There’s a Red Cross committee presently debating whether or not people playing war video games should be subject to the same humanitarian laws as people involved in real wars with real people and real weapons. So far as I can tell they’re doing this entirely seriously.

This is sort of on the heels of game maker, Activision’s announcement earlier this year that 62 billion “people” had been virtually killed in the online game Call of Duty: Black Ops. Including 242 million incidents of online avatars being stabbed to death at close range. Or, you know, as close-range as you can get sitting behind an online gaming console.

From the committee’s website:

While the Movement works vigorously to promote international humanitarian law worldwide, there is also an audience of approximately 600 million gamers who may be virtually violating International Humanitarian Law.
…
Exactly how video games influence individuals is a hotly debated topic, but for the first time, Movement partners discussed our role and responsibility to take action against violations of this law in video games.

So I guess it’s only a matter of time before PETA hears about Angry Birds.

[Source: Daily Mail]