Red Cross Wants War Themed Video Games To Abide By Geneva Convention

[thej27]

War crimes News, Videos, Reviews and Gossip - Kotaku
Next game: Call Of Duty: War Crimes-The Hague Edition.

 

[RockofStrength]

...So I guess donations were down and they needed some publicity? I mean, this is idiotic.

 

[jeremy]

I would like the Red Cross to go (Non G-Rated Site Explenitive inserted here) themselves....

There is only like maybe a Dozen, 2 Dozen tops, Countries in the World that follow the the Conventions...

 

[Bunnykid68]

All I could do was start giggling to myself when I read the thread title.

 

[rambone]

Video games should be every bit as protected as other forms of free speech and media. Some themes disturb me but it is my job to expose them, not ask for a government ban.

 

[Rambler]

.

 

[jbombelli]

Somebody should now make a war game where you get rewarded for blowing up Red Cross trucks.

 

[BrentTheBoat]

I guess this would make the games more realistic, cause our enemies don't follow the conventions.

 

[MadBomber]

So I guess I should stop using my flamethrower in Call of Duty: World at War?

 

[Kirk Freeman]

What about zombies?

 

[Double T]

So much for the hollow point death streak perk I'n MW3...

Or the Lancer chainsaw in Gears of War...

Or all the executions on a disarmed opponent I'n any gears of war game..


I want a PETA hunter game!!!

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I'm gonna come right out and confess I didn't read the article and on the surface I think it's a dumb idea. However, if you look at it a bit differently: there is evidence to support the theory that violent video games cause changes in brain chemistry; there is additional evidence that video games can be used to train personnel to be more efficient at various warfighting tasks; it is a trusim that "you fight the way you are trained". Looked at from the point of view of the International Red Cross - who have to be idealistic in outlook or they'd throw up their hands in despair - if we can use popular combat video games to inculcate a feeling for strategy and tactics in young people, why not also use them to instill the concepts of the Geneva Conventions in young potential soldiers.

 

[Kedric]

wow. that is just pathetic!

 

[Double T]

I'm gonna come right out and confess I didn't read the article and on the surface I think it's a dumb idea. However, if you look at it a bit differently: there is evidence to support the theory that violent video games cause changes in brain chemistry; there is additional evidence that video games can be used to train personnel to be more efficient at various warfighting tasks; it is a trusim that "you fight the way you are trained". Looked at from the point of view of the International Red Cross - who have to be idealistic in outlook or they'd throw up their hands in despair - if we can use popular combat video games to inculcate a feeling for strategy and tactics in young people, why not also use them to instill the concepts of the Geneva Conventions in young potential soldiers.

This is false. Modern warfare does not teach anything of tactics. Might teach flanking, but that's about it as far as mil applications go. Violent video games? Define violent?

I think Mario dropping his butt on a goomba is far more violent than a soldier I'n a video game shooting a potential enemy. If kids thought what they were doing was real...we would have far more kids shooting people. As is, it's only kids with an altered sense of reality or who have antisocial or socioathic personality.

The chemicals you speak of? What are they? And how are they any different from normal chemicals?

You body releases dopamine, adrenaline, endorphines, etc. All of which can be triggered by many things...and all of which have a characteristic disorder associated with high/low levels

To say that the chemicals released from a game causes a kid to go shoot someone is like saying the adrenaline rush from watching a scary movie is going to make someone put four knives through a glove and toent people I'n their dreams. Only way that's happening is with a deeper mental condition, not because they saw it I'n a movie...but because they didn't grasp that it was fiction or a bad idea.

 

[RockofStrength]

I think one thing the Red Cross fails to see is that people play games to escape from reality for a bit, to relax. When I get bored and turn on my allies in Age of Empires to make my game harder I'm not learning to break faith with real people. When I slaughter entire armies and nations based purely on their national color (red, blue etc) I'm not becoming a genocidal maniac. I'm just killing digital representations of opponents who I know have no value unless they are being used to let me have fun for an hour or two (or 30 in the case of Skyrim ).

Granted, if you want to offer choices, with accompanying benefits/negatives that can make the game more fun. But don't be surprised when the #1 video on your new "Shooty Soldiers 45: Geneva Conventions" game is of a guy gleefully taking every evil path the game has to offer.

 

[cobber]

The Red Cross ought to see if they can persuade actual nations to observe the convention first. THAT would be newsworthy.

What about zombies?

They're not signatories to the convention, are they?

I think they're pretty much fair game, until the feds declare them an endangered species.

 

[Zoub]

I would like the Red Cross to go (Non G-Rated Site Explenitive inserted here) themselves....

There is only like maybe a Dozen, 2 Dozen tops, Countries in the World that follow the the Conventions...

Then again a lot and I mean A LOT of people, even in here, keep their AR's loaded with FMJ's.

Not me.

 

[Zoub]

I want a PETA hunter game!!!

Uh, as a hunter and gun owner, I would buy this game. I would feel better if it was PETA Zombies but I am not going to split hairs here, this is a good idea.

 

[grube555]

Tryin to govern our games!!!! Gotta love "big brother"

 

[Mosinowner]

No bouncing betties. No hollow points. No chem warfare. No bio warfare. No nukes. No torture.

Ok? So you want me to give up some of my favorite parts of warfare. IN A VIDEO GAME? I bet even some SF guys in the US armed forces use hollow points