Should gamers be accountable for in-game war crimes?

Well that's dumb.

And unrealistic.

If they want to do that in the virtual world, maybe they should start by holding those in the real world accountable for their war crimes.

Otherwise, the game is actually imitating real life and therefore MORE accurate than these folk claim.

~Tenth

That's it go to the zoo and steal a turtle and throw it at your boss. Run and hide under a cardboard box until you set off an alarm when they find you. When the police arrive play a ocarina to cause them to tazer you.

Then you will be placed in gerudu jail for assault,theft, and animal cruelty. Do they accept bail in gold coins and quartz crystals?

This is all silly. Human rights violations in a video game? Nonsense.

I could see something like this getting out of hand..

It starts off in the game.. They use said games as a litmus test for possible home grown terrorists.. Results and scores and in game behavior are sent to a database... Repeat offenders are put on the NSA "watch list"... 13 year old posts a comment about a game he just finished with his pal on FB.. It's taken totally out of context.. Since the NSA had a file on said 13 yr old, the newly signed NDAA goes into full affect.. Local law enforcement backed by a S.W.A.T team grab 13 yr old suspect as he exits the school.. He's detained, no one knows where, why or for how long.. Welcome to the new PC gaming world...

Whew, sounds like I've been hanging with you guys on ATS for too long!!!

The civilization series does a great job at this while retaining the fun in the game. But the problem is that if you make a game too realistic it becomes boring. I don't mean the visuals being too realistic I mean the gameplay. Yeah, an RPG like Skyrim with insane realism mods are fun as hell but it's because it's designed to be fun that way. But if you make a strategy or FPS game have those same elements, you're going to have a bad time. You could have to build campfires and stuff in a sort of survival FPS or something but that's different than warcrimes. Shooting civilians can be a penalty if not forces you to restart the level altogether like current FPS games.

But making nukes a warcrime in a strategy game would be horrible. It would defeat the balance of the games and be really boring. Yeah, there are consequences to war and people determine what those are based on their alliances. If you ally with someone and then nuke them, there will be consequences to your actions and they may be permanent.

Games are just games, they have no baring on real-life. Shooting a gun and going on a civilian massacre in a video-game does not reflect that the person will go crazy and do the same thing in real-life and it doesn't symbolize that they have a mental health issue. To me, I could say that people that go out and kill ants and spiders are horrible people with no moral value for life, but yet these are the same people that probably say that videogames are evil and teaches people to kill.

Penn and Teller made a great episode about this on Bull# (their TV show). You can watch it on youtube.

I had to log in just to say that this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. That's the reason they are games so you can do whatever you want without consequences depending on what the game rules are. If they want they can make a game you can buy that has real life consequences and let people play if they want. People want to take a break from reality and there is no harm in that. Its a game, and guess what people that argue video games cause violence, the last 100 years is the most non violent safest time in history overall for the planet. Some people are going to be violent its in human nature, pretty sure Genghis Khan wasn't playing GTA when he killed 40million people. That's what happens when you have no entertainment he needed GTA and movies and who knows!

They say (whoever they are) that people that can act out their fantasy's without really committing the act is a way to get it out of their system so they are less likely to do it. Im sure that can go either way, but regardless there is always going to be crazy violent people. Instead study the people that do the actual acts and figure out all of their circumstances growing up. There will be things in common then you can work to try and prevent future acts. You don't take away from everybody or change the rules for everybody because a small percentage of people are idiots.

What I think is were already playing that game anyways and its called human on earth we just aren't allowed to remember. That's why ufos and ghosts, angels, demons etc are definitely possible. You can program anything and make it so in a game. Doesn't mean there is no god or life outside of that. This is the game we play to learn and really see what kind of being, you are. If you knew you were playing then whats the point, however if you don't know your playing you might do things you wouldn't. Were probably 20 years or less from being able to have the PS12 where you put on the headset and forget you are you and become the character. You can smell the smells taste the food, you 100% become that character until game over. Whos to say we haven't already made it to that point and are playing that game now?

