The increasing amount of realism in games has prompted the International Committee of the Red Cross to bring into question the validity of wanton violence and destruction in big-budget first person shooters. The humanitarian group believes that some very popular, realistic shooters are breaking international armed conflict laws and that developers should do more to prevent such depictions of violence.
While gaming is developed as an escape for many gamers, there has always been the moral push by developers and third parties to bring in more consequence for criminal actions. Open-world titles like Fallout: New Vegas, Red Dead Redemption and several others have long explored the concept of moral choice, but first person shooters have largely gone unhindered by the idea of ‘civility.’
The Red Cross is hoping to change that, by issuing a challenge to game developers around the world.
"In real life, armed forces are subject to the laws of armed conflict," said the Red Cross. "Video games simulating the experience of armed forces therefore have the potential to raise awareness of the rules that those forces must comply with whenever they engage in armed conflict -- this is one of the things that interests the ICRC. As a matter of fact, certain video games already take into account how real-life military personnel are trained to behave in conflict situations.
"... The ICRC has expressed its readiness to engage in a dialogue with the video gaming industry in order to explore the place of humanitarian rules in games. The ICRC welcomes the fact that certain video games on war-related themes already take the law of armed conflict into account."
Perhaps the most recent game to depict such acts is the Modern Warfare series, with multiple incidents of civilian mass-murder, biological and nuclear attack as well as the use of torture and brutality. While gaming continues to cross a fine line between entertainment and the occasional shock-value incident, the idea of gaming largely remains a form of entertainment. While movies and books do depict these kinds of acts on a regular basis, it is the gamer pulling the trigger in this instance.
[via Destructoid]
