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On
the morning of 2nd August 1990, 300,000 Iraqi troops
invaded Kuwait, and action that would culminate in the Gulf War.
After diplomatic efforts failed, the opposing coalition forces
responded by preparing offensive operations, codenamed ‘Desert
Storm’. Desert Storm delivered a decisive victory, one that was
achieved through meticulous planning, superb training and daring
execution. Fundamental to its success were the activities of the
Elite Special Forces – small teams of highly training soldiers
tasked with infiltrating enemy territory to neutralize key targets.
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'Operation Desert Storm' is one of two new games with military themes
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So
reads the introduction on the website for Operation Desert Storm,
one of the latest PlayStation 2 video game offerings from video game
producer Gotham Games. Although the development cycle in the video
game industry often requires years of advance planning and
implementation, the timing of the release of Operation Desert Storm
is strangely coincidental as the United States is currently champing
at the bit to begin yet another military offensive against Iraq.
Operation
Desert Storm is one of two new games to hit markets with themes that
work to bolster support for U.S. military interventionist policy.
The other game, America’s Army, is actually produced by the United
States Army itself with the intended objective of encouraging young
American’s to enlist at a time when new recruitment is critical to
the U.S. armed forces.
While
one purports to be pure entertainment and the other pulls no punches
as an indoctrination tool, both games stand to make significant
gains in a multi-billion dollar industry that has seen gaming in
recent years become more realistic and violent.
Operation
Desert Storm allows players to participate in the 1991 ground
offensive against Iraq. As members of an elite Special Forces unit
behind enemy lines, players navigate through Iraqi territory
“taking out” the enemy by all means at their disposal. This
includes sniping, the use of explosives and conventional weapons and
hand-to-hand combat. It is a raw, gritty, violent and very realistic
game that has rightly been rated “T” for teenage level
consumption. One wonders, however, if it should have garnered an
“M” for “mature” rating. That the rating threshold is has
been diminished speaks volumes to the issue of violence in America
and the cycle of violence that often starts with such seemingly
innocuous things as games.
America’s
Army is more of a full package than Operation Desert Storm. Since it
is a recruitment tool, the game includes a website that provides
information about actual Army activity in the “War on Terror”
including a “weblog” from a soldier in Afghanistan.
Additionally, there is a “community” section of the website that
allows enthusiasts to post messages in the game’s forum, chat via
IRC and visit fan websites for the game.
America’s
Army has already caused some controversy. A November 10, 2002 BBC
reported noted that some parents are concerned about the content of
the game and its ready availability to children. Expressing concern
over what he sees as an obsessive trend with the game, Jack
Thompson, the father of a 10-year-old boy told the BBC: "Every
day I drop him off at school I know that he's at greater risk
because even some of his classmates as well as others in the general
population, train obsessively on these shooter games."
Indeed
training is at the core of America’s Army. As new recruits,
players are taken through the enlistment process, basic training and
advanced training that includes sniper skills.
In
the wake of the sniper killings in the Washington, DC area, sniper
training is maybe the last thing parents want their children
learning, virtually or otherwise. But with a war in Iraq looming on
the horizon, games such as America’s Army and Operation Desert
Storm help bolster public support and reinforce the perception that
offensive military action is not only acceptable on the part of the
United States, but necessary.
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