Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

I saw something on the news this morning about some concerns regarding some people who may be playing some kinds of video games in relation to them practicing for war or learning about war, strategies, etc., I believe it was. I didn't hear all of the story as I was busy doing other things. However, it really concerns me that someone could use a "toy" or entertainment product to have some, or any, connection to a real War. That is troubling, I think.

Technology, even video games, are so very "real" in some instances and I could see where they would be a very good and educational tool for use in this area as well as in other areas. I suppose you can always find the good, and the bad, in anything - even video games.

Has anyone heard anything about using video games for activities such as this, and anyone have any opinions on using video games for this type of thing?

I guessing it relates to games such as Medieval and Rome, where you can command armies to wage war with other armies.
I think it is a great learning tool about Military history, no different than going out to the park and watching Civil War Reenactments.

I once saw a histroy special in which they used the Rome engine to show how the battles were fought, it was very neat. Of course, with these games, you do learn strategies, and I guess that form of education may help with any current wars.

It is troubling, but I do not see it as any sort of major problem. People can be really hard-core when it comes to whatever suits their fancy. It is probably the case here. Also strategy can be considered a type of art for warfare. Weird and cruel as it sounds.

I would have liked to have seen this news segment. Makes for a good conversation/debate with friends methinks.

I've seen news articles about games being used to recruit young people into fighting forces. For example, there was one about an anti-American game that glorified terrorists. I don't recall the name; it's been probably a year since I heard of that. And the US has "America's Army," an online war game, which they use as a recruiting tool. I don't know if such games really teach anything related to real combat, but they are definitely used to get recruits.

I don't think strategy games would be of much use, though I suppose playing some would be no different than reading about the strategies in a book. It's the same data, just in a different medium.

Okay, here's a link to find out more about this story that I heard on the news. What does everyone think?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293616,00.html

I don't have any problem with war games either first-person shooters or real-time strategy games as a teaching tool. Personally, I don't like FPS games, and I'm out of the RTS genre for now too. I've learned all sorts of things about history from RTS games like Rise of Nations or the Civilization series that were unconnected with war.

Even in the case of that article, I don't object to a game as such, even if I completely disagree with the content. People should be allowed to buy a gem or garbage if they so choose.

However, I wouldn't allow a child of mine to play a war game until they were a bit older and had a more developed brain capable of forming their' own judgments. Those games can have a propaganda-like effect on an undeveloped mind.

Yes, I think that's the big problem with games of this type - people use them for propaganda regarding fairly recent events. A game with a historical setting, like the many World War II games, isn't going to be useful as a propaganda tool. But a game about events that happened two to five years ago can hit a lot closer to home with the target audience.