The way our brains work all you senses being really just being electric signals in the brain. Quantum Physics where something doesn't take form until someone observes it, kind of like a video game level doesn't render until somebodys actually there. How they can hook your brain up to an MRI machine and you have to choose Left or Right they can tell something like 6-10 second before you consciously make you decision what you going to pick. We are just avatars or laptops on the network and our consciousness really exisits outside of this physical realm in my opinion. Ive recently started astral projecting and that just strengthens my opinion of this. Anybody who is still reading I recommend looking into that as you can learn how to remember your nightly journeys. The funnest thing I have ever done and it will change your life...Peace!

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


And this is why they should have a (facepalm) emoticon on ATS. Sometimes you read something so stupid, you are literally left dumbstruck and have nothing to say in the face of such complete and epic Fail. It would be at such times were only a facepalm emoticon can truly and accurately express what it is you think about said subject.

Though if they do that most of my posts to many a thing I come across online, would be pages and pages of :facepalm:

It seems they have removed a bunch of the old emoticons with the introduction of the new ATS look as well. Now the closest thing to what I think about this would be this guy...

Lets just say they should stick to actual real life war crimes and such, before they go messing and pulling the plug on kids and peoples videogames. But that is so like them, when there is an issue, make a bigger issue about a complete none issue, then call together a meeting and have everybody stamp and sign on the dotted line that the problem is solved.

Actively achieving...Absolutely nothing.

reply to post by Krazysh0t


This is my frist post on this board as I wasn't sure if there was a place for introdcutions so I figured I'd respond to this thread.

I completely agree with you that it's silly to have "War Crimes" trials in a video game. I personally grew up with mainly the Nintendo on up though I did play some of the older machines from the late 70s forward.

In any case, even if someone did produce a game with consequences I could only see 2 scenarios where "War Crimes" being held against the player could even remotely work.

1. As a badge of honor for the player for playing the most blood and guts form of gameplay possible.
2. Something that can be circumnavigated easily eith a few keycodes.

I know I said 2 but here's a 3'rd, very remotely unrealistic way it could work.
3. As an "Easter Egg" for the player to unlock to (See 1.) use as a badge of honor.

With any luck there would be an online board, on the PS3 it can be the Play Station network, that lists the "worst War Criminals" as a way of rewarding the most brutal players with highest point score AND body count.

Anything else will likely be ignored.

In any case, from what I gathered from the OP, this isn't something that was discussed as a mandate to be enforced but a suggestion from the Red Cross. I appreciate what they are trying to say with this idea and it's not stupid or somehow insideous. It is, however, aparent that most higher ups in the Red Cross are NOT gamers. Still, credit to them for suggesting something, and as long as it's just an option in the game, it "Might" work. Maybe one of the smaller video game companies could try implementing it as an option to their game in hopes of being the first ever to get the Red Cross Red Seal of Approval For Video Games.

It'd be worth adding the option just to hit the news cycle and maybe treating this as a bit of a P.R. stunt.

I mean wow Battlefield 4 ...oh man I can't stick to the topic what an awesome game this is gonna be...
For once in a lifetime someone playing this game can really feel a bad ass hero on the battlefield , and be a p#@$y in real life

But going to trial after you screwed mission objectives , I don't know ,so if I catch the virtual terrorist I can't slap him in the face for killing my virtual friends, so I have to cuddle him? I know that someone from within my virtual combat team is going to freak out...

Anyone developer who tries to implement that into a game would not get their development costs back because gamers would not find it fun.

Most idiotic thing i've heard in a long time.

You guys need to learn Legalese and read between the lines.



Our intention is not to spoil player's enjoyment by for example, interrupting the game with pop-up messages listing legal provisions or lecturing gamers on the law of armed conflict.

Once the match is over then the people will set charges on wall nearest to you they wouldn't want to ruin your enjoyment.

It isn't like the American Government has access to such information like IP addresses or anything else, Big brother loves you too much to invade your privacy like that.


