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US Intelligence Agency to Study MMORPGS

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X0d1@k

X0d1@k

Member
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Joined
Mar 27, 2003
Location
Drano(Reno), NV
Ok, i have to say, that while i understand that studying a virtual world is important, HOW THE HECK is following a Dwarf, Elf and Human (Fighter, Mage and Priest) going to protect my children from terrorist activity? What will the US find from this study? That islamists ALSO like the 1337 stuff tooo? WTF!!!! Is this where my tax dollars go!???(Yes, i had to pay this year and last.....)

Ok, enough hatred. I guess i should now apply for a job doing this for the government.

Will we ever learn from our mistakes?

I want to see the headline, "The US safer thanks to World of Warcraft, and Spyren, 75th Level Ranger on Bloodhammer Server".

I forgot to post the link, because i hadnt consumed my recommended daily serving of caffeine.
Link

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/nations-spies-w.html
 
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Maye it's to gank players from the other countries to deter them from attacking them. Or maybe it's to show that their so good (witch their not) that they can play games instead of working.
 
It may be to try to understand why so many people get addicted to them and figure out how to try and get americans off of MMO's because they feel MMO's are an act of terrorism....

Who knows why really... but I think it is a waste...

also... do you have a link to where you recieved your information?
 
I'd like a link too, because we can't judge for ourselves otherwise.

Lacking in information as I am, I'd have to say that it's probably something to do with the social aspects and they addictiveness. MMOs are heavily addicting, far more so than any other type of game ever dream of touching. Some people waste away playing MMOs. They eat less, they don't go out, they don't socialize IRL. I'm sure there's useful info to be had in studying why that is and then trying to replicate it somehow, or fight it, or some other such thing. (personally, I just think it's the open ended and always changing nature of a persistent world. being a former mmo player myself, that's why I found them so attractive).

That's my guess, without the source article to read.
 
X0d1@k said:
Ok, i have to say, that while i understand that studying a virtual world is important, HOW THE HECK is following a Dwarf, Elf and Human (Fighter, Mage and Priest) going to protect my children from terrorist activity? What will the US find from this study? That islamists ALSO like the 1337 stuff tooo? WTF!!!! Is this where my tax dollars go!???(Yes, i had to pay this year and last.....)

Ok, enough hatred. I guess i should now apply for a job doing this for the government.

Will we ever learn from our mistakes?

I want to see the headline, "The US safer thanks to World of Warcraft, and Spyren, 75th Level Ranger on Bloodhammer Server".
Click to expand...
any source?
 
Virtual reality has been a training tool for the military and probably the intelligence community for years. Its just that its usually shooters like America's Army that you hear about. There are also some non-violent VR scenarios to train cops and MPs in foreign countries.

The beginning of one of the more recent James Bond movies had a VR scene in the opening minutes.
 
Im retarded! Sorry i didnt post the link, i was about a quarter into my first cup of coffee and got this from my paranoia/conspiracy friend here at work. I reacted much like animals startled from sleep; angry, combative and ready for blood. Anyways, read the story and tell me what you guys think. Or not. I guess it makes me mad that this study is funded by my tax dollars, but i guess someone has to pay for it. Just seems like a waste of resources. How do you get a job doing this i wonder? Now that would be interesting.
 
i agree w/ the gov. i mean these terrorist have planted a deep seed by making good games. our country will collapse within like the lying runnaway bride she is as soon as these mothers move the lvl cap to 90. we just cant wait for this to happen we must act now and fully enforce the patriot act on this ***** you call cyberspace.
 
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I read this a while ago. From what I understand it is a legitimate concern. It seems some unsavory characters are using "virtual worlds" to communicate and coordinate. The Gov wants to find ways to log user chats or identify meetings occurring in these virtual worlds. This will be very useful in tracking down unsavory characters as our priory methods have very limited current use. We used to be able to follow the money trail or connect the dots between suspects to find meetings places or information. But unfortunately for the intelligence community the unsavory characters caught on to what was going on and quickly found new ways to spread information. "Virtual worlds", if they are not already, could become a safe haven where they could congregate and swap info with little chance of detection. To what extent they could be utilized in such a fashion is open to debate.

Its not like they are hiring some friggin' gold farmers to follow people around azeroth and recording what they say. At this point its research. The ability for bad guys to use the virtual worlds and our ability to monitor them.
 
Maybe they want to use these games as training. For instance in COD4 the "Death From Above" level where you are a gunner in a AC-130 Spector gunship could prove to be really useful training for a person in that job field. I'll make a quick video so you can see what I mean. EDIT: Nevermind FRAPS does not work in COD4!!!!!!!!!
 
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I don't see it as stupid. First off, no one really knows any specifics on what the government might be trying to accomplish. It's unwise to judge something based on little tid-bits of information.

