Online Game Helps Iraqi Girl Forget About War & Death

March 17, 2008

CNN offers a touching profile of Wurud, a 14-year-old trying to cope with the stress of living in war-torn Iraq:

When a bomb blows or something explodes, you know, I just keep on sitting here. I don't move. It's a big jail. [In dreams] I always see myself running, dying.

Zwinky, an online game, helps Wurud escape from the stress, at least temporarily:

She bounces over to her computer. "And look -- this is Zwinky World," she says, referring to an online virtual reality world similar to Second Life. "And that's me," she says, pointing to her gothic avatar...

In Zwinky World, Wurud says she can escape the war all around her. She likes to shop at the virtual mall for T-shirts, dresses, shoes -- "Everything," she says. "That's so fun!"

GP: Before anyone decides to download Zwinky, we note that the game has generated some concerns among PC security types. From its Wikipedia entry:

A review from McAfee SiteAdvisor of the Zwinky website states, "In our tests, this site promoted downloads that some people consider adware, spyware or other potentially unwanted programs." There are also many user review complaints about the spyware that the Zwinky website supports.

Posted in Games & Culture People

Comments

Re: Online Game Helps Iraqi Girl Forget About War & Death

Submitted by airmaxshoes on Thu, 11/13/2008 - 01:34.

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Submitted by broken scope (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 19:32.

A avatar based chat program help a kid deal with a war torn country.

Yay escapism.

Submitted by TheBird (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 08:22.

looks like those things are good for something

Submitted by Cheater87 (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 08:23.

I'm glad she has an escape from reality in Iraq. Hope she can get rid of the malware.

Submitted by Dog of the Military (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 09:39.

So wait, a 14 year old girl can escape the problems in Iraq by playing video games and the media praises it, and yet if we do it by playing Goldeneye or Doom, we are potentially serial killers? HYPOCRISY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@TheBird and Cheater87: At least we can say we have a small victory since this is part of what video games are about. But in this case it would just be selfish, so at least she has a way to avoid reality, however she shouldn't fully drown herself into it since it is a dangerous place, but also at 14, should should actually be aware of what's going on in her country.

IMO, of course. :)

Submitted by Blase (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 09:46.

I am sure there is a hidden murder simulator in there and the poor kid is just getting brainwashed. And there's the malware. Gasp!

Submitted by Bianca (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 10:13.

@ Dog of the Military

Now you get it. The keyword is "G-I-R-L", girl.

[sarcasm] As we all know, it's only guys who play the shooters, hence don't get praised. [/sarcasm]

Submitted by King of Fiji (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 12:23.

I think when your in Iraq the least of your problems is spyware and adware. XD

Submitted by jadedcritic (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 12:26.

I heard something similar once on NPR. I forget what part of the world it was. Think it was either Iraq or Gaza, might have been border Israel. Beirut maybe? They were talking to an author who'd been interviewing kids and had come across one story of a kid who'd been playing WoW during a major attack. When it happened, he'd told his guild/raid that there were real bombs going off where he lived and they'd responded with some degree of sympathy and understanding. He took some consolation from that, the basic attitude being, "well, at least there's some people over there that know what's happening".

Don't mistake me, life is short, you have to find comfort where you can, and I'm glad he found some solace in that; Now that I've said that, I will also say that if there were bombs going off nearby, I damn sure wouldn't be playing WoW. (ug - what a world.)

Submitted by GRIZZAM 512 (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 16:29.

What the fuck is Zwinky?

Submitted by Jack Thompson is a douchbag (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 16:37.

Yay videogames help you. In your fucking face JACK THOMPSON!

Submitted by Aliasalpha (not verified) on Mon, 03/17/2008 - 20:10.

@Bianca

By your comments I assume that you're a girl who plays shooters. Would you mind going on a killing spree to remove this base sexual discrimination that seems to be tainting this issue?

C'mon, you can do anything a man can do, girl power!

