Rescue the Nuke Scientist - a war simulation designed by the ‘Union of Students Islamic Association’ in response of the US based Kuma Reality Games ‘Assault on Iran‘, portrays a protagonist striving for the rescue of two Iranian nuclear experts kidnapped by the U.S. military and detained in Iraq and Israel.

In this unconventional war of animatronics, it’s hard to presume if this virtual world will remain virtual only or will it lead to the battlefields, if ever. However, the striking thing to notice is how the modes of media are being exploited to promote one’s propaganda be it print, radio, online or electronic media.

The response to the U.S. cyber war against Iran might look just another manipulation coming out of ‘rouge’ Islamic state, but this seems to me that the new ‘propaganda war’ is in the making just as the US did before invading Iraq.

The propaganda technique worthy of note is though familiar to all but, the case in point is “war” and it’s metaphorical application. As we witnessed the fading distinction between war as a ‘metaphor’ and war as ‘war’ after the initiation of ‘war on terror’, the sheer volume of the propaganda is a new field that needs our attention to understand its psychological impact.

The focus on the technological aspect of war in videogames is something that many experts name ‘a propaganda mechanism’ and this something that US has used historically. In the early 1900s, prior to the U.S joining the WWII, when there wasn’t large public support for getting involved in the global conflict - here again the propaganda was in action.

A series of seven films called Why We Fight explained ‘why’ it was important that the U.S enter into WWII, what Germany, under Hitler, was doing, what diplomatic promises Hitler broke, who he had already invaded, what they suspected his next moves were, and so forth. In effect, it answered the question ‘why’. The history continues with electronic games.

I have always stood by those who believe that violence when related to videogames is sarcastic; however, the propagandists have just stepped into the virtual world to play their nasty grouchiness as a defense against their enemy’s cultural onslaught just to give a bad name to videogames and another rallying point for those who have always criticized the violence in videogames.

When the game pauses in between, you can spot ‘ACHIEVEMENTS’ in the shown menu options. However, the option doesn’t work presently, but it is an indication of Xbox360 version, someway.

Since, ‘Achievements’ is a term that is associated with Xbox360’s online gameplay so Bizarre Creations would be thinking of brining the sequel to the Xbox360. The prequel was also a great Xbox360 hit; hence, the possibilities of Xbox360 version of the game are there.

Via: Xbox360fanboy

Surely, no one can forget the dreadful shootout that took place at secondary school in Germany killing 32 innocent students and there is no way one can sum up the grief, fear and rage of all associated with that senseless cruelty, but moral campaigners/critics once again created a great deal out of the incident by making the videogames a scapegoat.

The criticism over the heightened level of interaction that comes from playing a title on the console or PCs is just another case of moral campaigners who stand on their heads buried in the sand making things groundlessly worse. The violent motions that translate into fittingly-gruesome ‘on-screen’ representations, now tainted to the notion of ‘murder simulator’ is perhaps far from the mark.

Before anyone can think of blaming the so-called ‘violent videogames’ for the ‘real life violence’, the under mentioned quotes are more than enough to bring some of those hard-core strikers around.

After heavy scrutiny, some New York City officials have vaingloriously stated that there isn’t any significant correlation between gamers and their probability of getting indulged in vicious acts.

David Walsh, a child psychologist, says,

several factors may impact a young person’s developing cognitive processes but not affect a fully developed adult.

Also for those who believe that, videogame addiction is really a mental disorder, we would like to grab their attention to what the psychiatrists have to say about, what they call a psychological disorder.

Dr. Louis Kraus

It’s not necessarily a cause-and-effect type issue. There may be certain kids who have a compulsive component to what they are doing. They can make up academic deficits, but they can’t make up the social ones.

Dr. Michael Brody (TV and media committee head, AACAP)

You could make lots of behavioral things into addictions. Why stop at videogaming?” Why not Blackberries, cell phones, or other irritating habits.

Dr. Stuart Gitlow (ASAM & Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York)

There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn’t get to have the word addiction attached to it.

Addiction experts

Excessive use of video and online games; a problem that affects about 10% of players, could be considered a mental illness.

However, to make the game-critics fall in a line in few hundred words is difficult, but still we are sticking to our guns. If you read what the researchers have found, none of them believes games can turn a normal kid into an antisocial menace, someone who can be involved in a school shooting. A lot of time and effort has been put on that old ‘monkey see, monkey do’ hypothesis, but appear to be a big fiasco. In our opinion, mental illness, domestic violence, broken families, poverty, etc. are some major contributing factors that provoke a kid to execute German Secondary school or for that matter Virginia Tech like massacre.

So, next time if a kid slays his opponent’s neck with a chef’s knife in a ‘cooking competition’, please don’t say that cooking-competitions are violent.