Videogame Propaganda
October 3rd 2006 06:38
While I said that videogames in general may very well replace movies as the primary form of entertainment in the not too distant future, I didn’t mention how (like movies) they can be made to shoot propaganda at unsuspecting minds.
Most war games out there tend to be pro America understandably so, their main target tends to be America. From Splinter Cell which makes you an elite CIA operative to Battlefield 2 which consists of maps mainly of the US military attacking another area.
Many people are taking it onto themselves to make games that more or less promote their own political beliefs. Most of the politically motivated propaganda computer games however are anti-America, which is actually understandable as what has inspired most of these games is the fact that the only thing on the market available are pro-America games, it is even more understandable when you learn that most of these games were developed in the Middle East.
Think of it from their prospective, they see games like ‘Americas Army’, ‘Battlefield 2’, ‘Delta Force’ and the like which place the player in the shoes of an American out to attack non-Americans, particularly in some of these games, people from the Middle East. So they decide why not make the guy from the Middle East the one the player takes control of?
It really got off the ground when in one case a simple game was made which went right to the bleeding heart of it all, it was called ‘The Stone Throwers’. The game (if the title doesn’t say it all) puts you in the position of a Palestinian youth throwing rocks at Israeli riot police. This was back in 2001 mind you.
Other anti-American games that have been released since then have improved in quality and moved into the realm of the 3D, but still lack the quality of more standard off the shelf games.
So does it actually affect people? The Wall Street Journal revealed that the suspects of the London Underground Train bombings had actually shopped at a US based Islamic game developer ‘IslamGames’ (one word). On the games themselves it was mentioned they featured ‘apocalyptic battles’ where the objective was to destroy the ‘non-believers’.
Chris Suellentrop a reporter took it onto himself to order in games from ‘IslamGames’ to see what all the fuss was about. He found that they weren’t of any real concern. The games were not of political motivation, for example in one game the ‘non-Believer’ featured did not look Israeli or American in another it was robotic not even human, he also mentioned how poorly the games were developed featuring graphics that are from the early Nintendo era. He mentioned how if this was indeed vile propaganda that one of the objectives of extremist-Muslims was to take graphics in games back years.
The games that are however politically motivated are made in the Middle East, but it looks like the youth, much like the youth here, who play those games are simply looking at a way of venting their frustrations or beliefs in a manner just short of the real thing, or as close to it as they are willing to go.
The motivation for a full blown pro-Lebanon (which makes it anti-Israel) game for instance was because of an Iranian youth who expressed his dissatisfaction with all the pro-American games on the market. The website for this game is as of writing is offline, try the wiki for more info (and a link to its now off-line website). The name of the game ‘Special force’ even seems to be a direct response to another game ‘Americas Army: Special Forces’.
Another more recent game ‘Counter Strike’ (and no it is not the ever popular Counter-Strike #1 online game) is in development in Iran about blowing up an American Oil Tanker.
It really is besides the point what politically motivated game is made for what purpose, as far as I’m concerned if they make a game called ‘9/11: 2’ where you fly a passenger airplane into whatever is in your way I wouldn’t care. To each his own, if people like it they will buy it.
One commentator here put it really well, why be so worried that ‘the 'terrorists' are making games about blowing our self-righteous asses up’.
One of the many pro-US games on the market
Many people are taking it onto themselves to make games that more or less promote their own political beliefs. Most of the politically motivated propaganda computer games however are anti-America, which is actually understandable as what has inspired most of these games is the fact that the only thing on the market available are pro-America games, it is even more understandable when you learn that most of these games were developed in the Middle East.
Think of it from their prospective, they see games like ‘Americas Army’, ‘Battlefield 2’, ‘Delta Force’ and the like which place the player in the shoes of an American out to attack non-Americans, particularly in some of these games, people from the Middle East. So they decide why not make the guy from the Middle East the one the player takes control of?
It really got off the ground when in one case a simple game was made which went right to the bleeding heart of it all, it was called ‘The Stone Throwers’. The game (if the title doesn’t say it all) puts you in the position of a Palestinian youth throwing rocks at Israeli riot police. This was back in 2001 mind you.
Special Force, a pro-Lebanese anti-Israel game
So does it actually affect people? The Wall Street Journal revealed that the suspects of the London Underground Train bombings had actually shopped at a US based Islamic game developer ‘IslamGames’ (one word). On the games themselves it was mentioned they featured ‘apocalyptic battles’ where the objective was to destroy the ‘non-believers’.
Chris Suellentrop a reporter took it onto himself to order in games from ‘IslamGames’ to see what all the fuss was about. He found that they weren’t of any real concern. The games were not of political motivation, for example in one game the ‘non-Believer’ featured did not look Israeli or American in another it was robotic not even human, he also mentioned how poorly the games were developed featuring graphics that are from the early Nintendo era. He mentioned how if this was indeed vile propaganda that one of the objectives of extremist-Muslims was to take graphics in games back years.
The games that are however politically motivated are made in the Middle East, but it looks like the youth, much like the youth here, who play those games are simply looking at a way of venting their frustrations or beliefs in a manner just short of the real thing, or as close to it as they are willing to go.
The motivation for a full blown pro-Lebanon (which makes it anti-Israel) game for instance was because of an Iranian youth who expressed his dissatisfaction with all the pro-American games on the market. The website for this game is as of writing is offline, try the wiki for more info (and a link to its now off-line website). The name of the game ‘Special force’ even seems to be a direct response to another game ‘Americas Army: Special Forces’.
Another more recent game ‘Counter Strike’ (and no it is not the ever popular Counter-Strike #1 online game) is in development in Iran about blowing up an American Oil Tanker.
It really is besides the point what politically motivated game is made for what purpose, as far as I’m concerned if they make a game called ‘9/11: 2’ where you fly a passenger airplane into whatever is in your way I wouldn’t care. To each his own, if people like it they will buy it.
One commentator here put it really well, why be so worried that ‘the 'terrorists' are making games about blowing our self-righteous asses up’.
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Comment by Adrienne
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
Hollywood is struggling with turning over a profit with their 'blockbusters', but with videogames, if you put money, you get money. Garanteed investment. Part of it has to do with its nature of simplicity, which will change as they get more and more complex.