Online Game Simulates 'Worst Case Scenario' in Iraq

Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo! ^ | Sun Feb 9,12:34 PM ET | Reuters

[Forgiven_Sinner]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toppling Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) is in the war simulation game "Gulf War (news - web sites) 2" is the easy part. Coping with what comes next is more difficult.

Players assume the role of President Bush (news - web sites) in the online game, receiving regular briefings from caricatures of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites).

It starts with Baghdad's quick fall but then proceeds to an Iraqi anthrax attack on Israel, a retaliatory nuclear strike, revolt in Saudi Arabia, and a Kurdish coup in northern Iraq.

Once Saddam Hussein's body is found, players are asked to select one of three look-alike successors, who soon requires military backing to fend off an anxious Iran.

There are also anti-American uprisings in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan, which lead eventually to nuclear warheads being smuggled to militant groups.

"This is a projection of the most likely outcome of a new war in the Gulf," reads the Web site www.idleworm.com, home of the game created in November by 33-year-old Dermot O'Connor.

O'Connor, a computer animator who moved from Ireland to California three years ago, drew his source material from interviews and reports in the Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Times of London, the Guardian newspaper in Britain and the Australian Sunday Herald.

The game appears interactive but leads players down a set path, designed by O'Connor to highlight the risks of war.

"There is only one deliberate outcome. It didn't make sense to give people the idea that they could avoid the worst," he said in an interview.

About 20,000 people play the game every day, he said.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

Anyone got a link to this game? I'd like to play it, even though it seems to have an antiwar bias.

[martin_fierro]

Don't waste your time.

I've seen it, and it's just a bunch of lamer anti-war, anti-Bush propaganda.

[Bogey78O]

Wow, he forgot to read Der Spiegel and mine anti-American rhetoric from there.

[AntiGuv]

It's got a very antiwar, antiBush bias - but here it is:

Gulf War 2

It also makes some worthy points to ponder, for all its lack of objectivity.

[July 4th]

It's not really a game - you just click a couple of buttons that have no effect on the outcome. Total anti-war propaganda.

[Route66]

'The game appears interactive but leads players down a set path...'
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
In other words, it's not truly a game, it's anti-war (anti-US ) propaganda.

[Bobby777]

I've seen it ... it's not a game, just show potential scenarios ... it does assume worst case in nearly all situations, but it was interesting ... given our "allies" around the world ... I don't have the link ...

[Bogey78O]

There's no interactivity. You simply click "continue".,

Your only choice is who replaces Saddam.

[FairOpinion]

In other words, it's not truly a game, it's anti-war (anti-US ) propaganda.
---

I was just there and watched part of it, you have absolutely no choices, other than click on "continue" and watch Iraq nuke Israel and so on.

One question -- if they do have all those weapons, why should we wait, for them to get even stronger? Or do they think the US should get on our knees in front of Saddam and allow him to blackmail us and the whole world?

Logic is not the anti-war crowd's strong point.

[Bogey78O]

http://freepers.zill.net/users/bogey78o_fr/puppet.swf

[Samurai_Jack]

Oh Good Lord what a gigantic waste of time, at least they could have made it fun. This thing is stick figures and the assumptions they make are absolutely meritless and cynical. At least they could have launched the damn nukes so that we could have a good fantasy out of it.

Not Worth Your Time.

[blam]

"... it does assume worst case in nearly all situations, but it was interesting ... given our "allies" around the world ...

LOL.

[weegee]

Do any of those worst case scenarios include the loss of many Hollywood A-list actors to the cause of "human shields" defending Saddam and his property?

[FairOpinion]

http://freepers.zill.net/users/bogey78o_fr/puppet.swf


Excellent!!!

[Bobby777]

exactly ... I think in the end Islam will always side with Islam ... I don't say that as a good thing, simply an observation ...

[AntiGuv]

Great work!

[Bobby777]

could we drop Jerry Springer and Rosie O'Donnell on Saddam? ... I think Saddam would sue for peace ...

[Slainte]

I was hoping for a game with at least a nod to the depth of Chris Crawford's geopolitical game from the 80's "Balance of Power." Boy, was I disappointed. I didn't always agree with Crawford's underlying assumptions, but at least you could put forward policies that actually had an effect on the game.

[mikegi]

He forgot to put in the part where the simultaneous detonation of hundreds of 2000lb JDAMs in Iraq cause the Earth to crack open, spewing hot lava all over a kennel containing innocent Iraqi-Labrador puppies. When the crack reaches the water, it causes tidal waves which sink our carrier groups in the Med and Persian Gulf. Iraq's biological weapons are released and kill all human life on the planet in 22 days. All of this happens because Dubya wanted to line his pockets with oil money and get revenge for the attempted assassination of his father!

This is the most probable outcome.

[oyez]

The worst case senario is is going to happen in the Iraqi case.