Water Cooler Games - Nightline on the Terrorist Video Game

Nightline on the Terrorist Video Game
June 23, 2006 - by Ian Bogost

Last month we reported (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) that consultants from SAIC testified before Congress, mistakenly identifying a fan video created by a Dutch Battlefield 2 player as terrorist propaganda.

Nightline ran a story on the topic last night, in which they both show the absurdity of the whole series of events and expose the Pentagon's simple-mindedness about such issues. I was interviewed for the story, which you can read or watch at ABC's website. Also covered at Gamepolitics and Kotaku. It's a good story, and I'm glad Nightline put this sort of report together. I'm also glad I got the last word, which I think is really the point of the matter:

"We should really be questioning the kind of advice that Congress is getting," Bogost says.

Comments (5) | Post a Comment | TrackBack (0)

Comment from troutio on June 23, 2006

Wonderful. I'm so pleased that your campaign has borne such public and effective fruit. Let's hope some jobs are lost over this.

The Pentagon suits were an joke - and caught out lying yet again. Who'd have thought it?

Comment from troutio on June 23, 2006

Should read "a joke", obviously. Grr...

Comment from andrew stern on June 24, 2006

awesome Ian! nice job.

Comment from Patrick on June 30, 2006

Good to see a foward thinking representative of our medium get some mainstream press exposure, even if only for the "internet edition".

They asked the question: what if terrorists used a game to recruit young terrorists? Its already happened, its called America's Army.

Comment from Robert on July 4, 2006

It may have been sloppy research, but, sadly, it doesn't invalidate the assumption. In fact, Hizbullah used a US-made Open Source engine, (Genesis 3D) to make and publish an FPS game called Special Force. (I think SAIC also confused this with another BF2 mod, or another FPS mod, not sure.) the wikipedia has a bit on it, and it has its own english website.

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