Friday, December 9, 2011

Nerd News: "Red Cross: Violent video games violate international law"

EDITED 12/12/2011 The Red Cross is not planning any sort of action against Gamers, Games, or Esports see this for full details http://cliffsesportcorner.blogspot.com/2011/12/nerd-news-red-cross-responds-to-stories.html

[Edited to add Update here ]

The International Committee of the Red Cross is officially sanctioned under the Geneva Conventions to apply those founding principals of international conflict, as well as the Hague Conventions governing international justice. The organization is currently investigating whether these foundations of international law should be applied to video games as well.
During an ICRC conference this week in Geneva, the Red Cross decided that even though there is debate surrounding how video games affect the public, the Red Cross Movement should take up the issue of the world’s 600 million gamers who “may be virtually violating IHL,” referring to international humanitarian law. The chief topic at the gaming-related sub-conference was the question: “What should we do?”
Rest of the Story from Geek.com

I think I am missing something, I don't see how International Conventions about warfare can apply to gaming.  There are rules that describe what warfare is, and what it isn't for legal purposes, as well as what the rules are for warfare.  I'll have to dig through some of my textbooks on Military History, but I can't see how this could fit under any of the definitions used for war.

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