Red Cross Investigating Virtual War Crimes

[Dave Danger]

This is a fucking joke, right?

 

[Jelly ^.^]

Well, when I play Victoria I always elect to sign the Geneva Convention, so I don't ever commit war atrocities

 

[Raddra]

Are they going to apply this to books and movies too?

Don't forget childrens imaginary games.

FOOOOOOOOM, I shoot you with a flamethrower!

I'm telling my mom they'll arrest you for pretending that!

 

[draythefingerless]

If the world was at a period of relative peace, I can see discussions coming up like this without any concerns, as it wouldn't be taken seriously and nothing would come up about it except maybe some developers coming up with some ideas for future games oriented around the idea.
But we are not at relative peace. Terrorism and civil unrest is rampant, even in the countries that are usually the most stable. Yet these people feel they need to examine virtual war? I think as of the time that this conference occurred, the legitimacy of the International Committee of the Red Cross is officially gone. There are more pressing issues going on than to be taking time to talk about something that doesn't affect the world in general.

Of course the legitimacy of the ICRC has always been on tenuous ground. If Nazi Germany had won World War 2, there would have been British, French, Russian, and American leaders being held on trial for war crimes. It isn't about who is right or wrong, it is about who wins.

The world is at its most peaceful now, more than ever, if you discount the recent termoils in africa and asia with the rebellions, wich are more or less settling down. So, whats this about relative peace? We are, in relation to the history ofthe world, at its most peaceful.

 

[Robert Ewing]

They want to control fiction eh? They can try.

 

[brazuca]

I found this quite compelling to debate in games (speceally warfare games). We see too much violence, video game soldiers take war like a fun adventure. They murder 200 people and not only stay ok with it, most of the time using ilegal tatics or sooo extreme that not even the military would use. Example, shooting directly with a .50 cal to infantry.

 

[Quellist]

Ok these people are obviously mad, what next? they going to bring Solid Snake to trial for all the guards he has knocked out/killed/thrown into the sea?

 

[chadachada123]

I can understand encouraging [i/] developers to not show the good guys (or the protagonist) doing things that violate the Geneva convention, since it gives people a bad impression of what the rules of engagement are, but that logic doesn't apply in any form to multiplayer games or situations that show a clearly bad guy doing something (even if you are playing as this bad guy).

 

[-Dragmire-]

If they passed this somehow, would devs have to hard code proper war etiquette into enemy AI?

 

[chadachada123]

My god! How many novelists have violated the IHL?

And Shindler's List should be banned!

I assume massive irony is present here and not near-terminal retardation?

This actually make me angry. With all the war crimes happening in the real world right now and they are taking time away from dealing with that, to think about virtual worlds. As I said, actually makes me angry.

A "Small" group. Not like it was major, at all.

My view is strange but...

Well, Yeah. You know what? If you had to follow the Geneva convention it would make RTS games much more interesting (The supplies and logistics of having to deal with several thousand POW's after a regiment surrenders and all that...) and more educational (Which matters to me) and, almost most importantly for me, more realistic. I do love me some realism.

Look, it aint the biggest issue. But... Making modern war games follow the laws of modern war is not such a bad thing, at all. I mean, a few civilians here and there, consequences for shooting a POW and bam, the Red Cross is made happier, games are made more realistic and perhaps you add a quick reminder that the enemy are people too.

Also civilians add another level of difficulty. And realism. As does being punished for accidentally putting a bullet in them.

But whatever, that is my two cents on the issue.

It wouldn't be too realistic though, since real life has, as the other poster said, a crap ton of PUBLIC violations alone that go absolutely unpunished (I can cite a few if you'd like), and there are definitely many violations that are top-secret going on, being done by special government forces (you know, like the ones in Black Ops).

Modern war games reflect real life pretty well, regarding IHL, all things considered.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Does the Red Cross not know games have a reset button and that pushing it will mean the so-called war crimes are erased?

so they want to control our imaginations...

Southpark did quite an entertaining 3-parter involving the War on Imagination. Poor, poor Kurt Russel.

 

[rob_simple]

I found this quite compelling to debate in games (speceally warfare games). We see too much violence, video game soldiers take war like a fun adventure. They murder 200 people and not only stay ok with it, most of the time using ilegal tatics or sooo extreme that not even the military would use. Example, shooting directly with a .50 cal to infantry.

Sorry, have you ever seen Commando? Die Hard? Literally any action film from the 80's?

It's exaggeration for the sake of entertainment; people play these games for the same reasons they watch the films: escapism.

Anyone who see's this stuff and then goes mental with a gun had serious problems well before they started playing games.

Oh, and if you think the military is overzealous in CoD, wait til you see what the guy from Dead Space does with the tools that were only sanctioned for engineering purposes.

 

[Zakarath]

Eh, I could see it in a game like ArmA because the developers might want to have it, but I really don't see the point of this.

 

[Nurb]

What about all the war crimes in movies and TV shows? Are they going to investigate those? I'll investigate them for the red cross... just get me a steady supply of Dr. Pepper and popcorn and I'll give a very concerned look at them.

 

[Toy Master Typhus]

I can cite a few if you'd like

Please do

 

[Baresark]

Hey, you have all been trolled by the red cross, just like you were by PETA!

For real though, who cares what they think in regards to things they have no scope of power over. And, I can't really recall a game where you were playing the bad guys and shooting wounded, downed soldiers.

 

[LetalisK]

Hey, if the Red Cross wants to use video games as a vehicle in which to discuss real world issues with war, I'm all for it. If they want to actually start intruding in video games though, then they can go piss off.