In the face of rising console and game prices, monthly MMO fees, and microtransactions, gamers, including myself, have taken to complaining. It's what we do best. But what if your montly gaming fee was over $200? What if you had to wait in line for 4 hours at a gas station just to buy enough fuel to run your PS2? What if you had to avoid gangs, militia, para-military factions, and the U.S. Military to get bootlegged copies of
FFXII,
Grand Theft Auto, and
Metal Gear? Maybe the above video will help to put things in perspective.
Make the jump for more about Wisam and what it's like to be a gamer in Baghdad.
Aive in Baghdad is a video blog that offers an alternative to mainstream media coverage on the war in Iraq, with a focus on the people of Baghdad, as opposed to its government and military. Finding people willing to speak in front of a camera is hard enough, and finding topics that people feel comfortable speaking about is even more so. Until you take into account the universal appeal of doing drugs and killing hookers.
Enter Wisam, an Iraqi gamer that was featured on AiB last month, speaking about the hardships of gaming in Baghdad as well as the Iraqi gaming scene. His favorites include Metal Gear, Grand Theft Auto, and FFXII. He's actually further than me in FFXII. Awesome. To boot, the Metal Gear and Final Fantasy franchises helped him learn English.
MTVNews caught wind of the story and then caught up with Wisam. This article gives some history of AiB and then gets into the general gaming scene in Baghdad. Here's the rundown: Soccer games are hot, Nintendo isn't. War games used to be really popular, but now they just make people uncomfortable.
Prohibitive costs and the dangers of leaving your house aside, this might be the most harrowing clip from both pieces:
In fact, there's only one game with guns he can still tolerate. "'Grand Theft Auto' is the exception. Because 'Grand Theft Auto' is like us."
Abdullah concurs, saying San Andreas looks like his city. "It was very, very similar to Baghdad. We were like, 'Oh my God. These are the same actions that happen in Baghdad.' There are some places that are divided. For each place, there is a gang ruling that place. You can go down the street and drive any car. If you want to jump on a motorcycle, you can do it."
Well, that, and Wisam's last words in the AiB video: "People are dying here. And for no reason."
So, next time you want to complain about the corporate greed of Microsoft, Sony, or EA, keep in mind that it could be worse.
[Via bits, bytes, pixels, & sprites]
Contest:
7:54 PM on 01.10.2007
| 
I went to an game store and didn't see any nintendo there
they also don't have an rateing system because the games are bootlegged ( through if you do go to one of the malls then there should be games from the U.S there)
Nobody should be in Baghdad except people who want to die, but there's no easy way out. Sad.
My favorite thing about America's ongoing mindfuck?
The press and many Americans refer to "The Violence" likes it's some indigenous weather phenomenon that "our troops" have been caught in. Like a sandstorm. Or a hurricane.
It's not like our troops cause any of "The Violence." It's not like our bullets are responsible for "The Violence." Nope, "The Violence" has always been blowing into Iraq and blowing out just like El Nino.
Bring an umbrella.
Wait, scratch that, his tv was bigger.
And you know what? Violence WAS prevalent in the Middle East a long time before we were there. I assume we should just have completely forgot about 9/11 and just said, "Whatever." Then we can start negotiating with terrorists as we lose all credibility. Oh, and how about the irony of using a sceen name based on a character from the military to bash what the military is currently doing?
But then I'll probably be attacked, because the band wagon is SO much fun to be on. And you know what else? We never should have pulled out of Vietnam when we did, and military analysts (not in the military) recognize that fact, so flame me about that, too.
Also, enough with the 9/11 bullshit. That was committed by afghani terrorists. They had no connection at all to sadam or his people. It has no relevance to the iraqi war whatsoever. I'd go so far as to say it had little relevance to the afghani war either(attacking a country because terrorists are from their is just retarded, it'd be like the UK carpet bombing dublin because of IRA attacks), but that's a different topic.
Being anti iraqi war is being on a bandwagon in the same way as liking oxygen or not wanting to be stabbed in the eye.
Bleh.
I've had plenty of friends die, and lost count of the times it was almost me, so don't try to bring the troops into it. Don't fucking speak for me, or any of the other troops. Anyone in the (American) military today has either enlisted, reenlisted, or been commisioned after the shit in the middle east started, so they know exactly what they are getting into.
I'm all for going after the other "tyrants" but we don't sell them oil. I thought the supposed point of this war was so we get oil, has that changed now? The war is not humanitarial, it's protecting our best interests, and take that however you will, its true, get over it.
I'm tired of this bullshit of people going out to cheer at parades, or havign some yellow ribbon flying in their yard, or on their car, then they spit on the people that trying to protect them, whether they realize it or not.
Rest assured, some of my friends are in the ground so you don't have to be, and its a good thing they can't ask for thanks, cause they sure don't seem to be getting any. Fuck you.
I vote to drop the issue, and STFUAJPG. The piece is about how hard it is to game in a warzone, not a soapbox for either side of the war.
also: http://www.digg.com/gaming_news/It_s_tough_being_a_gamer_in_Baghdad