Second, I can speculate on legitimate reasons why the government would investigate MMO's. Not only can it provide insight for people who study human behavior, it can help assess our current state of security. I know first hand, that a lot of military members, government employees, and other people who have access to sensitive information, play online games like WoW. I also know that there's some people within the defense community, who would, inadvertently spill the beans on subjects that could adversely affect security of operations.
 
I could see using some games like this to recruit younger kids or influence their thinking. What would be worse is influencing older unstable minds, people who could have the power to do immediate damage. What the government can do to stop this (or how), they might be able to track IP's, otherwise I dunno, but I would like a job :).

I really do wish our government would just put their hands in all matters of living and be done with it.
 
This is like when the news was all over how certain multilayer games (never said BF2, but all the videos were clearly of it) were helping train terrorist!
 
Wow, well this is our tax money at work. What a worthy cause, god.
lmao.gif
Maybe they want to know why the pres. plays them. (Bush looks behind himself to see if anyone sees him playing WoW) :)
 
It's hilarious to see so many people on here comment on this subject, and yet they have no freaking clue what interest the government has in it, why they have an interest in it, and how they are going to study it. z0n3 appears to be the only one that has even taken the time to read about it (I haven't even done that).

The entire country (and world) would be a lot better off if ignorant people like yourselves got off your butts and INFORMED yourselves about any particular subject you want to be in favor of or against. Even when people do feel they are informed, half the time they just gobble up the crap somebody else rams down their throat without actually finding out for themselves about it. I don't care how you think or feel about something. Just educate yourself first before spouting off crap that you have no idea about. I'm not going to comment on how useful I think this study is or how idiotic it is because I don't know anything about it. The same goes for almost everybody in here except for the fact that you heard somebody mention it on a video game forum of all places for a discussion on such a topic.:bang head

Yes, the US Government does a LOT of stupid ****. Some of the things they do have merit. A lot don't. I don't know if this one does or doesn't. It could be somebody just trying to justify their job, or there really could be a problem with bad people getting together under the guise of online gaming to plot things. It's not surprising if they do use it as a method of communication when you consider the fact that chat rooms, e-mail, and other mediums are heavily monitored when it comes to such individuals.
 
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Alien1099 said:
It's hilarious to see so many people on here comment on this subject, and yet they have no freaking clue what interest the government has in it, why they have an interest in it, and how they are going to study it. z0n3 appears to be the only one that has even taken the time to read about it (I haven't even done that).

The entire country (and world) would be a lot better off if ignorant people like yourselves got off your butts and INFORMED yourselves about any particular subject you want to be in favor of or against. Even when people do feel they are informed, half the time they just gobble up the crap somebody else rams down their throat without actually finding out for themselves about it. I don't care how you think or feel about something. Just educate yourself first before spouting off crap that you have no idea about. I'm not going to comment on how useful I think this study is or how idiotic it is because I don't know anything about it. The same goes for almost everybody in here except for the fact that you heard somebody mention it on a video game forum of all places for a discussion on such a topic.:bang head

Yes, the US Government does a LOT of stupid ****. Some of the things they do have merit. A lot don't. I don't know if this one does or doesn't. It could be somebody just trying to justify their job, or there really could be a problem with bad people getting together under the guise of online gaming to plot things. It's not surprising if they do use it as a method of communication when you consider the fact that chat rooms, e-mail, and other mediums are heavily monitored when it comes to such individuals.
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Wow freak out much? US Intelligence Agency to Study MMORPGS oh excuse us for passing up a subject that looks so IMPORTANT!!!!
 
Edward78 said:
Wow freak out much? US Intelligence Agency to Study MMORPGS oh excuse us for passing up a subject that looks so IMPORTANT!!!!
Click to expand...

Wow jump to conclusions much? You obviously didn't read my post. I said I hadn't even read anything about it either. Just that it was a serious topic that people were ignorant on yet felt the need to comment on like they know what's going on. It was an observation and a suggestion in general to inform yourself about anything you want to comment on instead of simply jumping to conclusions in favor of or against something before even going over any pertinent info.

After reading it, personally I have to say I'm against such measures. There is already too much big brother crap in our lives already. We don't need anymore, just like we don't need more stupid laws that get passed every year that don't change a thing and only make criminals out of many honest people. There doesn't even seem to be like there's any evidence to support the idea that terrorists may be using WoW as a communications medium.
 
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http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/nations-spies-w.html
There is the link on it I found.

I would guess the government is just looking for terrorists meeting in online games. I seriuosly doubt whether they care if people have downed the latest boss or are acting like children in the game. I'm not going to make a fuss about it as I never really think of MMOs as a private place anyways as they're chat logs and the such.

here is the pdf official document on the topic, I havnt bothered to read it all as its long and in legalese: http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/datamining.pdf
 
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