I read something on Karen’s blog that reminded me of an online game I wanted to share with all of you.

Back in November last year I wrote a post I called ‘Children of the ruins‘ about the military action in Iraq, in particular the bloody battles on the streets of Falluja. At the top of my post were two pictures. One of a man holding an injured child, another of a small girl being frisked with a metal detector by an American soldier. As I wrote that I looked at pictures on the Arabic news network Aljazeera and considered how different the lives of American and Iraqi children are right now, and how an Iraqi child does not remain a child for long.

Karen commented in her post about how the owner of a shop had said in a conversation with her about the war in Iraq “How can you kill their women and children and then expect them to embrace our democracy?” Karen herself poses the question “Doesn’t it seem that our nation’s responses to 9/11 have all been motivated by fear?” This got me thinking about a game I found a while back online called ‘September 12th, A Toy World.’

The game is produced by a team of independent game developers who believe video games are not simply an amusement but also a tool to make us think about what is going on in the world. “Periodically, we will use games and simulations to analyze, debate, comment, and editorialize major international news.” They say.

Originally launched on Sept. 29, 2003, ‘September 12th, A Toy World’ analyzes the situation of the United States War on Terror. The game uses traditional videogame aesthetics to model a political paradox: current US tactics on the war on terror affect the civilian population and generate more terrorism.

The basic idea behind ‘September 12th’ can be described as violence generates more violence. As you try to kill the terrorists, you will always kill civilians (‘collateral damage’). Other civilians will mourn their dead and turn into terrorists. After a couple of minutes of play, the screen is full of terrorists, says Gonzalo Frasca, NewsGaming.com lead designer and former journalist at CNNenEspanol.com. “Our games are original because they are not meant just to entertain. Through this piece we want to encourage players to think critically about the efficacy of the United States current strategy against terrorism. Terrorism is a terrible problem and we think it should be fought in a more intelligent way.”

The game is actually a lot of fun. The player gets to blow stuff up with missiles aimed and fired through a target. The sound effects make the experience very playable but the point is dramatically proved when the player accidentally kills an innocent victim.

While the idea of American-style democracy might be attractive and logical to you and me, it’s nothing short of intensely arrogant to assume that countries throughout the world should follow our lead and embrace a culture that is as foreign to them as theirs is to us.

The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have far exceeded initial estimations. And curiously now the search for weapons of mass destruction has been replaced by the capture or extermination of terrorists who we are told are now fighting to destabilize Iraq in its newfound democracy.

But the wars have not just cost billions of dollars, there is also a far more tragic and sobering cost. In Iraq alone, nearly 1700 soldiers and a much greater number of civilians have been killed since the war began. A war that, people seem to forget, President Bush proudly declared was over and won on May 2nd, 2003!

September 12th, A Toy World.
Newsgaming.com
Bush declares war is over in victory speech
Bush Victory speech gets mixed reaction
Aljazeera new network
The body count
Karens original post
Children of the ruins