We would like to see the law of armed conflict integrated into the games
so that players have a realistic experience and deal first-hand with the dilemmas facing Real combatants on Real battlefields.

I have no doubt in my mind his closest associates Own Prison infrastructure, Prisons are big business and you serfs shouldn't get in the way of your Overlord's Ambitions.




For those that still believe the Government is on your side even when they say your not allowed to fish
because of the shutdown.

Open up a command prompt in Administrator mode

Type "tracert nsa.gov"

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Shake off your apathy~ Get Mad

To all people on the Earth for the love of F^$@ read Romans 13.3 in any bible.

reply to post by Gestas



Double post for Double clarity and the fact people are lazy and ignorant and will forget to do any form of homework themselves.


Romans 13.3
For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.


While it would be ENTIRELY just at this point in time to brutally remove those in power with Force

They atleast need to be imprisoned.

You cannot have peace and Blood thirsty war criminals bombing children for peace.

Oh how far humans have fallen.

Go read about Caligula for the love of all that is holy and Sacred.



Might as well become a real war criminal.

How about a penality instead where a game where you can eject out of an aircraft engage enemy aircraft with a rocket lancher and board your aircraft again when you get close enough is advertaized as a realistic military shooter.

REALLY?
HAHAHAHAHAHAH. Oh you're actually serious.
That has to be one of the worst ideas ever.
Maybe next were going to be held accountable if the protagonist in a movie shoots someone.

reply to post by Oldwindshaman


I think if these games say adult or over a certain age, it needs to be enforced, I do not think there should be some moral code imposed upon anyone that is grown or just trying to relieve stress on a video game, sheesh, what is this world coming to?

I have played these games and they are becoming more and more graphically realistic, I do have some concerns though not fully related to the OP, to hear very young kids on them when clearly an R rating or whatever has been given, hear how they talk on the microphones online and a lot of times they sound very serious that they are killing or robbing someone, cursing and using racial epithets when it is totally uncalled for is sort of unsettling too, I think that the parents that let their kids play the games and go buy them are making a mistake on some of the titles and are asking for trouble later, but then a lot of parents will buy anything for their kids if it is a game.

I have heard kids cursing it out with grown ups and vis versa, this is something we know in reality would more than likely never happen between adults and some kid they do not know.

It has nothing to do with the violence all the time, it has everything to do with the mindset of the easily impressionable young or weak mind coupled with anonymity or so they think, where they cannot separate their cursing or reactions in a video game from being in a similar circumstance in real life and end up mouthing off to an adult the same way as I have heard for myself online, I also wonder if using one of these weapons or machine guns in a game leads to the possibility of children wanting to get their hands on the real thing and use it, all of the realism that is being put into the weapon, the recoil etc, going right into the controller, seems to be something that could also make a young kid want to get their hands on a real gun if they had the opportunity.

The idea isn't even in the realm of consideration. This is the type of idea that makes movements lose credibility. I guess it shows just how seriously some take the demonization of video gaming. They really aren't that bad though. I'd say this idea is at least over zealous. I get the concern but no. No way. Not even, nah. nah, not happening.

Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music...

Next time I play Skyrim and an some bandits try to jump me, I'll think twice before killing them.

Don't need the Imperial Guards of Tamriel breathing down my neck while I'm looking for Daedric artifacts.

Does anyone know if they look down upon the killing of dragons? I mean, they are extinct and all.





The idiots are taking over.

AutOmatIc
Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music...

Isn't that what kids do these days? They listen to Skrillex and get crazy on PCP which I think was what they meant in Pacman But our generation didn't do that too much, some did but not as many as today which kind of makes you wonder, what's wrong with today's youth?

I don't think it's videogames because the past was a lot more violent than playing make-belief videogames. It's either kids are taught strange things in public schools or parents have gotten lazy (or both?). Maybe kids can only be tamed through physical discipline? It set me straight haha.

AutOmatIc
Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music...

Well I lolled.

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


Thats up to the game developer. Nothing more.