Video Games blamed for US Massacre in Iraq

[Estocavio]

This is getting ridiculous.
You know what? I say let them blame video games. And also, instead of criticising these people, lets make fun of them for being too narrow minded to realise that gamers arent 5 year olds who believe everything they see!
Im having fun already

 

[Void(null)]

"C'mon, fire!"
"Keep Shooting"
"Light them up"

Truly phrases that have never been uttered in battle before.

Wait...
Where in the news article was there anything that made it seem as if the soldiers were itching for a high score? I read "Light 'em up!" "Let us shoot!" and stuff like that, but nothing about "200 points if you hit 'im with just one bullet!"

Sigh. Its stuff like this that gives gaming a bad name. They were in the room while Call of Duty was on the television, they must be violent and thus video games are to blame!

When I drive me and my friends joke about old ladies only being worth 25 points because they move too slow.

God help me if you put a mic in my car.

Interestingly enough, our first ever Video Game Controversy was based upon that very subject.

Good old Death race. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Race_%281976_game%29]

 

[JWAN]

IT WAS VIDYA GAMES! Vidya game and aliens!

One of the things the new needs to realize is just how impossible it is to tell an insurgent from a civilian. One minute a man with an AK47 is considered an insurgent, but once he's been downed all it takes is for someone to cart off his gun and suddenly there is no way to tell whether he was an insurgent or a civilian.

^This
------------------
+ Those guys were flying around at over 130mph thousands of meters away and looking through a tiny fucking screen.

Imagine the Virtuaboy in color.

 

[mrfusspot]

Wait...
Where in the news article was there anything that made it seem as if the soldiers were itching for a high score? I read "Light 'em up!" "Let us shoot!" and stuff like that, but nothing about "200 points if you hit 'im with just one bullet!"

Sigh. Its stuff like this that gives gaming a bad name. They were in the room while Call of Duty was on the television, they must be violent and thus video games are to blame!

When I drive me and my friends joke about old ladies only being worth 25 points because they move too slow.

God help me if you put a mic in my car.

Oh my grandma and I joke about hitting pedestrians and getting 100 points if they're a cripple, 50 if they are on a bike, etc. etc. We have a whole point system worked out for that.

 

[bladeofdarkness]

don't blame video games
video games don't kill people, people kill people.
blame people

so either get rid of all the people, or shut the fuck up.

 

[ScroogeMcDuck]

To be honest I'm still waitng to read the headline:
"Duke Nukem Forever released along with cure for cancer and world hunger thank you videogames!"
it could happe... hey quit lauging

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Uh, they clearly weren't blaming video games in that article, I think the comparison was more that they were treating the people they were shooting at like virtual characters and trying to go for the 'high score.' In this case it seems to be you that's overeacting.

Did you actually watch the video with the guys speech at the end, And not just read the article? There is no way that anyone can claim that the guy was not insinuating that it was all the fault of Video games.

Yes I did, and I think the whole 'generation xbox' thing was something to do with that mans belief that people of that generation are more desensitised to violence than others might have been, and while you could consider that a flawed opinion, it's not a direct jab at video games specifically.

So the guy giving the report in essence, states that this sort of incident is because Generation X-Box has grown up with violence and thus they treat war like a game, murdering civilians like they are going for a high score... and to you this has nothing to do with someone portraying a negative stereotypical portrait of your average gamer in the media, stating that we are all genocidal mass-murdering baby killing psychopaths in the making because we have lost any connection with reality because we have killed our minds and our hearts with violent video games?

Really, really not hard to read between the lines of what he is saying with this one.

much agreed, he didn't flat out say it, like alot of right wingers do, but he was obviously putting the blame on gamers and stating the desensitizing of the "xbox" generation (which that labels the gamer population as a whole basically) and they remind us a few times that it is "like a computer game" therefore they are trying to compare it to a game in stating it is badd

overall, thats a load of horseshit, they were just being way to gung ho on the whole thing and should have gotten a better look at it or waited for a proper strike order

 

[WiMoTj]

These people are just... retarded. I can't think of any other word to describe them!

