So it turns out that last week’s news report on Islamists using US video games to recruit and train new terrorists was complete bunk. The supposed recruiting tool was in fact a video made by a US game player using existing voice over from the movie “Team America – World Police”, among other things.
The really scary thing about all of this that the media and Washington officials were so willing to fall for this story. When reported last week it was treated as absolute fact. A Pentagon official named Dan Devlin was quoted, saying:
“What we have seen is that any video game that comes out… (al Qaeda will) modify it and change the game for their needs.”
I’m curious what Mr. Devlin has to say about the issue now. He makes a blanket statement regarding “any” video game being used by al Qaeda. Does this mean that terrorists trainees are at this moment doing reflex training to Dance Dance Revolution in the middle of the desert?
12 responses to “Islamists using video games – Part 2”
This just in: Osama bin Laden attacks the US again because his DDR pad is broken and trade embargoes prevent him from easily obtaining a new one. America, it’s time we rethink our Foreign DDR Policy!
* falls off a camel laughing at Middle Eastern DDRs *
“Kahled, stop this damn thing again! What does a guy have to do to keep sand out of the damn console?”
Thats just great, with all the wire tapping, satalite spying, and day to day espionage procedures you’d think the US govt. would double check their sources, and actualy find out what their talkin about before they make any statements about it. I use to think we were a great country(being the US) but I guess we just don’t know whats goin on most the time, I mean hell we elected bush after all. So I guess its back onto the small bus for america, perhaps in a few years we will have people in office who don’t have thier heads merged with thier anuses and actualy lead us out of this state of hypocracy and ignorance.
Naturally, there’s serious doubt as to the use of such games as training simulations. However, their main purpose is most likely recruitment of a target audience of young males, in the same vein as Ethnic Cleansing (using a modified videogame engine) is used by Neo-Nazis in order to gain more followers for their racial supremacy movement.
Modding videogames for propaganda purposes is nothing new when you consider all the mods made by Israelis/Palestineans, which have pit you as one side killing the other. Not to mention America’s Army and Full Spectrum Warrior, both of which are at least partly recruitment tools used by the United States to get young teenagers interested into joining the military (was mentioned in the comments of the other blog post).
It’s a damn shame when good clean fun like videogames are subverted for purposes of ambiguous morality.
In all seriousness, I’d rather be blowing up demons and shooting gangsters rather than Blacks/Whites/Jews/Muslims/”infidels”/etc.
Man, if that’s how they train, I’d be screwed if I wanted to be a terrorist. I suck at DDR. But, you have to consider that they may not have such sophistcated technology. I mean they’re still using camcorders for cripe’s sake. DDR is way beyond them. They’d be playing Pong for their training. Atari controls and airplane controls are somewhat similar…. And if all else fails, you can just press random buttons.
Since they are capable of turning ANY game into a training tool, let us hope those Islamics cant get their hands on Leggo Star Wars …
The last thing we need is Taliban with Jedi powers …
My information about this Al Qaeda thing isn’t up-to-date, but isn’t US using American Army to recruit and train new troops? So what’s the big deal if Al Qaeda does the same thing? Though I fail see what new recruits could learn from games except team working skills. After all games are for fun.
Or social etiquette and communication skills to get their point across learnt from the Sims, or worse yet, ‘Barbie’!
Actually, strike that, maybe that’d *would* be a good idea!
looks like Jack Thompson is getting his way.. this just seems like another scheme by conservative extremists to take down video games.
Ctrlaltdel’s satire of Jack Thompson
another one by the same website.
Being attacked by suicidal Islamic Fundamentalist Transformers keeps me up at night.
KobukSohn writted “Modding videogames for propaganda purposes is nothing new when you consider all the mods made by Israelis/Palestineans, which have pit you as one side killing the other.”
That’s stupid …
There is no need to mod game, just take an official version of Postal 2 in the “Intifada” map ;¤} .
But well, in Postal 2 you are just meant to torture to death innocents peoples who where in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it is pretty much like a very bad taste humour than like a hate-calling propaganda ….
“If we acted like Pacman does, we’d be mowing about in dark rooms, eating small pills, while listening to repetetive music.”
– As far as my memory goes, this was stated by a head of Konami in the 80’s.
Videogames are like the media. Except of course, we know when they lie to us adn when they don’t.