Call of Duty...Why war simulation brings out the best in Americans

Ok... so let me quantify this post with a bit of a disclaimer. At the time of writing this and probably for the not too distant future, I am heavily immersed in the Call of Duty: World at War video game.

So, I turned on my particular console this fine morning and found that Lo and Behold, the video game i was indeed building an unhealthy obsession over was in need of an update and with a hefty amount of my money spent on this game i was indeed happy to find that my wallet was able to remain in tact.

The update bar filled and i was happy, for i was now able to continue to bayonet, shotgun, disembowel and bloodily murder my way through another online adventure.

The Game loaded up...so far so good. I cycled through the options all the while with the memories of the previos nights escapades fresh in my mind. My fingers and neck twitched with anticipation.

And then it happened.

The words that would haunt me for the next 8 - 10 or so hours.

!!!Host Migrating!!!

To the uneducated observer, this may seem like no big deal. Allow me to explain.

With every video game that has been released on any console in the history of online play, the companies that had developed those games had designed special designated servers for people in a particular region to get on and play, Optusnet and telstra in Australia and NZ have their own servers and the companies have server space in each region.

What host migrating is, is the developers way of bypassing that and saying well, you want to play the game huh? hahahaha stupid fool, you will play where we want you to play and where we want you to play is generally filled with hillbillies and racist xenophobes who "Don't want no foreigners on their servers."

-Sidenote-

My general distaste for racists aside, the fact that you dont even want them invading your virtual space is kind of sad and somewhat worrying.

-Sidenote-

Anyways... In my attempts to understand exactly what the problem was I went to the source for all COD: W@W info, The forums, and what should i find but yet more evidence that everyone is inherently anti-American.

Here are a few gems...

"I don't want any Brits, people who don't speak English on my servers anyways..."

- you my dear sir need to go back to school and learn you some history. First of all, without Britain, you bunch of separatists would have nowhere to oppress native American folk and steal their land from them, just like we ex convict [Australian] folk would have nowhere to live if the British didn't annex Indigenous Australian Land.

The great reply to this came from Denmark:

"And this is why we want Americans to have their own servers."

-Can someone say "Served!?!" or at least "Servered!?!" lol

This one from our fine shores...

"I love COD: W@W but the fact that i have to listen to rednecks bitch and moan about foreigners for round upon round is making me annoyed that Treyarch (the developers) got me to fork out $100."

-Someone who knows value for money...

My favorite was this

"The game was made for Americans so we should be given more respect"

- No sir... what you should be given is a lobotomy at screwdriver point.

but after trolling through all 11 or so pages on the forum, and seeing countless post about "Thanks for the update"

my reply was...

"I know i may be the only one thinking about this but all of the people who are saying 'Thanks for the update' don't they realize that this is in fact what got us here in the first place... i mean we could all be online right now digitally maiming people form all over the place but instead we are here bitching and moaning about how bad the devs are... problem will be fixed when it is fixed, i am as pissed as the next guy about the issue but Jesus...chill out.

oh and as for all the Americans whining about how they don't want to play with no god damned foreigners, trust me when i say this... you are the last people we would want to be playing in the first place but the fact that we get to digitally maim and bayonet you is just the sweet sweet icing on a faeces flavoured cake."

Not exactly short....but effective.

After the digital tirade was over, it really got me thinking, are we all inherently racist, I know Americans are not a race of people as much as they like to believe they are.

I am all about playing the best players, i don't mind losing as long as the skill improves, it is like going to a chess tournament and only playing Australians, different people have different tactics and not playing the best person only limits your skills.

It is good to have a little variety now and then but seriously... if i have to hear another... "hell yeah muh fuckah" or a "Niggah... you dead!"

i will take a lighter to the disk, post haste

Citizen Journalism 2.0 (a retrospective)

Army Squeezes Soldier Blogs, Maybe to Death Noah Shachtman 05.02.07

The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer, Wired News has learned. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops’ online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

Military officials have been wrestling for years with how to handle troops who publish blogs. Officers have weighed the need for wartime discretion against the opportunities for the public to personally connect with some of the most effective advocates for the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq — the troops themselves. The secret-keepers have generally won the argument, and the once-permissive atmosphere has slowly grown more tightly regulated. Soldier-bloggers have dropped offline as a result.

The new rules (.pdf) obtained by Wired News require a commander be consulted before every blog update.

“This is the final nail in the coffin for combat blogging,” said retired paratrooper Matthew Burden, editor of The Blog of War anthology. “No more military bloggers writing about their experiences in the combat zone. This is the best PR the military has — it’s most honest voice out of the war zone. And it’s being silenced.”

