Information Warfare: Where the Terrorists Always Win

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May 10, 2006: The U.S. Congress has been formally informed, by expert testimony, that non-U.S. computer game players often modify the games to show themselves as the good guys, and Americans as the bad guys. This has been going on for over a decade. Back in the 1990s, computer game publishers found that adding more game modification options was popular with their customers, and helped sell more games. The first of these game editors appeared in the early 1990s. We're talking very powerful editors, enabling the player to make graphic and play mods on the game, usually in the form of new scenarios. Games like DOOM, made it easy to modify the graphic elements, which led to the creating of some spectacular "wads" (as the modified scenarios were called.) These modifications are now coming called "mods", and since 2001, kids in Moslem countries have been creating lots of mods that show Islamic irregulars fighting U.S. troops. Visuals from these mods often show up on pro-terrorist web sites. Terrorist leaders believe these mods are good for recruiting. After all, the U.S. uses an online game, America's Army, to help with recruiting, and believes that it works. Then again, U.S. troops have a much lower casualty rate than Islamic terrorists, which may make a difference. But the Moslem gamers can use the game editors to make the Islamic fighters more powerful than they are in reality. While an entertaining illusion, it can get you killed more quickly in actual combat.

 

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