Submitted by vasudean (not verified) on Tue, 03/18/2008 - 04:34.

Yay, it goes to show that games don't fuel violent outbursts, it creates an outlet for stress when you're incapable of outletting it in other places.

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Tue, 03/18/2008 - 13:09.

"wuss-on-wuss violence"

I needed to clean my computer at work after that line.

Submitted by Ebonheart (not verified) on Tue, 03/18/2008 - 17:11.

Hmm, how my "wuss on wuss" post made it into this article is beyond me. Now for what I meant to say on this article,

@Dog of the Military

Well your not a 14 y/o girl living in wartorn Iraq.

Submitted by chuck (not verified) on Tue, 03/18/2008 - 19:14.

Escapism indeed. Look, I'm not going to disparage escapism here -- I sure as hell would want to escape that world too -- but I'm also not going to hold it up as "the magical healing power of video games". Especially when it's not even a game, it's just an avatar icon. Fluff all around.

Submitted by StealthKnight (not verified) on Wed, 03/19/2008 - 00:35.

Those are some interesting stories of escapism. I hope she lives to her fullest.

Submitted by relax guy (not verified) on Wed, 03/19/2008 - 17:37.

@ jadedcritic

people do eventually just try to get on with their lives regardless of what is going on around them. i think because shitting yourself in the corner gets boring.

Shout box

Andrew Eisen: That article is over five years old, Uncharted. A fun blast from the past though.02/12/2012 - 10:47pm

Uncharted NES: Critics: 'Left Behind' game glorifies violence- http://tinyurl.com/wu64s02/12/2012 - 4:34pm

Zen: I felt Brutal Legends was a funny & beautiful look at the world of rock from Double Fines point of view. The only parts I wasn't hot for were the RTS bits as it felt forced. Otherwise fantastic.02/12/2012 - 1:34pm

DorthLous: Passed 1.5M$. And I'd also say that Brutal Legend is far from being a bad game. I just think it was a few levels under what people expected from the people working on the project.02/11/2012 - 8:25am

Technogeek: Brutal Legend wasn't bad so much as "marketing had no idea how the game actually played", causing it to suffer accordingly.02/10/2012 - 10:38pm

RedMage: It looks the CIA's website has been DDOS'ed. Anon?02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

RedMage: Brutal Legend.02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

ddrfr33k: Has anything Tim Schafer ever made been of crap caliber? I'm struggling to think of one...02/10/2012 - 7:37pm

Guamish: I think it is in good hands. Tim did a game for the GDC award show and that was fun for how short it was.02/10/2012 - 12:22pm

Andrew Eisen: It'll be tragic if the game ultimately sucks.02/10/2012 - 12:17pm

james_fudge: $1.3 million02/10/2012 - 11:32am

Uncharted NES: Germany Says It Won't Sign ACTA [Update: ... Yet]- http://tinyurl.com/7r2twrg02/10/2012 - 11:21am

Andrew Eisen: Damn. Double Fine's Kickstarter fund has already passed a million dollars.02/09/2012 - 8:16pm

Andrew Eisen: Audrey didn't quote the sassy parts. Here's IGN's article: http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218359p1.html And here's my original post: http://tinyurl.com/7y68a3902/09/2012 - 7:50pm

james_fudge: I hope you some said something sassy! Where's the link?02/09/2012 - 7:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Hey, neat. IGN quoted a blog I had writen only two hours earlier. I certainly timed that one pretty well.02/09/2012 - 7:38pm

Andrew Eisen: Toki Tori has been added to the Humble Bundle for Android.02/09/2012 - 5:11pm

james_fudge: Thanks for the heads-up DorthLous02/09/2012 - 4:33pm

DorthLous: Will do, my apologies.02/09/2012 - 4:14pm

Andrew Eisen: I appreciate the heads up but please keep typo alerts to the specific article's comments or PMs.02/09/2012 - 3:33pm

All shouts

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