Sirp: (video)games in infowars

Propastop blog aims to draw attention to various ways propaganda is conducted and distributed. This way the reader will have the possibility to assess their efficacy. The volunteers found from a cultural newspaper „Sirp“ an article about what role games have in info wars and propaganda.

The article gives an insight into the history of Estonian games and finds there hints of influence activities. It also describes nowadays, how computer games are affecting people.

Video game “America’s Army” (“America’s Army”, 2002) is one of the biggest, best-known and most successful examples (the success may have something to do with the fact that it is also one of the most costly of the similar projects). It is a video game that has been deployed for state interests. It was created by the US military for recruitment. In 2011 the Chinese People’s Liberation Army created a war game on a similar concept.

The author of this article gives an overview of video games that are related to the attacks of Ukraine, of their contest, aims and distribution.

During the past year, Google Play has offered about 30 games, which in one way or the other are about the events in Ukraine, from protests in Maidan Square until the Crimean events. During the time, some games have been replaced with new ones. Most of the games have very simple mechanics and graphics, probably created by amateurs and are free for download. Many of these games have primitive designs or are simply bad copies of other well-known games like “Angry Birds” (“Angry Birds”, 2009, Rovio). Often they do not gain the attention of specialists who are investigating games. At the same time, for example, both Greenbar dev. games released in 2014, “Angry Ukrainians” (“Angry Ukrainians’) – help the Ukrainians to make a revolution – and “Flapping Viktor “(” Flappy Victor “) –  help Viktor Yanukovych to kill himself – were mostly given positive marks in Google Play by 2700 players. This gives reason to believe that the actual number of players is many times higher.

Photo: Screenshot from „Battle of Donetsk.“