Army Regulation 530—1: Operations Security (OPSEC) (.pdf) restricts more than just blogs, however. Previous editions of the rules asked Army personnel to “consult with their immediate supervisor” before posting a document “that might contain sensitive and/or critical information in a public forum.” The new version, in contrast, requires “an OPSEC review prior to publishing” anything — from “web log (blog) postings” to comments on internet message boards, from resumes to letters home.

Failure to do so, the document adds, could result in a court-martial, or “administrative, disciplinary, contractual, or criminal action.”

Despite the absolutist language, the guidelines’ author, Major Ray Ceralde, said there is some leeway in enforcement of the rules. “It is not practical to check all communication, especially private communication,” he noted in an e-mail. “Some units may require that soldiers register their blog with the unit for identification purposes with occasional spot checks after an initial review. Other units may require a review before every posting.”

But with the regulations drawn so tightly, “many commanders will feel like they have no choice but to forbid their soldiers from blogging — or even using e-mail,” said Jeff Nuding, who won the bronze star for his service in Iraq. “If I’m a commander, and think that any slip-up gets me screwed, I’m making it easy: No blogs,” added Nuding, writer of the “pro-victory” Dadmanly site. “I think this means the end of my blogging.”

Active-duty troops aren’t the only ones affected by the new guidelines. Civilians working for the military, Army contractors — even soldiers’ families — are all subject to the directive as well.

But, while the regulations may apply to a broad swath of people, not everybody affected can actually read them. In a Kafka-esque turn, the guidelines are kept on the military’s restricted Army Knowledge Online intranet. Many Army contractors — and many family members — don’t have access to the site. Even those able to get in are finding their access is blocked to that particular file.

“Even though it is supposedly rewritten to include rules for contractors (i.e., me) I am not allowed to download it,” e-mails Perry Jeffries, an Iraq war veteran now working as a contractor to the Armed Services Blood Program.

The U.S. military — all militaries — have long been concerned about their personnel inadvertently letting sensitive information out. Troops’ mail was read and censored throughout World War II; back home, government posters warned citizens “careless talk kills.”

Military blogs, or milblogs, as they’re known in service-member circles, only make the potential for mischief worse. On a website, anyone, including foreign intelligence agents, can stop by and look for information.

“All that stuff we used to get around a bar and say to each other — well, now because we’re publishing it in open forums, now it’s intel,” said milblogger and retired Army officer John Donovan.

Passing on classified data — real secrets — is already a serious military crime. The new regulations (and their author) take an unusually expansive view of what kind of unclassified information a foe might find useful. In an article published by the official Army News Service, Maj. Ceralde “described how the Pentagon parking lot had more parked cars than usual on the evening of Jan. 16, 1991, and how pizza parlors noticed a significant increase of pizza to the Pentagon…. These observations are indicators, unclassified information available to all … that Operation Desert Storm (was about to) beg(i)n.”

While trolling across the webverse I came across this article from wired magazine. Basically, the US Army has removed blogging from the list of what enlisted men and women are cleared to do while on active deployment overseas and while I skimmed the aforementioned article i realised that this was what the blog was designed to do, give people who had something to say a new way to say it.

Understandably the US Army is an orgnaisation that is designed to make the residents of the world US safe, and as a result of this they have information that people dont know or shouldnt know etc but if you think about it, who better to tell those at home what the war is really like than those fighting in it?

The First Ammendment on the Bill of Rights gives people the freedom of speech, this is an inalienable right given to ordinary people, dole cheats and CEOs alike. When you sign on to the army it is almost as if you have been sent to prison. The rights you once had are removed, the only difference is you have a Rifle.

Blogging allows people to keep in regular contact with their loved ones, it allows for regular updates to information that may interest a much larger and more significant group of people.

You may say what right does the Army have to do this and all i have to say to that is that it is THE US freaking ARMY…these are people who dont mess around and like the old saying goes, you mess with the bull you get the horns.

Citizen Journalism

Citizen Journalism is not a new phenomenon, it is however, a very unique and effective method of communication. Essentially, it gives anyone with access to the internet the ability to bring attention to any particular topic that may be affecting them. From topics like social injustice to politics to bullying to whatever tickles the writers particular fancy.

Blogging is a great tool for this. The reason for this is that people can express part of themselves in their writing. Whether it is the topic, the style of prose or the associated material. The blog someone keeps says a lot about them not just their interests but how they relate as a member of the human race.

The benefit of the internet as the medium is that it allows for wider dissemination of these articles.

Bloggers were originally seen as cyber-dissidents but with the arrival of blogs such as the huffington post (huffingtonpost.com) this view quickly changed.

At the end of all this what can we really say about Citizen Journalism? Is It merely a tool to give the masses a voice or does it have some deeper social impact?