Scott Tortorice
28 Feb 07, 00:49
Are wargames going to be replaced by peacegames? :) Check out what I mean:
Peacemaker: A Videogame to Promote Peace (http://www.peacemakergamer.com)
Description:
Genre: PeaceMaker is a reality-based game with a high level view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is not a first-person shooter.
A Positive Message: The goal of the player as the leader is to establish a stable resolution to the conflict and win the Nobel Prize before his or her term in office ends. The difficulty level can range from calm to violent.
Play Both Perspectives: the player takes on the role of either the Israeli Prime Minister or the Palestinian President. After playing as one of the leaders, the player should then play the other side, this provides a unique perspective.
Playing the News: The player must react to in-game events, from diplomatic negotiations to military attacks or suicide bombs. These events such as an Israeli military operation in Jenin or a Palestinian suicide bomb in Jerusalem are represented using real news footage and images.
Other Actors: There are eight internal and external "actors" such as Hamas, the Israeli/Palestinian public, the US, the UN or the Arab world. Every action will immediately affect all stakeholders. They might act on their own interest and damage the player's efforts.
The Path to Peace: While the game starts as a zero-sum game, the key to success is to gain momentum and create a win-win scenario.
It must be good as even the great-grandson of Gandhi gave it high marks - seriously! :laugh:
I'm going to be ill, I might even puke :)
Someone actually outdid the feel good Christian gaming scene.
Oh by the way, was that link supposed to go to a forum with all of one post in it?
trauth116
28 Feb 07, 19:59
I once saw a game called Sim Prison at WalMart - or maybe it was Prison Tycoon -- I mean, honestly, what is the difference? Is it that its a weird sounding concept that probably no one would buy? Well that wouldn't be a first
It reads like a puzzle strategy game in the most general sense - and there are only so many ways to frame a puzzle game (Panzer General was a puzzle game), I doubt this is any different than those in the most general sense.
Although my next gaming purchase is going to be a EA's Cricket 07 I think -so Peace in the Mid-East isn't on my buy list.
This site quote makes me think the games creator is not walking in the real world.
"PeaceMaker is a video game simulation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: a tool that can be used to promote dialog and understanding among Israelis, Palestinians and interested people around the world."
That was the games admitted Mission statement.
Hmm, has the game's creator ever been to the middle east? It doesn't "seem" like they have.
A tool to promote peace? It's a frickin game, they expect Palestinians to have cash and or desire to plunk down in front of a game?
The last I checked, wasn't life in the Palestinian regions a bit too harsh to allow for casual video game playing?
This game is such a joke on so many levels I can't think of anything being crazier.
the_redstar_swl
28 Feb 07, 20:49
The Toys Of Peace by Saki
"Harvey," said Eleanor Bope, handing her brother a cutting from a London morning paper of the 19th of March, "just read this about children's toys, please; it exactly carries out some of our ideas about influence and upbringing."
"In the view of the National Peace Council," ran the extract, "there are grave objections to presenting our boys with regiments of fighting men, batteries of guns, and squadrons of 'Dreadnoughts.' Boys, the Council admits, naturally love fighting and all the panoply of war . . . but that is no reason for encouraging, and perhaps giving permanent form to, their primitive instincts. At the Children's Welfare Exhibition, which opens at Olympia in three weeks' time, the Peace Council will make an alternative suggestion to parents in the shape of an exhibition of 'peace toys.' In front of a specially-painted representation of the Peace Palace at The Hague will be grouped, not miniature soldiers but miniature civilians, not guns but ploughs and the tools of industry . . . It is hoped that manufacturers may take a hint from the exhibit, which will bear fruit in the toy shops."
"The idea is certainly an interesting and very well-meaning one," said Harvey; "whether it would succeed well in practice --"
"We must try," interrupted his sister; "you are coming down to us at Easter, and you always bring the boys some toys, so that will be an excellent opportunity for you to inaugurate the new experiment. Go about in the shops and buy any little toys and models that have special bearing on civilian life in its more peaceful aspects. Of course you must explain the toys to the children and interest them in the new idea. I regret to say that the 'Siege of Adrianople' toy, that their Aunt Susan sent them, didn't need any explanation; they knew all the uniforms and flags, and even the names of the respective commanders, and when I heard them one day using what seemed to be the most objectionable language they said it was Bulgarian words of command; of course it may have been, but at any rate I took the toy away from them. Now I shall expect your Easter gifts to give quite a new impulse and direction to the children's minds; Eric is not eleven yet, and Bertie is only nine-and-a-half, so they are really at a most impressionable age."
< 2 >
"There is primitive instinct to be taken into consideration, you know," said Henry doubtfully, "and hereditary tendencies as well. One of their great-uncles fought in the most intolerant fashion at Inkerman -- he was specially mentioned in dispatches, I believe -- and their great-grandfather smashed all his Whig neighbours' hot houses when the great Reform Bill was passed. Still, as you say, they are at an impressionable age. I will do my best."
