Games 'permit' virtual war crimes

[Simon]

Video games depicting war have come under fire for flouting laws governing armed conflicts.

Human rights groups played various games to see if any broke humanitarian laws that govern what is a war crime.  The study condemned the games for violating laws by letting players kill civilians, torture captives and wantonly destroy homes and buildings.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8373794.stm

[Rik]

John Walker, one of the writers on the Rock, Paper, Shotgun games blog, said: "Games really are treated in a peculiar way."

He doubted that anyone would campaign for books to follow humanitarian laws or for James Bond to be denounced for machine-gunning his way through a supervillain's underground complex.

He said the authors did not understand that gamers could distinguish between fantasy and reality.

I wonder...

[Supanova]

This old story again...well it's been an least a few months since the last old fart wrote one of these reports.

Why is it that these people (generally over the age of 35) are so adamantly against cultural evolution? Modern Warfare 2 more than doubled the box office takings of the most successful film release of all time (Batman: The dark knight) in the first 48 hours. Isn't that enough to convince these people that the entertainment industry has taken a massive change of direction in the last few years?

The gaming industry is becoming as powerful as the film industry - I don't think they have much to fear from these nanny-state-obsessed fogies and their reports.

[zappaDPJ]

As a long term, World of Warcraft player I've yet to find myself at work with my pointy hat and Harry Potter wand 

This goes all the way back to Mary Whitehouse's Clean Up TV campaign. While it would be disingenuous to suggest that any sort of entertainment has no effect on the viewer, I think the majority of people can tell what's what and separate fantasy from reality. The few that can't will probably find themselves in trouble regardless.

As an aside, a recent TV docudrama about Mary Whitehouse suggests she first proposed 'clean up national television' as the name for her organisation 

[Simon]

[vitriol]

yet nothing is said about the same kind of things appearing in movies..........hmmmm looks like the gaming industry has got the movie industry's back up

[Niall]

Why is it that these people (generally over the age of 35) are so adamantly against cultural evolution?

Oi! Less of it you cheeky whipper snapper!

You'll find that it's generally people that have been working within institutions that are government based for years and have been more or less brainwashed into thinking the way a politically correct environment is run. Most are too scared to think for themselves for fear of losing their jobs, and as a result think anything that isn't following all the rules is wrong.

Trust me, I've seen it first hand.

Now if you excuse me I've got to plant this C4 and get to cover.