If my video game actions count, I may be one of the worst criminals of all time. Shooting my enemies while they are down, engaging civilians in firefights, and reducing entire towns to rubble. It was all ungentlemanly conduct, and the International Red Cross found it disgusting.

Discovered by Kotaku (open in new tab), this world-renowned humanitarian organization has created a set of rules (open in new tab) for us to follow in online FPSs, "to show everyone that war has rules too, and to challenge you to play an FPS according to the real rules of war to show everyone that war has rules. There are four rules in total:

As part of the campaign, the ICRC actually registered several streamers on their Twitch channel (opens in new tab) and on April 15 they were asked to play games such as PUBG, Warzone, Fortnite, Tarkov, and Rainbow 6 Siege while following the rules. and other games. In addition, they helped create a special mode (open in new tab) in Fortnite that allowed them to "learn to follow the REAL Rules of War" in the game.

In other words, as strange as it may sound, this is all very noble and in fact nothing more than a way to raise awareness of the REAL rules that govern or control military conflict. But I can't help but feel that there is an unintended perverse message here: anyone who actually follows these laws to the letter in a game of COD or Fortnite will almost certainly lose.

Call me cynical, but in a game of "Warzone," for example, you wouldn't bet money on a squad that nobly refuses to execute a fallen enemy and keeps trying to recover a fallen opponent. So while players might learn everything there is to know about the rules of war, I can't help but think they might also get the message that anyone who really wants to win should throw it away at the first opportunity. Perhaps that is not the lesson the Red Cross wants to convey to the players.