Human Rights Groups Chastise Video Games News

The likes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Army of Two and Far Cry 2 have come under fire from human rights groups, alleging that their depiction of war crimes violates rules of conduct set out in humanitarian laws.

The study conducted by two Swiss human rights groups analysed 20 video games, played in front of lawyers specialising in humanitarian law to see whether acts committed by players would constitute violations of international law if they were real, rather than virtual.

"The practically complete absence of rules or sanctions is... astonishing," the study said.

It added that many scenes allowed sacred buildings such as churches and mosques to be attacked, while some featured torture, degradation, and executions.

The full list of titles largely covers games associated with war, although the inclusion of True Crime: Streets of LA is a tad incongruous.  It's hard to imagine Nik Kang being summoned before a war crimes committee despite how much carnage he brings to the streets of LA, and the remit of private military companies featured in the likes of Army of Two and Far Cry 2 is always going to be as grey as it is in the real world.

The report highlighted a number of issues that the study faced, particularly being able to judge the scale of the various conflicts featured made it difficult to determine whether human rights laws would be enforced.  In addition, the report concluded that the sophistication of the games made it difficult to be certain that its testers had witnessed all of the various outcomes.

The study concluded that it didn't want to see video games becoming less violent, but called on video game developers to work harder to remind gamers about the real world laws that limit their actions.

Source: BBC