Armed conflicts are inexhaustible sources of misinformation. With increasingly realistic graphics, video games are often edited and presented as actual war footage. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the game developers weapon 3 see its title increasingly used in this sense.
Ineffective reporting to platforms
The Bohemia Interactive studio, based in Prague, in the Czech Republic, therefore launches an alarm signal, reports Eurogamer. The company encourages gamers and content creators to “use your gameplay footage responsibly,” “avoid catchy video titles,” or “always clearly mention that the video is from a video game.”
“While it’s flattering that Arma 3 simulates modern warfare in such a realistic way, we’re not satisfied that it could be mistaken for actual combat footage and used as war propaganda,” says Pavel Křižka, the studio’s communications manager.
Bohemia Interactive explains that it has tried to combat the proliferation of its misleading videos. But attempts to inform platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitch or Instagram have been ineffective.
Low quality videos, no sound and at night.
In order to allow everyone to recognize a fake gameplay video, the developers have implemented a kind of guide. On its site, Bohemia Interactive lists the main points to monitor to guarantee the veracity of a sequence.
First, the quality of the video must challenge. Videos taken in-game are often of low quality to erase details that allow their source to be identified. Sound is generally muted, and scenes often take place in dark or nighttime settings. The camera is mostly shaky or shakes enough to simulate shooting from a handheld phone.
Despite advances in animation, there are rarely any soldiers or humans in fake videos. The quality of the movements is not yet faithful enough to fool the human eye. Finally, attention should be paid to the effects of particles (explosions, smoke, fire or dust) or the display of an in-game element, such as the amount of ammunition available, the name of the player or the state of the vehicle within the interface.
In 2012, Ofcom, the UK’s telecommunications regulator, took over the British television network ITV. Images from the previous game from Bohemia Interactive, weapon 2, had been included in a documentary about the deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi. More recently, in 2018, the Russian News Service used images ofweapon 3 to illustrate the war in Syria.
Source: BFM TV
