Virtual terrorism
An article came out in the Australian newspaper about virtual terror. The article looked at th possibility of terror groups using virtual worlds (Second Life and World of Warcraft were mentioned), and received a typically skeptical response from the community over at Slashdot. And yes, there is much in that article to set off the hype detectors – not the least of which is the mere mention of Second Life, or the suggestion that the swords and sorcery fantasy World of World of Warcraft could be remotely useful in training terrorists. This isn’t the first time such a thing has been suggested – shortly after September 11 there was some speculation that Microsoft Flight Simulator could have been used as an aid for the terrorists who flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center towers.
So, is this all just a hype-driven joke inspired by security commentators who are dazzled by this ‘new’ technology, or is there something to the idea that online environments might be training grounds of terrorists? Perhaps the United States Army might think so – at least it thinks there’s something gaming can offer to combat training. It has put at least $USD6-8 million directly into gaming, which Wikipedia claims is the cost of the development of America’s Army, a multiplayer combat game that was developed primarily as a recruitment tool for the US Army. In the game players act out the role of US soldiers, working in teams to carry out military-like operations – sometimes playing alongside active US servicemen and women.
