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Virtual violations: Computer games and the laws of war

By Katrina Crew
November 24, 2009 at 3:49 pm

A Red Cross delegate trains soldiersA BBC article published online yesterday examines a study about computer games allowing players to break the laws of war.

The article reports: “The testers looked for violations of the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols which cover how war should be waged.

“In particular, the testers looked for how combatants who surrendered were treated, what happened to citizens caught up in war zones and whether damage to buildings was proportionate.

“Some games did punish the killing of civilians and reward strategies that tried to limit the damage done by the conflict, said the study.

“However, it said, many others allowed ‘protected objects’ such as churches and mosques to be attacked; some depicted interrogations that involved torture or degradation and a few permitted summary executions.”

According to the article, bloggers who write about computer games think the researchers have missed the point. One of them, John Walker, makes the point that no one would expect characters in novels to obey international humanitarian laws.

This reminded me of a story I read earlier this year about a father who discussed the Geneva Conventions with his 13-year-old son before letting him play a warfare game.

(If you’re interested in finding out more about the Geneva Conventions, the International Committee of the Red Cross has a fantastic Geneva Conventions section on its website.)

What do you think? Should “combatants” playing war games be expected to follow the same laws real-life combatants are supposed to follow? If you’re a parent, would you use your child’s love of computer games as an opportunity to educate them about the laws of war?

Image © Boris Heger/ICRC


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