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News Games criticised for portrayal of war crimes

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 24 Nov 2009.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

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  2. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    oh for gods sake. Just piss off, its a game, and if the person playing it can't realise that then thats the players fault not the games.
     
    dave_c likes this.
  3. scawp

    scawp What's a Dremel?

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    “[We] call upon game producers to consequently and creatively incorporate rules of international humanitarian law and human rights into their games,”

    So if, let say I'm playing call of duty and "accidentally" blow a civy's head off, instead of it fading to black and restarting the mission, I'll instead be court marshaled and put in a military prison and have to wait 6 years before been able to restart the game???
     
  4. Veles

    Veles DUR HUR

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    Because TV and Film don't do exactly the same thing.
     
  5. knowle rohrer

    knowle rohrer What's a Dremel?

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    that has made my day :D
     
  6. DragunovHUN

    DragunovHUN Modder

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    That actually happens in America's Army.
     
  7. Paradigm Shifter

    Paradigm Shifter de nihilo nihil fit

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    This says it all really. Double standards abound. Again.
     
  8. pimlicosound

    pimlicosound What's a Dremel?

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    I don't think many people play these games and assume that the depiction of war is either accurate or ethically correct. Indeed, I think the whole point is that they are not depicting clean, legal form of war. Players know that what they are seeing and doing is "on the edge" of legality and morality, or even beyond: that's what makes them particularly interesting, unsettling and worthy of serious discussion. Would COD4 have been so powerful had Captain Price hauled Al-Asad before the Hague rather than shooting him point-blank in the face?

    Also, I think Trial and Pro Juvenile are confusing "depicting war crimes" with "advocating war crimes". I think games like COD and Far Cry 2 subtly (or not so subtly if you count Modern Warfare 2) weave narratives that raise murky moral questions, like the value of one life next to thousands, ends versus means and so on, without declaring one or other side to be right. The developers and publishers have confidence that gamers are intelligent enough to reach their own conclusions. Why do these charities assume that we're all idiots?
     
  9. Radical_Monkey

    Radical_Monkey Dremel > Lightsabre

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    In the original article they called Modern Warfare 2 Call of Duty 5. Just shows what they know.... Video game bashing is never going to end. Eventually they'll say we should only play games that emulate their ideal reality. Probably a world where we all hold hands wearing ponchos and with flowers in our hairs singing songs.

    Its entertainment. It not real for a reason, dont they get that? I play games and blow **** up in a game because i cant do it in real life. Just a bunch of winy muppets with too much time on their hands. Let them try and make a game thats 100% accurate to reality and see how much it sells. In fact I hope they do and spend all the money they have and lose it all so they can have more important things to think about than bashing games all the time.
     
  10. chicorasia

    chicorasia What's a Dremel?

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    Exactly. If such war crimes happen (and I assume they do), depicting them in mass media could be positive as long as they are properly discussed. Why not use these situations and their interactive depictions as theme for school debate on human rights and war crimes, instead of simply demonizing them?
     
  11. Landy_Ed

    Landy_Ed Combat Novice

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    I think what's flawed in the study is the emphasis placed. There's a difference between depicting a war crime and having the player take part in that act. The scenes in COD 4 clearly show them as crimes, or at least as "very bad things", it would be counterproductive to precede or follow those scenes with the articles from the geneva convention in detail that are being broken as the audience is not playing a game to conciously learn. The basis of that game is that you play on the side of the "good guys".

    MW2, to carry the theme through, has a fairly clear level after the airport scene (which at least opens with some caveats, you *know* you're doing something bad for the greater good and later stages also reinforce that it was a bad instruction) - shooting with the expressed intention to maim followed by torture, my interpretation is that this would be a more valid point, if more subtle, to present.

    The accidental killing of a non-combatant is not automatically a war-crime & dependent upon the circumstances may not automatically culminate in either the dismissal or inprisonment of the soldier who fired the weapon.
     
  12. javaman

    javaman May irritate Eyes

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    Hurrah for political correctness. TBH If they want 100% realism, the user should die if they die in game. The easiest way round this is to let the player play as North Korea or something, where human rights are laughted at. In that case you would fail the mission for not bombing the church.

    age old saying, "alls fair in love and war"
     
  13. mikeuk2004

    mikeuk2004 What you Looking at Fool!

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    Whats next human rights in films?
     
  14. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

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    Ye-esss, this is the sort of thinking that allows Guantanamo Bay to happen.
     
  15. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

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    ... It's the Beeb.

    They sensationalise pretty much every tech story they write. Badly.
     
  16. Unknownsock

    Unknownsock What's a Dremel?

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    Aren't the whole point of games to explore espects of life and experiences of what aren't achievable?
    Be it morally or un-ethically.
     
  17. reaper1984

    reaper1984 What's a Dremel?

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    Reductio Ad Absurdum

    Human rights groups in Switzerland have criticised playwright William Shakespeare for frequently flaunting international law and depicting inhuman war crimes without properly exploring the consequences of such actions in 1602.

    The research was done by Swiss organisation TRIAL and youth rights advocate Pro Juventute Switzerland and involved specialists in humanitarian law taking a look at more than twenty plays, including Henry V, Macbeth, King Lear and Romeo & Juliet as part of a new study.

    The lawyers focused their complaints on the fact that plays rarely explore the consequences of depicted atrocities. Apparently Henvey V would "be tried for butchering french captives". Macbeth was slammed for depicting wanton destruction of the natural landscape.

    The study goes on to wonder whether plays can change a viewers perception of "what combat situations are like and what the role of the military and of individual soldiers or law enforcement officials in such situations, is". It's also claimed that plays have a "dangerous tendency to step back from what has been achieved in the field of human rights in the last 60 years".

    “[We] call upon Shakespeare and all playwrights to consequently and creatively incorporate rules of international humanitarian law and human rights into their plays,” says the study (via BBC).
     
  18. pimlicosound

    pimlicosound What's a Dremel?

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    I've just realised something: Pro Juvenile is a youth rights advocate, but most of the games they're complaining about are rated 18 by the BBFC. They're talking about protecting children from misleading impressions of war, but these games aren't intended for children. They're intended for adults who can understand what they're playing.
     
  19. Passarinhuu

    Passarinhuu I huffs cats

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    Am I the only one who thinks this guys should get a proper job? Don't know, like actually fighting for the human rights in real war zones?
    I'ts a game! It is supposed to be fun and entertaining...
     
  20. Dave Lister

    Dave Lister Minimodder

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    Worse can be seen in films, and the better technology gets the more realistic images on the screen will be, obviously ! Trouble is i think these people that complain about computer games still believe games all look like super mario bros 3 and the main age group is something like 6-15.

    They just don't recognise that a lot of adults play games now and the people who make the games are just trying to give the customers what they want.
     
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