill him. If you don't kill him, he'll grunt and fall over, and you'll probably assume he's dead.Only he'll get up a short while later and start shooting at you again!
The lesson here is obvious: spare no one!
A very good point sir! Not sure what those loonies are thinking...
It seems odd that this constitutes a war crime, particularly given the abhorrent nature of the other crimes listed. Are soldiers considered less worth protecting than inanimate structures?
The problem isn't so much the buildings but rather the people (read: civilians) contained within them. Civilian lives are worth more than soldiers. That comes with the territory of being a soldier--you are there to lay down your life so a non-combatant doesn't have to, if it comes to that.
Humans managed to be brutal and cruel to each other for centuries before video games came along.
Works for Bioware.
Damn gladiators.
"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of
today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for
parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as
if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is
foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest
and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."- Peter the Hermit in A.D. 12
I didn't want to break out the Socrates quote as we can't be sure if that was actually said by him and I would hate to put something on the internet that's untrue lol
In all honnesty yes a game that challanged you to work within the confines of reality would be good but sometimes you just wanna let rip and not care about the refugees dragging their collection of megre belongings behind them as they flee the wartorn battlegrounds.
today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for
parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as
if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is
foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest
and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."- Peter the Hermit in A.D. 12
I didn't want to break out the Socrates quote as we can't be sure if that was actually said by him and I would hate to put something on the internet that's untrue lol
In all honnesty yes a game that challanged you to work within the confines of reality would be good but sometimes you just wanna let rip and not care about the refugees dragging their collection of megre belongings behind them as they flee the wartorn battlegrounds.
They didn't review any strategy games.
Those would have been off the map. Killing civilians (like, say, Settlers in Age of Empires III or Peons in WarCraft) is part and parcel of the game. Destroying cultural relics and burning towns and cities to the ground is normal.
I've dropped nukes in Civ before. And I liked it.
Those would have been off the map. Killing civilians (like, say, Settlers in Age of Empires III or Peons in WarCraft) is part and parcel of the game. Destroying cultural relics and burning towns and cities to the ground is normal.
I've dropped nukes in Civ before. And I liked it.
I don't understand why people play video games and get ideas to become criminals. If that's the case, no one should be able to play them unless they pass some sort of sociopath test. I play GTAIV a lot these days, which is basically a criminal simulator.... yet in reality I've never ever had the urge to steal a sportscar and drive around the sidewalks capping people out the window and ramming hot dog stands. It used to be in fashion to go on a rampage and blame GTA for it, but it's fallen out of favor these days.