Violent games educate kids, says Imperial War Museum

VIOLENT video games can be a useful introduction to history, the Imperial War Museum said, as it opens an exhibition on how they portray conflict.

War Games examines various portrayals of warfare in computer games, displaying them alongside real objects from its collections, and asks why the public has such an obsession with this kind of entertainment.

Chris Cooper, the head of the Second World War at the IWM and a co-curator of the exhibition, said that, as with films, television and books, video games could play a role in educating people.

“If you talk to some academics, they will tell you students coming through university now have a broad awareness of conflict hotspots, of the technologies involved and so on,” he said. “Like any other entertainment, films like Saving Private Ryan, for example, [or] games give you an idea of what happened … They might not all be real, but it certainly raises awareness,” he added.

The exhibition examines games from best-selling, reality-defying blockbusters such as Call of Duty, to gritty, lesserknown indie titles inspired by events like the Siege of Sarajevo. The games are then juxtaposed with real items from the museum’s collection. “There is a tension throughout the exhibition; that tension between reality and the entertainment industry,” said Mr Cooper.

The objects, he said, were selected to

‘Games give you an idea of what happened … They might not all be real, but it certainly raises awareness’

expand on the games’ themes or to offer counterpoints to their portrayals.

For example, the exhibit features footage from and interviews with the makers of Six Days in Fallujah, a forthcoming game about US marines during the Iraq War. Next to it is an electric keyboard abandoned by an Iraqi civilian in Mosul as he fled Islamic State.