From Guardian Gamesblog:
Bambino_Tostare has sent in his thoughts on a recent article from the BBC, suggesting that a round-up of the continuing war in Afghanistan is awfully similar to the design and format of real-time strategy games. Indeed, upon consideration Auntie Beeb has reduced the five-year "conflict" to a list of the factions, their weaponry, their vehicles and the country's terrain. Sections include "mobility" (with sub-categories including, defences, strengths, weaknesses and cost), "key weapon" (with subcategories including year of development, caliber, magazine capacity, loaded weight and range) and "manpower" (with subcategories including, main weapons, strengths and weaknesses). Creepy
The comments so far are also interesting
OfficePest: Does anyone find it odd that it's creepy looking at this now, but you can guarantee that in the not-too-distant future there will be a game based upon this war? There are games for pretty much all historical battles. Hundreds of WW1 and WW2 games. Yet these don't seem creepy to us now. Maybe we just need time to get over the horror of a war, then we can re-enact it in games without feeling distaste.Goodnessme: Battlefield 2 IS set there. Though they never come about and say it, and the MEC have more weaponary than the Taliban, the setting for the game is pretty much USA vrs. generic terrorist state (or China). Actually, maybe they don't mention the country it's set in as that would only confuse the American players...And, yeh, I do find it a bit creepy. But I find COD, Battlefield Vietnam etc. a bit creepy in that respect, too. I guess the good thing about these games is they've certainly destroyed any notions I never had of going to war. You've just got to look at your kill/death ration and think; 'ah, but my death limit is 1 in real life.. man my stats would suck.'
Well looks like gamers were thinking about this pretty soon after the US invasion and one company announced an Afghanistan title that never got released.
And even earlier. The Brits called their old Central Asian war of intrigue with Russia "The Great Game" (the Russians, with darker poetry, called it "The Tournament of Shadows") and American artist John Klima has explored this angle.
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