World peace through the virtual warfare of PS2

[RageMasterUK]

ALERT. FLAMABLE IDEA INCOMING.

Men like to fight. War is in our blood. We have evolved as a species because of our ability to fight and to survive. But, no-one likes to get hurt and die. People join up to armies for action and adventure, teamwork, comradery and a sense of belonging. Can they get it elsewhere?

I have always had an affection for virtual warfare. I work for a well known laser combat arena in the UK and love my online war-games. I am a PS1 vet since the start.

Deep down everyone knows that war sux. The people who encourage it are normally the furthest away from its effects. People die, shit gets blown up, enormous amounts of real-world resources are consumed in persuit of it. Millions of people go out to work every day and pay their taxes to support it. Families loose loved ones. War is a FUBAR situation, the only real reason we fight is because young men are convinced and are willing to do so.

If we could convince half of the worlds soldiers to put down their firearms, swap them out for a keyboard and mouse and get online into the global virtual war that will be PS2, can we make a better world? We can break open the paradigm of war, and turn it to a greater purpose. ENTERTAINMENT! HEALTHY CO-OPERATION FOR NON-LETHAL COMPETITION.

News companies make alot of money from our interest in conflicts in foreign countries. They know that there is a market for this information, and send reporters and photographers into harms way to get footage and testimony that the general public will consume happily from the safety of their own sofas. We love it. But could we be equally interested in a war that is online and virtual? I think so.

You get chasecam and ghostcam, you can capture the action from any perspective, you can slow it down or speed it up and might even be able to rewind if you missed a conflict you really wanted to check out. You could follow your favourite soldiers, squads and platoons in real time streaming live over the internet. There are bombs going off 24/7. 1000s of rounds being fired every minute and soldiers who have honed their skills and strategies over a hundred failed attempts.

The virtual forum is the best forum for humanities worst qualities. You want to get angry? Want to maintain predjudices? Want to shit-talk the enemy? Want to blow someones brains out the back of their head? Want to ruin someones day? Virtual reality is the best place for it w/o a doubt.

In light of this I suggest SOE mail beta keys to everyone employed in the armed forces so that they might partake in a war that has REAL VALUE, to EVERYONE ON EARTH. A war where nothing in reality gets fucked up. Where there is no price to anyone for failure.

When all the worlds soldiers are fighting online, the politicians and power-brokers who advocate all these realworld wars will have to go and fight them themselves, and send their own children into the firing line for once... wouldnt that be novel. Obviously they wouldnt (as they probably couldnt even handle themselves in a streetfight), and therefore we might finally achieve world peace someday, by exporting the violence of our species to the virtual world, where it shall have no effect on the substance of our lives or anyone elses :D We can be united as Human Beings in the real world, and divide into factions to vent our predjudices online.

Incase you missed it, yes, I am suggesting that PS2 might be the first stepping stone on the path to world peace. Big claim I know.

So I end with a question:
Which type of war do YOU preferr? Real world? Or virtual?

(obvious to say this is a pipe dream of MASSIVE AND EPIC SCALE. You may say that I'm a dreamer. Its true.)

[EnderGraff]

I really do not know why this thread exists here. It really doesn't fit and yes, I am sure flame is incoming.

[DirtyBird]

Fan Fiction. :)

[GreatMazinkaise]

Not really flaming (too much)... but have you considered how bad the hacking would be in a virtual war? Also, that it would quickly degenerate into a real war when someone's feelings got hurt by having lost political power due to a game? Or that most of the people fighting these days don't have computers and internet connections that would allow them to participate in a virtual war?

[Firearms]

Just have hold a chess tournament or a poker game for the rights to food, land, water etc.....it'd be cheaper?

People will always have to die, it is after all the ultimate price there isn't any point otherwise....

[Snipefrag]

ALERT. FLAMABLE IDEA INCOMING.
If we could convince half of the worlds soldiers to put down their firearms, swap them out for a keyboard and mouse and get online into the global virtual war that will be PS2, can we make a better world? We can break open the paradigm of war, and turn it to a greater purpose. ENTERTAINMENT! HEALTHY CO-OPERATION FOR NON-LETHAL COMPETITION.

This post makes no sense at all, its not the soldiers that need convincing.. War happens because the government behind the soldiers decide that:

a) they don't like those guys over there for whatever reason
b) find them a threat
c) would benefit from taking over their land/resources

War is driven by fear, greed and religion when we live in a world where those three things don't exist only then will there be no war. I would think the main thing that draws people to the army isn't as you suggest (a natural tenancy to fighting) but one or more of these things:

1) Patriotism
2) A sense of duty to protect those around them
3) A decent wage with no real qualifications needed

Here i am now wondering if i've been caught up in an elaborate troll and just wasted 3 mins of my life writing this.

EDIT: added in religion, HOW could i forget that one :rolleyes:

[Hosp]

This needs to be moved to the political thread otherwise...IBTL.

