War Propaganda Is Fun On Your Xbox 360
from the the-battle-in-your-livingroom dept
Historically, film has been a dominant medium for propaganda, as filmmakers working for and against governments have used it to express certain viewpoints. It appears, though, that propagandists are increasingly shifting towards videogames as the way to promote their message. In Iran, a new videogame is being developed depicting a scenario in which a top Iranian nuclear scientist has been taken hostage by US forces. The mission, of course, is to secure his release. Videogames are used similarly here as well. Recall that a few years ago, the Army released its own videogame for recruiting purposes. Recently, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez lashed out at an American company for creating a game that simulates an invasion of Venezuela. Chavez' fears are somewhat understandable, since an invasion of Venezuela wouldn't normally be something on people's minds (unlike say an invasion of Iran, which wouldn't be surprising to find in a game). Furthermore, as author Ed Halter notes, the company that developed the game, Pandemic, has a history of working side by side with the Army to develop training games. Halter's book From Sun Tzu To Xbox: War And Video Games delves deeply into the historical and ongoing ties between the military and the video game industry. So as videogames continue to capture attention that was historically owned by the film industry, expect games to be a home of fierce propaganda battles. If only the wars could be fought virtually as well.
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I, for one, would never move to
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video games have always been in the propoganda bus
That all depends on what virtual means to you. The closest thing I can think of to a virtual war today is the increase use of unmanned assets like the predator.
For now, the military maintains the stance that although they "could" develop a fully autonomous war machine, it is better to still have a human in the loop at least making the final decision to fire or not. In the future, I'll postulate, as the military becomes more and more comfortable with machines making decsions, we may start to see drones and other vehicles that are almost completely autonomous, and that may be the dawn of truly virtual wars.
I almost hope that isn't the case, however, because one of the biggest deterrents from going to war has been the possibility of soldiers dying. With more and more autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles, that deterrent is no longer in place and while we may see less soldiers dying, the collatoral damage to infrstructure and the general population in and near the war zones would be enormous.
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Re: video games have always been in the propoganda
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OMG...
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Whereas, Games are always fun, when you get to go in and shoot at enemies of the US.
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Die Jugend Marschiert
(warm applause)
"Thank you! Let me begin with some sentimental appeals to our national myths; assorted clichés coined by the state; the ideological shorthand meant to sweep your private doubts [away] of this virtual training course. This portal; this Trojan Horse that you living idiots paid for and actually rolled into your own kids’ rooms."
(stunned silence)
"Oops, did I just say that out loud? Oh, well, it’s not like it’s something new. It’s just the logical extension of the decades of bilge water that you’ve let us pump into your homes. The pink noise that hums away in the background while you run the gauntlet we force on you everyday. The billowing candy floss that helps to soften the blow. Deep down you’ve always known that your children already belong to us, so why don’t you cut the outraged parent routine, shut your mouth and get back in your seat. Your children already belong to us. What are you? You will pass on. And they won’t know a fucking thing but this 'community,' this real life Ender’s Game. Forget what you think you know."
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A Virtual War?
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Re: A Virtual War?
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Re: Re: A Virtual War?
Amazed that no one has classic Star Trek's "A Taste of Armageddon" virtual war episode.
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Re: Re: Re: A Virtual War?
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Re: A Virtual War?
Reminds me of that very old Star Trek episode where two alien races fought virtual wars "without destroying society". After the virtual casualties were tallied, people who were marked as killed said goodbye to family and friends and stepped into a suicide machine, thereby making wars more palatable. (How many geek points did I tally in remembering THAT one?!)
It'll never get to that level of absurdity, but I'd imagine having robotic foot soldiers doing the dirty work of societies not too far from the realm of possibility, given enough time.
Ok, I'm done now...
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And if you think we don't have a plan in a filing cabinent somewhere detailing precisely how we'd invade Venezuela (and Canada, and Cuba, and Belguim, and Peru...) then you don't know how militaries think. Old military saying, "At a party, treat everyone with respect, but always have a plan to kill everyone in the room."
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gaming and the Army
Still waiting for a third party game to get as realistic as America's Army though. That was great, when it was first released a lot of people in my unit played it constantly.
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Your propaganda
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Unless you're Chavez himself, who -- taking a page from the Castro playbook -- has for years predicted a U.S. invasion every chance he gets. If the game reflects anyone's propaganda, it is Chavez's own.
If you think that Chavez sees this as anything except another cheap headline-grabbing opportunity to espouse his militant worldview, you've certainly bought *someone's* spin.
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Revolution
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Re: Revolution
Your statements appear to place you on the "Blue" team, but if the "Red" team is the uneducated one (as your statements also imply), then your grammar clearly places you at odds with yourself. If your game is to succeed, the "Blue" team should start by getting an actual plan. Otherwise, the gameplay will suck as much as your description.
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Re: Re: Revolution
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Re: Revolution
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Re: Revolution
It is also instructive when liberals are actually honest about their willingness to nuke the half of the US population that doesn't agree with them. This is why Americans are unwilling to give you the power of the military and the military is 80 - 90% in support of "W the redneck".
Tonight as you are spanking your monkey dreaming about hooking up with one of Bill's girls, remember that the big red botton belongs to the red states. No amount of active immagination is going to change that.
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Propaganda-schmopaganda
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Recruiting tools...
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Games to change Points of view
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Doom - Clear Propaganda.
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War Games
Chavez just spent over 2 billion dollars on guns, tanks, subs, boats, and planes.
What does that mean...?
A new video game where you are in charge of a secret marine group that needs to stop supplies from Russia and Spain in order to take over Venezuela.
I don't think because I learned how to jaywalk after playing frogger, that military games will influence young people into joining the Army.
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All war games are propaganda
I imagine that if someone were to release a game where the objective was to blow up an American city with suitcase nukes and assasinate the president it wouldn't go down too well. Or maybe save some unarmed civillians from being massacred by US troops on a rampage? Despite that fact that outside the USA it would probably be the most popular title of the year I can't see that happening.
I very much enjoyed Operation Flashpoint. All the same the flag waving, trumpet playing "Sir! Yes Sir!" Americanisms did get a bit sickly after a few levels. So I was really looking forward to Red Hammer - the add on campaign where you get to play the evil Russians with T80s and RPG7s. What better challenge could there be than going up against the USA with their superior weapons? (Notice that the American guns always fire further and more accurately by default in any game?) How disappointed I was. Didn't get to shoot a single American. The designers thought that too much to stomach for an American audience so the entire campaign was slaughtering civillians. I had to learn to mod my own levels to get the challenge of taking down an Apache helicopter with an RPG :)
What happened to the good old days when you got to kill Nazi cliches who screamed "Got in himmel, mien lieben!"? Or might some poor sensitive soul get "offended" by that? Pathetic hypocrites the lot of them.
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Or could it simply be
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Iran's Video Game
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Deep breaths
This is entirely different, and as far as I'm concerned the perception that it's propaganda is at least as interesting as whether or not it actually is. Keep in mind that the original Mercenaries was set in North Korea, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least to learn that Kim Jong Il had been beating his tiny fists against a copy as he ordered the missle launches of the last week.
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Sad Predictable Comments
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