Bird’s-Eye: The real piece you need to read on this is in last week’s New Yorker, but it’s behind a firewall ☹ Still, we can offer you some consolation: a brilliant Youtube film of Brotherhood, the latest incarnation of Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft) lets you see how the pros do it. The New York Times reports right-winger outrage that in some games players take on the role of the Taliban and try to kill Americans (Ever play ‘Cops and Robbers’?) And Wikipedia provides a look at the battlefield as those who would censor such games, and those who wouldn’t battle it out for control of the centre.
* Assassins Creed Brotherhood YouTube
* Whose Side Are You On? It Might Be the Taliban’s NYTimes
In Medal of Honor’s multiplayer mode, someone gets to play the role of Taliban fighters, and the outcry has begun.
* Video game controversy – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Similar to other forms of media, video games have been the subject of argument between leading professionals and restriction and prohibition. Often these bouts of criticism come from use of debated topics such as video game graphic violence, virtual sex, violent and gory scenes, partial or full nudity, portrayal of criminal behavior or other provocative and objectionable material. Video games have also been studied for links to addiction and aggression. Several studies have found that video games do not contribute to these problems. Furthermore, several groups have argued that there are few if any scientifically proven studies to back up these claims, and that the video game industry has become an easy target for the media to blame for many modern day problems. Furthermore, numerous researchers have proposed potential positive effects of video games on aspects of social and cognitive development and psychological well-being. It has been shown that action video game players have better hand-eye coordination and visuo-motor skills, such as their resistance to distraction, their sensitivity to information in the peripheral vision and their ability to count briefly presented objects, than non-players.