[CountMeIn]

HEY HEY HEY!
Some girls like to fight too!
Perhaps not irl though, but in games!

[Kriegson]

This post makes no sense at all, its not the soldiers that need convincing.. War happens because the government behind the soldiers decide that:

a) they don't like those guys over there for whatever reason
b) find them a threat
c) would benefit from taking over their land/resources

War is driven by fear, greed and religion when we live in a world where those three things don't exist only then will there be no war. I would think the main thing that draws people to the army isn't as you suggest (a natural tenancy to fighting) but one or more of these things:

1) Patriotism
2) A sense of duty to protect those around them
3) A decent wage with no real qualifications needed

Here i am now wondering if i've been caught up in an elaborate troll and just wasted 3 mins of my life writing this.

EDIT: added in religion, HOW could i forget that one :rolleyes:
^Excellent points ^

One thing to consider though is the multi-trillion dollar industry that is the weapons trade and PMC industry. War not only profits for politicians and warlords, but for arms dealers and mercenaries and various other businesses aside who use these more aggressive means to their own ends.

While it's nice to dream about a world in which armed conflict could be resolved through not only humane but entertaining methods, it will never happen due to those who profit off it.

[GhettoPrince]

You spend most of your time playing x box anyway....but no, this is retarded.

[ChipMHazard]

I am sure that this idea must have seemed like a good idea when you were writing it down... But...No... Just no:p

[Artimus]

Anyone seen Rollerball, basically the same idea except its a sport vs. a vitural game. That would be the only way I would see something like that ever happening.

[Sabot]

Yeah... no. It's a nice idea and all but... sadly the world doesn't work like that... or at all, tbh.

[EisenKreutzer]

TIL war happens because people like fighting.

[Tamas]

Or you can finally accept what War is a natural thing for humans - we've been at it for thousands of years not like we will wake up one day and suddenly realize "we can work this out without conflict".

[RSphil]

for all you older players who watch scifi ROBOT JOX

all im gona say.

[diLLa]

Imagine the amount of cheats and hacks used in this situation.

[Superbus]

While all the other armies were out playing video games; i'd raise my own army with real guns and just take over :D

[Salad Snake]

It's a noble idea, and I commend you for posting it. However, people don't typically go to war to satisfy some urge to fight, the soldier go because they feel like they need to protect their family & friends, because they need to pay back to the country that raised them, and last but not least because they need money.

The people who start wars do so on the pretense of appealing to safety, patriotism, and religion, but deep down they start then through a different urge; the need for power and control (and greed, which in itself is a reflection of the urge to control). If you really want to change human nature, don't target the need to compete or engage in violence, target the urge for humans to have more worth than others and dominate/subjugate each other through the use of power & force.

Greed is also part of this, which is why I hope that one day we find a better way of conducting economies than communism & capitalism....

[Mythoclast]

"Damn, we lost the war game thingy, now we have to give them our oil...or just grab our guns and keep the oil anyways."

Generals use the word thingy a lot in my head.

[Toppopia]

I agree with the OP, we should put down our firearms, pick up the keyboards/game controllers and start using remote controlled robots to fight our battles. :lol:

Or.... turn real life into a video game like that movie called Gamer or whatever its called :eek:

[Brusi]

If gaming were a real threat to military enlistments, i'm sure they would be banned by our respective governements.

I would say, quite the opposite is the case. Now every young man in the first world seems more fully informed and primed for the art of war than any time of relative peace in modern history.

[Kezz]

ALERT. FLAMABLE IDEA INCOMING.

Men like to fight. War is in our blood. We have evolved as a species because of our ability to fight and to survive. But, no-one likes to get hurt and die. People join up to armies for action and adventure, teamwork, comradery and a sense of belonging. Can they get it elsewhere?

Sure. But governments (and their opponents who can't/won't use the ballot box/civil disobedience) will still want control of resources, and will be able to persuade the young that it's worth fighting for what they want. And the last nation with an army gets to take its pick of resources, if it's a mind to.

You can't export conflict to a different arena without the agreement of all parties to the conflict, and if they could agree on that, they'd not be fighting. Boots on the ground is the basic measure of control, and democracy only exists because people with guns will protect it.

[adddemon]

Any benefit a "virtual" war has ends the moment one of the sides starts killing people out of the game, and it would happen I promise it.

So it kinda renders the benefits moot doesn't it?

[IAMDANIEL]

i feel smarter after reading this just knowing that someone thought this was a good idea makes me feel better about myself.

[Ivam Akorahil]

just as you stated it yourself, massive dream, never happening, the idea is interresting but its just not going to happen. ever.

[Piper]

Though I really should know better than to post in this thread of all threads, I'm weak. :p

My nation, currently, is gripped by Olympic fever (it's hugely depressing, but that's another topic). One can suggest that competitive sporting between rival groups was either an attempt by us to circumvent our need for hostility or just a stage on which to train people (mostly men let's face it) for the rigors of war and demonstrate one groups power to another.

Either which way, this is not a novel idea.