Video game tackles Israeli-Palestinian conflict

[oberliner]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Militants attack a bus transporting Israeli civilians and the Palestinian president, who has been riding a wave of international support, must carefully mull his response.

Cracking down on the militants will earn him praise from Israel and the international community but could alienate him from his followers and lead to more civil strife.

This is but one scenario of a new video game launched this month that bravely tackles the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and offers hope, at least virtual, of a peaceful solution.

PeaceMaker, as the game is called, requires players to assume the role of the Palestinian president or the Israeli prime minister and to maneuver their way through a series of events.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070212/lf_afp/afplifestyleusmideast_070212001205

[bemildred]

1. A new and interesting kind of propaganda tool.

Talk about framing the debate. Could be used for good or ill, I suppose, and it might just be a game. But it reminds me of the US militaries free wargame, which is very much a marketing tool for Dumbsfeldt's revolution in military affairs and all that.

[everythingsxen]

2. In what way is it a propaganda tool?

How is it framing the debate?

Given that you can play as either the leader of Israel or Palestine and the goal of the game is to make peace, I would think that anyone who actually hopes for peace would see the game as, at the very least, a nice idea. Perhaps not practical, but at least a step towards the idea of peace.

[bemildred]

3. I don't know that it is, but it certainly could be.

You get out of computer models pretty much what you put in. You will "make peace" in this game only in ways that the programmer provided for, and you will "not make peace" likewise. It may or may not have anything to do with how things work in the real world, and it certainly does have the potential to be a great propaganda tool. That doesn't mean this one is, many computer models are designed to be as accurate as possible, but it's very hard to get right. Skepticism is warranted, they themselves call it a game.

[everythingsxen]

4. Skepticism is one thing...

But in your first response, you stated the game was propaganda as though it were fact, then compared it to America's Army. (which clearly is propaganda)

You also said it was "framing the debate", which you still haven't answered as to how this does so.

Do you believe armed conflict is the only solution?

[bemildred]

5. I said: "and it might just be a game".

The US Army has such a game out, you can download it for free, or you could. You don't seem to read well. I made no assertions at all about what the intent was with this particular game; but I would guess, now that you bring it up, that this particular game is well meant.

Edit: And I explained how it can "frame the debate" in post #3. It's more or less impossible not to "frame the debate" in such a computer model of politics. You have to make assumptions about how things work.