Australia: New Game Send 'Dangerous Message' to Journos

Sydney - A group of software developers from Brisbane is creating a computer game in which the players are war correspondents reporting from a conflict zone.

The game's creators say it is a realistic portrayal of life as a war correspondent, although with many of the more mundane details taken out.

But not everyone is impressed.

In WarCo, players run around in a conflict zone with a camera, dodging bullets, grenades and bombs in an attempt to make the best possible story.

The game's developer, Morgan Jaffitt, says there are plenty of stories that players can follow.

"What we ask you to do is to go and film the story elements that you find interesting and then at the end of that section the game will put together a story based on which story elements you focused on," he said.

"We also offer you the ability to go on and edit your own story.

"As an example: in the opening of the game - as you arrive on a plane into an airport that's currently under fire in the middle of the revolution you can focus on the story of the loyalist soldiers who are defending the airport; you can focus on the story of a wounder civilian who's looking for her daughter; or you can focus on the issue of the arms that are coming into the country, and being supplied by various international agencies, and what that means about their relationships with the loyalist forces." - Morgan Jaffitt

War porn
Not everyone is enthusiastic about the idea.

BBC reporter Nick Bryant has been a correspondent in several conflict zones including Afghanistan, Kashmir, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

He has just released a book on his experiences.

He says he worries that a game about war reporting could be sending the wrong message.

"I think there's a trend within the industry at the moment to give prominence in news reports and prominence online to footage where war correspondents come under fire and I think it's a worrying trend because it makes the war correspondent the story rather than the war," he said.

"And I think it sends a very dangerous message to the young journalists who are coming up: that the best way for them to very quickly make their name is to go to somewhere very dangerous, and hope to get shot at, and then to broadcast that material and hope to make their name.

"I guess my concern about this sort of game is that it reinforces that trend. It's a kind of war porn, almost."

Conflict glamour
Former war journalist Tony Maniaty came up with the script and the concept for the game, and Jaffitt says he has had a generally positive response from former war correspondents.

He says the game neither trivialises the job, nor glamorises the conflict.

"It glamorises the conflict less than every other game out there, which I'm happy to consider a step in the right direction," he said.

"Other war games generally put you in the position of a super-soldier - not terribly grounded in the realities of actual war context.

"If what we can do is widen the frame a little, so that we can see some of the events that take place in and around those scenarios of war, and I'll be happy with what we've achieved."

Jaffitt says the game does not trivialise war reporting, because he thinks games are a medium that can deal with serious topics.

"I very much believe that games are - and in fact will be - looked back on as the medium of the 21st century," he said.

"It makes as much sense to say well doesn't it trivialise to make a film or write a book about a war correspondent?

"Games aren't limited in their ability to tell only one kind of story."

ENDS

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