Saturday, December 10, 2011

Video gaming = war crimes?

The UN is not the only wacky international organization holding a conference these days.  Attendees at the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross Red Crescent have agreed to investigate whether video gamers are "virtually violating humanitarian law".  This is according to what seems like an authentic document (It's very hard to tell the differnce between parody and reality when it comes to international organizations.):
Video games and IHL: how should the Movement take action?
While the Movement works vigorously to promote international humanitarian law (IHL) worldwide, there is also an audience of approximately 600 million gamers who may be virtually violating IHL. Exactly how video games influence individuals is a hotly debated topic, but for the first time, Movement partners discussed our role and responsibility to take action against violations of IHL in video games. In a side event, participants were asked: “what should we do, and what is the most effective method?” While National Societies shared their experiences and opinions, there is clearly no simple answer.
I'm holding out hope that this is a hoax, but I put it at 60-40 in favor of being true.  It's just stupid enough.

Update: It looks as if what they meant was that video games could be used to educate about war crimes.