On Easter Saturday Harvey Bope unpacked a large, promising-looking red cardboard box under the expectant eyes of his nephews. "Your uncle has brought you the newest thing in toys," Eleanor had said impressively, and youthful anticipation had been anxiously divided between Albanian soldiery and a Somali camel-corps. Eric was hotly in favour of the latter contingency. "There would be Arabs on horseback," he whispered; "the Albanians have got jolly uniforms, and they fight all day long, and all night, too, when there's a moon, but the country's rocky, so they've got no cavalry."
A quantity of crinkly paper shavings was the first thing that met the view when the lid was removed; the most exiting toys always began like that. Harvey pushed back the top layer and drew forth a square, rather featureless building.
"It's a fort!" exclaimed Bertie.
"It isn't, it's the palace of the Mpret of Albania," said Eric, immensely proud of his knowledge of the exotic title; "it's got no windows, you see, so that passers-by can't fire in at the Royal Family."
"It's a municipal dust-bin," said Harvey hurriedly; "you see all the refuse and litter of a town is collected there, instead of lying about and injuring the health of the citizens."
In an awful silence he disinterred a little lead figure of a man in black clothes.
"That," he said, "is a distinguished civilian, John Stuart Mill. He was an authority on political economy."
"Why?" asked Bertie.
"Well, he wanted to be; he thought it was a useful thing to be."
Bertie gave an expressive grunt, which conveyed his opinion that there was no accounting for tastes.
Another square building came out, this time with windows and chimneys.
"A model of the Manchester branch of the Young Women's Christian Association," said Harvey.
"Are there any lions?" asked Eric hopefully. He had been reading Roman history and thought that where you found Christians you might reasonably expect to find a few lions.
< 3 >
"There are no lions," said Harvey. "Here is another civilian, Robert Raikes, the founder of Sunday schools, and here is a model of a municipal wash-house. These little round things are loaves backed in a sanitary bakehouse. That lead figure is a sanitary inspector, this one is a district councillor, and this one is an official of the Local Government Board."
"What does he do?" asked Eric wearily.
"He sees to things connected with his Department," said Harvey. "This box with a slit in it is a ballot-box. Votes are put into it at election times."
"What is put into it at other times?" asked Bertie.
"Nothing. And here are some tools of industry, a wheelbarrow and a hoe, and I think these are meant for hop-poles. This is a model beehive, and that is a ventilator, for ventilating sewers. This seems to be another municipal dust-bin -- no, it is a model of a school of art and public library. This little lead figure is Mrs. Hemans, a poetess, and this is Rowland Hill, who introduced the system of penny postage. This is Sir John Herschel, the eminent astrologer."
"Are we to play with these civilian figures?" asked Eric.
"Of course," said Harvey, "these are toys; they are meant to be played with."
"But how?"
It was rather a poser. "You might make two of them contest a seat in Parliament," said Harvey, "and have an election --"
"With rotten eggs, and free fights, and ever so many broken heads!" exclaimed Eric.
"And noses all bleeding and everybody drunk as can be," echoed Bertie, who had carefully studied one of Hogarth's pictures.
"Nothing of the kind," said Harvey, "nothing in the least like that. Votes will be put in the ballot-box, and the Mayor will count them -- and he will say which has received the most votes, and then the two candidates will thank him for presiding, and each will say that the contest has been conducted throughout in the pleasantest and most straightforward fashion, and they part with expressions of mutual esteem. There's a jolly game for you boys to play. I never had such toys when I was young."
"I don't think we'll play with them just now," said Eric, with an entire absence of the enthusiasm that his uncle had shown; "I think perhaps we ought to do a little of our holiday task. It's history this time; we've got to learn up something about the Bourbon period in France."
< 4 >
"The Bourbon period," said Harvey, with some disapproval in his voice.
"We've got to know something about Louis the Fourteenth," continued Eric; "I've learnt the names of all the principal battles already."
This would never do. "There were, of course, some battles fought during his reign," said Harvey, "but I fancy the accounts of them were much exaggerated; news was very unreliable in those days, and there were practically no war correspondents, so generals and commanders could magnify every little skirmish they engaged in till they reached the proportions of decisive battles. Louis was really famous, now, as a landscape gardener; the way he laid out Versailles was so much admired that it was copied all over Europe."
"Do you know anything about Madame Du Barry?" asked Eric; "didn't she have her head chopped off?"
"She was another great lover of gardening," said Harvey, evasively; "in fact, I believe the well known rose Du Barry was named after her, and now I think you had better play for a little and leave your lessons till later."
Harvey retreated to the library and spent some thirty or forty minutes in wondering whether it would be possible to compile a history, for use in elementary schools, in which there should be no prominent mention of battles, massacres, murderous intrigues, and violent deaths. The York and Lancaster period and the Napoleonic era would, he admitted to himself, present considerable difficulties, and the Thirty Years' War would entail something of a gap if you left it out altogether. Still, it would be something gained if, at a highly impressionable age, children could be got to fix their attention on the invention of calico printing instead of the Spanish Armada or the Battle of Waterloo.
