Al Qaeda Wars pushes the envelope
A new social game gets a bit too gung-ho for my taste in an attempt to make Al Qaeda, America and some of America’s most recognized celebrities look like a bunch of douche bags. The game in question is called Al Qaeda Wars, and it lets you play as the terrorists or American counter-terrorists in the war on terrorism. A social game, Al Qaeda Wars uses Facebook and Google maps to zero in on targets throughout the world.
Playing as the terrorists, the game lets players target celebrities not-so-cleverly hidden under fake names like “Ronal Frump,” “Pest Hilton,” and “Simon Scowl.” The game is a lot like Mafia Wars; you use your Facebook friends to help attack your targets, buying different kinds of weapons, launching “Google Map attacks,” and more. These attacks are games of skill based on actual player locations set on Google maps. Success results in a flash animated destruction of the target.
The end goal is to complete missions, build a global network and participate in special mission that depict the total destruction or protection of famous landmarks including the Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, Taj Mahal, and the Sphinx. Some may say that the game is in bad taste, while other might say it is all in good fun. Those brave enough to give the game a shot can find out more at www.rageongaming.com.
There are some clever ideas in the game at first glance, but some may find the depiction of terrorists as highly offensive because they seem to be exclusively of Middle Eastern descent. Which begs the question, what exactly do terrorists look like? You don’t have to be of Middle Eastern descent to be a terrorist, after all.
