The “Peace Maker”
By Kamangir • Feb 12th, 2007 • Category: Iran
I do have Iranian friends here in Canada who are able to write down the Middle East crisis as a single-variable easy-to-solve mathematical problem. Then, the solution to that “problem” would be as easy as President Ahmadinejad “formulates” it; “wipe them off the map”.
My research field is devising and solving optimization problems in telecommunications. In that respect, the type of problem I try to stay away from is the multiple criterion tasks which include parameters of different types that are non-stationary (in other words, their statistical parameters are not fixed). It seems that not everybody has the luxury of working on nice problems.
The PeaceMaker is a turn-based strategy game in which you can act as either the Israeli Prime Minister or the Palestinian President. The flow of the game is fairly simple; you give a speech or do something and wait for one week to see what happens. Then, you do the same, again. As simple as this seems to be, the game literally convinces you to stay at school and find a job as an engineer, and stay away from politics.
There are the Palestinian public, the Palestinian organizations (Fatah and Hamas), the Israeli settlers, the Israeli public, the Arab countries, the US, and all others. Each action by you is followed by increases and decreases in the satisfaction level of each one of these parties. In the Israeli side, for example, you can send a group to assassinate militants and wait to see the settlers praise you. You can also talk nicely to the Palestinians, just to see suicidal minds smiling.
I played twice, once for every side, and both times I ended up getting a secret message that I have just helped the third Intifada begin. I think I was too simplistic, probably exactly like Ahmadinejad and Sharon.
The game is developed very well. The graphics and the details are very good for a package sold for $20. I also enjoyed watching the very appropriate multimedia files showing the results of my actions. The game is also very easy to learn. I would suggest adding a few saved games to the package, because I seriously doubt that you can satisfy both sides at the same time to high extents. I should mention that I found myself shamefully delighted when, after I ordered targeted assassinations, the US bar went upper.
The game installs in three languages of English, Arabic, and Hebrew. The engaged parties are also those speaking these languages. After the dawn of the infamous star, Ahmadinejad, I think they might like to add Persian to the languages, too. Then, I suggest sending a copy of the game to the Islamic Republic Presidential Palace. I wish Mr. Ahmadinejad could find the time to practice his ideology in the “demo” mode, in which bombs don’t kill and crying women easily turn into happy faces.
p.s. I love the Peace Maker’s music.
Posted by Kamangir
Author's email address: arash@kamangir.net | All posts by Kamangir
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funny post :-)
one copy of that game should be sent to every Palestinian and Israeli in the region…lets keep them busy by playing this game so they won’t kill eachother..maybe they will grow up and ponder what’s the end to all these killings!
Ezekiel 38
A Prophecy Against Gog
The word of the Lord came to me “Son of man, turn toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. [Turkey and other nations near the Capsian Sea] Prophesy against him and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says Look, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and bring you out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them fully armed, a great company with shields of different types, all of them armed with swords. Persia [Iran] , Ethiopia, and Put [Libya] are with them, all of them with shields and helmets. They are joined by Gomer [Northern Syria] with all its troops, and by Beth Togarmah [Syria, Levant] from the remote parts of the north with all its troops – many peoples are with you.
“‘Be ready and stay ready, you and all your companies assembled around you, and be a guard for them. After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, with many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely. You will advance; you will come like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the earth, you, all your troops, and the many other peoples with you.
“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says On that day thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan. You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against those living quietly in security – all of them living without walls and barred gates – to loot and plunder, to attack the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center of the earth.†Sheba and Dedan and the traders of Tarshish with all its young warriors will say to you, “Have you come to loot? Have you assembled your armies to plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to haul away a great amount of spoils?â€â€™
“Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will take notice and come from your place, from the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a vast army. You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. In the latter days I will bring you against my land so that the nations may acknowledge me, when before their eyes I magnify myself through you, O Gog.
“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days that I would bring you against them? On that day, when Gog invades the land of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, my rage will mount up in my anger. In my zeal, in the fire of my fury, I declare that on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild beasts, all the things that creep on the ground, and all people who live on the face of the earth will shake at my presence. The mountains will topple, the cliffs will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. I will call for a sword to attack Gog on all my mountains, declares the sovereign Lord; every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will judge him with plague and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, his troops and the many peoples who are with him a torrential downpour, hailstones, fire, and brimstone. I will exalt and magnify myself; I will reveal myself before many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’
who is reaping the financial benefits of this game? are they donated to good causes?
if not, i’m afraid i find it, once again, a way of making money over our (israeli’s and palestinians alike) backs…
sorry :(
Interesting game…how do you quantify valuing death over life (i.e. martyrdom) in designing such a variable?
Full disclosure: I am one of the developers of the game (an Israeli btw). Interesting discussion and thanks for mentioning our game.
I would like to reply to Tsedek’s comment. It is really odd in my eyes that people can’t support a positive video game to promote peace that tries to sustain itself as a business. The main reason we could transfer the game from a university project to a high quality product was our success in obtaining a private investment. How come people oppose a business with social aspirations and they have no objections to violent video games being sold all over the world or worse- companies making a buck by producing weapons? If “peace” will stay the domain of non-profit organizations, my concern is that we will stay a niche and we won’t be able to convince any main stream company to follow this positive route.
Asi
Actually the solution is far more easier than it seems. We just hafta nuke those evils.
Vince P,
Sorry, I did not get it.
Shaikh,
Yeah, you are right.
Ina,
You might like to read this.
That is potential war scenerio involving Russia, Iran, and other countries who go to war against Israel.