It was time, he thought, to go back to the boys' room, and see how they were getting on with their peace toys. As he stood outside the door he could hear Eric's voice raised in command; Bertie chimed in now and again with a helpful suggestion.
"That is Louis the Fourteenth," Eric was saying, "that one in kneebreeches, that Uncle said invented Sunday schools. It isn't a bit like him, but it'll have to do."
"We'll give him a purple coat from my paintbox by and by," said Bertie.
"Yes, an' red heels. That is Madame de Maintenon, that one he called Mrs. Hemans. She begs Louis not to go on this expedition, but he turns a deaf ear. He takes Marshal Saxe with him, and we must pretend that they have thousands of men with them. The watchword is Qui vive? and the answer is L'etat c'est moi -- that was one of his favourite remarks, you know. They land at Manchester in the dead of the night, and a Jacobite conspirator gives them the keys of the fortress."
< 5 >
Peeping in through the doorway Harvey observed that the municipal dustbin had been pierced with holes to accommodate the muzzles of imaginary cannon, and now represented the principal fortified position in Manchester; John Stuart Mill had been dipped in red ink, and apparently stood for Marshal Saxe.
"Louis orders his troops to surround the Young Women's Christian Association and seize the lot of them. 'Once back at the Louvre and the girls are mine,' he exclaims. We must use Mrs. Hemans again for one of the girls; she says 'Never,' and stabs Marshal Saxe to the heart."
"He bleeds dreadfully," exclaimed Bertie, splashing red ink liberally over the facade of the Association building.
"The soldiers rush in and avenge his death with the utmost savagery. A hundred girls are killed" -- here Bertie emptied the remainder of the red ink over the devoted building --"and the surviving five hundred are dragged off to the French ships. 'I have lost a Marshal,' says Louis, 'but I do not go back empty-handed.'"
Harvey stole away from the room, and sought out his sister.
"Eleanor," he said, "the experiment --"
"Yes?"
"Has failed. We have begun too late."
Scott Tortorice
01 Mar 07, 18:35
That was a good story with a good point! Where did it come from? I never heard of "Saki" before.
You know what else was interesting about that story? How well-versed the kids were about military history! Here we are in the day of the internet, with many games based upon historical content, and how many kids are there who could name any major battle from past history? Or the leading participants? Or the outcome? Or the politics behind it?
Very few, I expect. :mad:
the_redstar_swl
01 Mar 07, 21:20
That was a good story with a good point! Where did it come from? I never heard of "Saki" before.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saki
Saki (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916) was the pen name of British author Hector Hugh Munro, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture.
Saki is considered a master of the short story who is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window" may be his most famous, with a closing line ("Romance at short notice was her specialty") that has entered the lexicon.
Scott Tortorice
01 Mar 07, 23:13
What about games like DEFCON? Are these considered "violent" games?
I would say 'no' but I know many purists would find DEFCON to be pornographic. Seriously. I mean, with the motto "The World's first Genocide 'em up," who could fault them? :)
Unfortunately, in this day and age, there is always someone waiting to be offended in some fashion. Heck, I recall reading an article in Chess Life whereby a NYC teacher was changing the rules of chess so that the black pieces could move first (instead of the white pieces). I'll bet you can figure out why....:rolleyes: This started something of an uproar with the consensus of Chess Life readers being that 'it's only a game for pete's sake!'
Point is: gaming is increasingly finding itself under PC scrutiny. I even remember reading a story where elementary school kids were forbidden from playing Cowboys and Indians so not to offend anyone.
You can't make this stuff up....
We gamers have been getting away with murder...literally. At some point, gaming, like music and the movies, will become the target of some powerful PC interest groups. Regrettably, I don't have much confidence in the industry's intestinal fortitude to resist such attacks for long....
Scott Tortorice
01 Mar 07, 23:15
Saki (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916) was the pen name of British author Hector Hugh Munro, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture.
Saki is considered a master of the short story who is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. "The Open Window" may be his most famous, with a closing line ("Romance at short notice was her specialty") that has entered the lexicon.
Never heard of him before this story! Thanks for bringing him to my attention!
mangus2000
04 Mar 07, 05:13
I must say that i find the concept of the game quite intriging, just from a original concept point of view. Depending on how it plays, navigating the the confusing world of ME politics is bound to be interesting and taxing.
I just wonder what the conditions for winning the game are and if they have mentioned them to the people who have been playing it for real the last 50 years:laugh:
freightshaker
04 Mar 07, 12:48
I just wonder what the conditions for winning the game are and if they have mentioned them to the people who have been playing it for real the last 50 years:laugh:
That's what makes me wonder. Someone has already determined the best way of winning in the ME and if you don't do it their way , you lose. I smell an agenda.
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