Gonzalo Frasca sent me a note on September 12th, A Toy World, billed as a "newsgame". The idea, evidently, is to produce games that are intended as news commentary rather than mere entertainment.

Interesting idea. Really. I'd like that.

When you begin, the game screen fills with a view of what appears to be a Palestinian city; some folks are "terrorists" because they are wearing do-rags, while others are not. You can center a crosshairs on a "terrorist," and fire, at which point a missile appears and demolishes the area around where you fired. You kill your target, and probably some innocents. The sound track wails in mourning, and several standersby become terrorists in response to the deaths of their (presumably ) loved ones.

There are no victory conditions. Essentially, you continue until everyone is dead and the city is a smouldering pile of rubble--or you don't, and everyone just toddles about the city until you become bored and go play Nethack or something.

Now.... I see. Terrorists are perfectly peaceable people who toddle around until nasty, evil Western imperialists destroy them and half of their neighbors through indiscriminate missile attacks. Yes, and it has certainly been US policy to mount indiscriminate attacks on terrorists, wherever they may be found regardless of the huge number of civilian casualties that my result. Why, the attack on Iraq made Auschwitz look like summer camp, n'est-ce pas? Yes, those Yanks certainly made not the slightest effort to reduce the deaths of innocents whatsoever. It's amazing they avoided using nukes, I suppose.

And, I see also that resorting to violence under any circumstances simply causes more violence in response, because every terrorist slain breeds four more terrorists.

Well, how interesting, and what an impressively mounted attack on US policy; moreover, what an imaginative, well researched, and well argued point.

How lovely it must be to live in Uruguay, as the developers of this product do--a small, inoffensive, neutral nation in South America remote from any possibility of assault by the murderous enemies of liberal democracy (well, other than the possibility of a home-grown dictator or two) and therefore capable of taking a high moral stance without any risk that they might have to deal with the implications. And why, how Christian. Yes, just turn the other cheek. That's the way.


(I feel it necessary at this point to illuminate my own political views a little, lest this be taken as some kind of right-wing hufflepuff. Even though I'd be quite happy to put a bullet through the brain of anyone remotely involved our recent contretemps, I also think our esteemed president is a blithering Yalie twit who blatantly lied to drag us into a wholly unnecessary war simply because Pater didn't finish the job. In other words, you won't find me listed on too many right wing blogrolls anytime soon. Oh--and I'm an atheist, for what that's worth.)

I don't object too strenously, really--I mean, idiotic and banal editorials are written every day. And indeed, this is an idiotic and banal--well, I won't call it a game, and they don't either. Game-like editorial object. Once mustn't get too exercised about idiotic and banal editorials; they are legion, and being idiotic and banal in expressing an opinion is a fundamental human right. Still and all, if the purpose is to demonstrate the utility of games as a means of illuminating current political issues and derive greater insight into them.... surely this has failed.

Mind you--games are capable of providing great insight into real-world phenomena. I challenge you to find any single volume that will teach you more about the Battle of Waterloo than Kevin Zucker's Napoleon's Last Battles. Or anything short of 100 hours of instruction in a cockpit that will teach you more about flying a plane than a good flight sim. Or anything other than a semester-long course in Medieval history that will teach you more than playing Europa Universalis.

But to call this a "simulation," as the creators do, is fucking obscene. Simulation of what? Where's the research? What systems are simulated? What intellectual depth is brought to the consideration? What is the point--and have they even though through their point, smug, superior schmucks that they are?

And how would they like it if smiling headscarved maidens were blowing themselves up and killing dozens of women and children on buses in Montevideo on a regular basis? It's all so easy when you're removed from the reality, isn't it?

And I'm sure if this had happened in their city on September 11th, 2001, they'd just smile in delight if someone chose to name an inane piece of offensive crap after the following day, wouldn't they?

I think I'll go have a lie-down now.






posted by Greg at 8:40 PM 4 comments