Study Tracks War Crimes In Video Games

23 Nov 2009 at 14:16:43 by Andy Alderson

A study carried out by two human rights organisations has criticised virtually-committed crimes in video games.

Swiss groups Trial and Pro Juventute collaborated on the study which aims to persuade developers and publishers to incorporate the principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) into future titles.

The study saw gamers, advised by IHL and IHRL specialists, take on a number of popular third and first person shooter titles while looking closely for violations. Games examined in the study included Call of Duty: World At War, Army of Two, Battlefield: Bad Company and Far Cry 2.

The groups found that common violations included the use of torture to gain intelligence and disproportionate military responses that led to extensive collateral damage. The study, however, does acknowledge that some games punish the player for unjust behavior.

“This shows us that there are different ways to punish the player, and that this can add an element of strategic thinking to the game, while at the same time incorporating basic rules of IHRL,” concludes the study.

Nevertheless, the main recommendation of the study is that publishers ought to “avoid creating scenarios that easily lead to violations of IHL” and to incorporate more behavioural guidelines.

“The message of the scenes should never be that everything is allowed, or that it is up to the player to decide what is right and what is wrong. In real life, this is not the way it works,” states the study.

“In real life, there are rules and there are sanctions for violations of these rules. It is not up to the soldier or to the law enforcement agent to decide what is right and what is wrong. The events in Abu Ghraib have shown, what such "private justice", even if carried out by well trained and high ranking officers, may lead to.”
 
What do you make of the study? Is it important for developers to adhere to real-world law when designing games? Let us know in the comments section below.

Last year, MMO pioneer criticised the World of Warcraft expansion, The Wrath of the Lich King, for violating the Geneva Convention. Find out more here.  

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