The Video-Game Invasion of Iraq - The New Yorker
▻http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-video-game-invasion-of-iraq
Mohammed believes that the friendships he has formed through online gaming have had a transformative effect on the way in which some people view his country. “Some people told me they were scared of Iraqis,” he said, “thinking that they are all terrorists. But in reality, we are victims. When they got to know me, they saw the truth and changed their minds about Iraqis. It removed the fear.” A twenty-two-year-old Norwegian, Michael Moe, is now one of Mohammed’s closest friends. The young men met online while playing Battlefield 3, and now speak on the phone or over Skype every few days. “I become worried about Mohammed if I do not hear from him for any more than two days,” said Moe. “I always check up on him when that happens.”
Abdulla almost seems to prefer friends he has made playing online video games. “Here in our home country, most of us have lost some, if not most, of our friends,” he said. “They were either killed or fled Iraq. And you can’t just trust anyone anymore. So a friend across seas who you can trust is better than a friend here who might stab your back any minute.”
Video games will not solve Iraq’s ongoing challenges. But for some young Iraqis, they do provide more than a mere distraction from the terrors of life in the country. The social connections that they encourage, both within Iraq and beyond, have built empathy in ways that may have a profound effect on the way some young people view their place in the world. For Amna, Mohammed’s mother, the effect has been less grand and more localized.
“I used to object about video games,” she said. “I wanted Mohammed to spend more time studying. But I’ve come to see the strange benefits. Video games have broadened his relationships outside of our borders, and formed new bonds. He loves his gaming friends and, from what I can tell, they love him, too.”