Video games used to promote jihadist propaganda

In a bit of an ironic reversal, the U.S. spies are trying to use video games to find "terrorists" which I guess will include jihadists. The article, with a title of "U.S. Spies Want to Find Terrorists in World of Warcraft", is at http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/nations-spies-w.html. My guess is that whatever techniques they use will most likely work best (if they work at all) on the people who are the most addicted to video games since they will be spending the most time playing the game giving the techniques the most opportunity to work, plus by being so immersed in the virtual world and losing the distinctions from the real world, they may let their guard down more. On the other hand, I wonder how much time the most dangerous terrorists would actually spend playing MMORPGs like WoW?

There is another closely related article to the one in the previous post.A This article, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7274377.stm, provides some additional details (warning: there is a small WoW graphic in the upper right corner).A For example, it says that:

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Codenamed Reynard it aims to recognise "normal" behaviour in online worlds and home in on anomalous activity. It is likely to develop tools and techniques for intelligence officers who are hunting terrorists and terror groups on the net or in virtual worlds.

Also, it says that:

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Brief details about Reynard came to light in a report sent to the US Congress by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) - which co-ordinates the work of US intelligence agencies. In that report, which talked about the data mining efforts undertaken by the ODNI, Reynard was described as: "a seedling effort to study the emerging phenomenon of social (particularly terrorist) dynamics in virtual worlds and large-scale online games and their implications for the intelligence community".

Finally, it says that:

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A senior intelligence officer at the ODNI said Reynard was in its very early stages and it was too soon to say which online worlds it would be studying. He added that any work on it would be purely for research rather than "operational" purposes. "I think its highly unlikely terrorists would use things like Second Life or World of Warcraft as they do not have the necessary security," said Mr Jones. "Terrorist use of the internet at the moment relies on password protected forums," he added. Said Mr Cochran: "All of the major terrorist treatises have been distributed through the internet so taking it to a virtual world with multi-player role games is really an easy step."

As such, although their data might include some some information regarding gaming addiction, it is very unlikely that they be trying to extract those details, much less use them for any particular purpose.A Also, I rather doubt that they would make any of their gathered information public either due to the general secrecy involved with spy agencies.

There is another related article called "World of Warcraft Shines Light on Terror Tactics" at http://www.wired.com/... (WARNING: It shows a graphic from WoW).A It says that

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Charles Blair, deputy director of the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies, said he thinks the game could provide a powerful new way to study how terrorist cells form and operate. His organization already uses computer models to study terrorists' tactical decision-making, but World of Warcraft's army of players adds a realistic dimension that might prove more enlightening than even the best baked-in artificial intelligence.

but that

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Because the stakes for both terrorists and civilians are lower than they are in the real world, Yale's Gottlieb said he remains skeptical that the game could shed much light on the deeply complex social, political and cultural causes of terrorism. "This is very interesting and relevant to the times," he said, "though I wouldn't base a new counterterrorism strategy on the nuances of a videogame."

Another related article, Virtual Jihad Game Sparks New York Civil Liberties Union Lawsuit (WARNING: This is a pro-gaming site and it has a large graphic of what appears to be a medieval individual, likely from the video game), says the following regarding shutting down the controversial Virtual Jihadi video game exhibition:

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Virtual Jihadi is actually a PC mod of a mod of a low-budget first-person shooter that came out in 2003. In the original game, Quest for Saddam, players hunt down and kill Saddam Hussein. The first mod, created by Al Qaeda, re-skins the game so that players are out to get President George W. Bush. Virtual Jihadi is Iraq-born artist Wafaa Bilal's follow-up mod to the game which puts Bilal in the role of an Iraqi citizen who joins Al Qaeda to avenge his dead brother by killing Bush. Bilal says that his work is designed to raise awareness about the vulnerability of Iraqi citizens' recruitment by Al Qaeda "because of the U.S.'s failed strategy in securing Iraq." Also, he says the game addresses the racist stereotypes presented in the original game, Quest for Saddam.

It is quite possible that the mod that they are referring to of the video game is the same one that I mentioned in the original post in this thread. Regardless, my continuing concern is with the possible dangerous effects of combining video game addiction, or at least excessive playing video games, with games that are expressly designed for political purposes.