 

[Jim Grim]

After 30 years of having to defend my hobby from ignorant jackholes like this guy, yes... that's very much the picture I feel he is trying to portray. Were always on that knife edge of some schmuck trying to make a name for himself attacking the industry by claiming that the soundtrack to Modern Warfare 2 back subliminal messages in it, telling people to mass murder civilians.

If he didn't want to draw the parallel with Video games then why would he even bring it up? Its like suddenly mentioning German death metal or a Stanly Kuberick Film... you don't draw parallel's with something without insinuating cause.

What if it were a different news report and someone said "It was like something out of the lyrics of a German death metal song."? (Unlikely, I know, but just bear with me for a second.) I wouldn't think that he was attacking German death metal, so why should I leap to the defense of gaming because of this?

 

[JWAN]

"C'mon, fire!"
"Keep Shooting"
"Light them up"

Truly phrases that have never been uttered in battle before.

Wait...
Where in the news article was there anything that made it seem as if the soldiers were itching for a high score? I read "Light 'em up!" "Let us shoot!" and stuff like that, but nothing about "200 points if you hit 'im with just one bullet!"

Sigh. Its stuff like this that gives gaming a bad name. They were in the room while Call of Duty was on the television, they must be violent and thus video games are to blame!

When I drive me and my friends joke about old ladies only being worth 25 points because they move too slow.

God help me if you put a mic in my car.

Interestingly enough, our first ever Video Game Controversy was based upon that very subject.

Good old Death race. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Race_%281976_game%29]

Those reporters would be SO disturbed at what machine gun spotters say. Sometimes they say "Watch out to the right(Left etc...), don't let anything through if it doesn't look like Swiss cheese"

Its called tough talk and it existed before we made weapons out of anything other than rocks, sticks, and piles of shit that would be pooped out into our awaiting hands.

 

[Dexiro]

The starvation in Africa is videogames fault because you don't need to eat in so many games!

 

[Ithera]

So, time again for a little baseless slander? The hallmark of brainless pundits/editors.

1on't do the research.
2on't look at the big picture
3:Be sure to stock up on "facts"
4:Invite equally brainless yes-men and "Experts"

Hooopah! we have a show!

 

[JWAN]

Wait...
Where in the news article was there anything that made it seem as if the soldiers were itching for a high score? I read "Light 'em up!" "Let us shoot!" and stuff like that, but nothing about "200 points if you hit 'im with just one bullet!"

Sigh. Its stuff like this that gives gaming a bad name. They were in the room while Call of Duty was on the television, they must be violent and thus video games are to blame!

When I drive me and my friends joke about old ladies only being worth 25 points because they move too slow.

God help me if you put a mic in my car.

Oh my grandma and I joke about hitting pedestrians and getting 100 points if they're a cripple, 50 if they are on a bike, etc. etc. We have a whole point system worked out for that.

Well now if we get 48 more people we can call it a violent epidemic sparred on by your grandmother!

 

[darkonnis]

gonna run through a few things here:
If you watch the full video and not just that news snippet (available from wikileaks.org)you can see all the problems the pilot and his gunner were facing at the time.
Im assuming you've watched the full video now, if you listen to the tone of their voices, they're semi-serious about the AK47's as they ask for permission to fire. Their tone changes and becomes a lot more serious and on task as soon as what they believe to be an RPG is sighted. It is at this time that they get permission to fire, though they wait until they have a clear shot before opening up to ensure they gotthe group in question. Notice in the video the amount of collateral damage is fairly minimal, they didn't blow through the house to get to the group, nor when they engage the van do they annihilate the wall the guy falls behind. They do not kill the wounded on the ground once they perceive they pose no more threat and instead wait for ground forces to move in and secure the area. Im not defending their actions but before anyone starts on a rant you need to see things from both perspectives.
The comment made by the journalist in the OP's video is fairly harsh, if you did this day in, day out for a year at a time, i am almost positive you would have a more relaxed attitude to it. If you didn't the stress would drive you crazy and like many, you would come back with ptsd or severe regrets.
The reason i thnk he links it to a computer game is because of COD mainly (obvious example) It looks fairly similar and that isnt the pilots fault, nor is it anyones. Credit to the guys at IW for making something that realistic.
War has been raging for ages, since humans started at the very least, before fire arms, arrows, swords, spears, rocks, take your pick. Certainly there have been plenty of bloodthirsty tyrants over te centuries, but to dismiss all of this and liken it to a video game is pointless, even if it is just to undermine the aircrew in that video... if anything, any war game is like war, shock horror, thats what its based on. Just my 2 cents.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

