Peak Oil Video Game
January 24th, 2008“As U.S. Army theorist Ralph Peters wrote, the effect of media on young men, in terms of reaching national security objectives, ‘is destructive beyond the power of words to describe.'”
—Maxim Participates in Israeli Intelligence Operation Targeted at U.S. Men
Wow.
In addition to the push by corporate media to sell the nonsense meme of a collapse due to energy scarcity, we’ve got peak oil strippers and video games to further rot the lizard brains of “men of fighting age.”
What’s next? Big budget Hollywood blockbusters about Peak Oil? Die Hard 89 Octane? Get your Commemorative 40oz Slupree cups now! Limited time only… U.S. Army mobile recruiting vans outside the malls and megaplexes?
Oh sure.
In the meantime, think about what Lockheed Martin—the largest armaments manufacturer in the world—means when it uses the phrase, “Energy independence for the Warfighter.”
Via: CNN:
“If they play this game they will walk away thinking ‘wow, energy is a problem,” he said.
Experts say video games can be fun as well as educational, although the outcome largely depends on the content.
“They could in fact lead to changes in attitudes, beliefs, and ultimately, changes in behavior,” said Craig Anderson, a professor of psychology at Iowa State University who studies the effects of video games on people.
The multi-player version of Fuel of War lets gamers connect and play along side or against each other from anywhere in the world.
They can choose to fight for the Western Alliance, made up of the U.S. and European countries, or the Eastern Alliance consisting of China and Russia.
And the choice of weapons is staggering – players can hop from ground combat with an array of hand-held munitions to flying helicopters, planes, or driving tanks – all futuristic designs DeLise and his team created using current weapons and intelligence gleamed from the Internet and other sources on next-generation military hardware.
Fuel of War, set for release in February, is a first-rate shoot ’em-up game with a well developed story line. It is one of a growing number of games that center around the theme of energy.
A previous game from Kaos centered on an oil war in the Caspian region, and Energyville, a SimCity-like Web-based game from Chevron and the Economist Group, lets players plan the energy needs of a future city.
But Anderson, the psychologist, is concerned about the message that violent games like Fuel of War may send to players.
“It may well change attitudes towards the use of these tactics as a political tool,” he said. Players may think “of course we have to use military tactics to go take oil.”
DeLise dismisses such concerns, saying nations go to war all the time over resources, and that the game is merely a reflection of reality.
Research Credit: JL
