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Our jaws almost dropped about this story published at Kotaku.com as video games, especially the First Person Shooter as the International Committee of the Red Cross is looking into the possibility that video gamers may be commiting war crimes. You might find it absurd or utterly ridiculous since it's a virtual battlefield where you kill are mainly game sprites. So far, the ICRC say that video gamers are not yet liable to such, but are looking into how video games may be used as training material to commit war crimes.

To put in a proper perspective, the ICRC is mandated under the Geneva Convention to protect non-combatants, war wounded, refugees, civilians, prisoners, and others not involved in armed conflicts. A study by TRIAL, a Geneva-based organisation to check if human rights is respected in video games and here's what is said:

In computer and video games, violence is often shown and the players become 'virtually violent,'" according to the study. "However, such games are not zones free of rules and ethics. It would be highly appreciated if games reproducing armed conflicts were to include the rules which apply to real armed conflicts. These rules and values are given by international humanitarian law and human rights law. They limit excessive violence and protect the human dignity of members of particularly vulnerable groups."

The study found that those rules are often not taken into consideration within game development. Violations they found in games included shooting unarmed combatants (technically prisoners of war), torturing and using weapons that inflict unnecessary injury. While the group said they weren't surprised by their findings, since games are meant to be entertainment, they said they were surprised by how absent the rules were in games.

"The practically complete absence of rules or sanctions is nevertheless astonishing: civilians or protected objects such as churches or mosques can be attacked with impunity, in scenes portraying interrogations it is possible to torture, degrade or treat the prisoner inhumanely without being sanctioned for it and extrajudicial executions are simulated," they wrote.

Read the full article at Kotaku: "War Crimes in Video Games Draw Red Cross Scrutiny" to understand further.

Upon deep reflection, there may be a point, even if it's hazy for the meantime. We always talk about respect of human rights in times of peace and conflict, and if we want that reminder to everyone, then video games should also take this into consideration. With over 600 milion video gamers, that's big audience to send the message of respecting human rights. Video games might be developed to train terrorists or have soldiers train virtually with killing of civilians and those covered by the Geneva Convention  as allowed. Even in video games for mass consumption, even if there's a debate of their effect on violence in society, there are some disturbing scenes with the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 "No Russians" Scene as one of the most controversial:

There are other games where killing non-combatants will penalise the player, but they seem to be an exception nowadays. One way will be for the game publishers and developers to start factoring in the Geneva Convention in their future titles or sequels. We do agree that respect for the Geneva Convention and knowledge of it will be greatly enhanced by such video games. Since we're talking about realism in video games, realism also in the respect of non-combatants should be part and parcel of it.

This should be a cause for reflection for us, airsoft players and video gamers alike. Better to debate about this in the open.