Trolling In real life...

[D3ads]

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/tech ... 6216184190

Six hundred million gamers could be war criminals, Red Cross says

THE Red Cross is investigating whether 600 million gamers are violating the Hague and Geneva conventions when they kill and blow stuff up for fun.

Delegates at the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Red Crescent raised the concerns over the potential “International Humanitarian Law” violations – which can constitute war crimes - during a workshop in Geneva.

“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,” the Red Cross wrote in its daily bulletin.

“While National Societies shared their experiences and opinions, there is clearly no simple answer. There is, however, an overall consensus and motivation to take action.”

A spokesperson for ICRC Australia told news.com.au the workshop looked at how games “represented International Humanitarian Law”, which regulates the legal conduct of warfare.

"The aim for the ICRC is that they send the right signals to their hundreds of millions of players by rewarding respect for IHL and penalising violations," the spokesperson said.

The Red Cross said if it finds the conventions have been violated, they may ask game developers to conform to international laws or encourage governments to create laws that regulate the gaming industry, Kotaku reported.

But international law professor at the University of New South Wales Anthony Billingsley told news.com.au the Red Cross risked trivialising the conventions of warfare.

Mr Billingsley also said there is no way the conventions could apply to individuals because they were state-based.

“There are concerns about the blurring of fantasy and reality,” he said.

“There’s a danger of war becoming a spectator sport. People need to realise that this is real stuff.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross is empowered by the Geneva Conventions to protect victims of international and domestic armed conflicts.

Best bit...

Does killing zombies in Resident Evil would count as a war crime? It would be a crime not to win, surely. Picture: Infinity Ward / Activision

Oh God... this made my day

[-HP-]

This shit again? This topic is so 1993.

[-HP-]

Picture: Infinity Ward / Activision

lol

[Buddy]

":1o4mhdvb]Picture: Infinity Ward / Activision

lol

[Puddy]

Call of Duty: World of Warfare

lol

[dissonance]

does this make me a doctor, too?

[D3ads]

Call of Duty: World of Warfare

lol

How did I miss that one?

[st0lve]

does this make me a doctor, too?

[Evert]

I fail to see where the red cross says 'Six hundred million gamers could be war criminals'.

[Thrik]

To be honest the whole article is an absolute joke. If you read the original Red Cross bulletin it's not anything they've made a remotely big deal about, only that it's been brought up for discussion. Of course, this is The Daily Mail we're dealing with here so it being blown way out of proportion is hardly surprising.

With that said, they did say they're discussing the fact that 600 million gamers are "virtually violating international humanitarian law", which by definition makes them war criminals. But then that'd fall into the same category as virtual murder, virtual theft, etc. It's not something anyone with a shred of sense takes seriously.

[D3ads]

http://news.yahoo.com/red-cross-gamers- ... 52309.html

*phew* I was so worried back there

[knj]

OMFG this all shit is fun to read !