RAMIREZ, find a way to divert the blame.

 

[[Gavo]]

It's not even the full video...the full video's pretty messed up.

Videogames aren't to blame, trigger-happy gunners are. Who can't tell the difference between a shoulder video camera and a RPG for shit.

 

[Hazy]

IT WAS VIDYA GAMES! Vidya game and aliens!

"The soldiers then dropped to their knees and began to chant "All hail Allen," a violent and bloodthirsty terrorist of the latest murder-simulator, Modern Warfare 2. One soldier even went as far as to saying that he's "so close to getting Red Tiger camo, he's about to shit bricks." Of course, this was not recorded on tape, but it only proves, once again, that video games are worse than Aids and Hitler."​

One of the things the new needs to realize is just how impossible it is to tell an insurgent from a civilian. One minute a man with an AK47 is considered an insurgent, but once he's been downed all it takes is for someone to cart off his gun and suddenly there is no way to tell whether he was an insurgent or a civilian.

Exactly. That would have been a tough call, and from that range, they honestly looked like weapons. And in battle, I sure as fuck wouldn't want to get close enough to find out.
I've never been in a warzone, and I pray that I never will be, but you've got to consider that these men were, as they believe, up against hardware that could quite possibly kill them (after all, they believed one "insurgent" had an RPG.)

I've never been there, but I'm sure as hell not going to play the blame game on anyone.
[sub]And to anyone confused, the above was a joke in it's entirety. Do not take it seriously.[/sub]

 

[Void(null)]

gonna run through a few things here:
If you watch the full video and not just that news snippet (available from wikileaks.org)you can see all the problems the pilot and his gunner were facing at the time.
Im assuming you've watched the full video now, if you listen to the tone of their voices, they're semi-serious about the AK47's as they ask for permission to fire. Their tone changes and becomes a lot more serious and on task as soon as what they believe to be an RPG is sighted. It is at this time that they get permission to fire, though they wait until they have a clear shot before opening up to ensure they gotthe group in question. Notice in the video the amount of collateral damage is fairly minimal, they didn't blow through the house to get to the group, nor when they engage the van do they annihilate the wall the guy falls behind. They do not kill the wounded on the ground once they perceive they pose no more threat and instead wait for ground forces to move in and secure the area. Im not defending their actions but before anyone starts on a rant you need to see things from both perspectives.
The comment made by the journalist in the OP's video is fairly harsh, if you did this day in, day out for a year at a time, i am almost positive you would have a more relaxed attitude to it. If you didn't the stress would drive you crazy and like many, you would come back with ptsd or severe regrets.
The reason i thnk he links it to a computer game is because of COD mainly (obvious example) It looks fairly similar and that isnt the pilots fault, nor is it anyones. Credit to the guys at IW for making something that realistic.
War has been raging for ages, since humans started at the very least, before fire arms, arrows, swords, spears, rocks, take your pick. Certainly there have been plenty of bloodthirsty tyrants over te centuries, but to dismiss all of this and liken it to a video game is pointless, even if it is just to undermine the aircrew in that video... if anything, any war game is like war, shock horror, thats what its based on. Just my 2 cents.

A good 2 cents and a nice first post. Welcome to the Escapist.

 

[Iconsting]

I'd love to see these guys who are blaming it on video games fly in an Apache and try to identify terrorists from everyday civvies. I bet they'll have a swell time.

 

[JohanGasMask]

Human Stupitidy is a bigger threat then video games...so stop blaming video games for human stupitidy.