![]() NOAH SMITH I would say that the numbers speak for themselves. What do you think we as readers will lose? Is the Post missing an opportunity here? And now you can control this weapons system.īROOKE GLADSTONE Now, this week, The Washington Post announced that they were shutting down their gaming vertical called Launcher. And they said, because kids today, this is what they're comfortable with and we don't want to waste time teaching them a new interface. In fact, I did a story about a weapons system in Israel that was going to be developed where they actually used, instead of a joystick, an actual Xbox controller that they got on. And yeah, I think the military certainly understands that if you want to reach younger people, it's videogames. But number two, also looking at the increased relevance of video games, that it is a mainstream and in fact, most lucrative form of entertainment in the world.īROOKE GLADSTONE Yeah, the military has used games to inspire recruitment and to train for some time. NOAH SMITH First of all, I thought it was hilarious. ![]() He was very clear about the fact that they were serious about making sure that classified documents, as defined, were not just posted willy-nilly online just because whatever gamer thinks, oh, you know what? It's not a big deal.īROOKE GLADSTONE So given that the stakes are so low, what struck you about this story? You know, I spoke with a spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defense. And that's why the game publisher acted so quickly to take it down. On the other hand, there's a deeper issue at play here, which is, you know, folks thinking that it is okay or acceptable to post classified information online. All of them came back and said, look, the information that was posted online was basically not a big deal. You know, I spoke to several sources and military experts, folks who are in the military, folks who operated tanks. NOAH SMITH Safe to say it is not life and death. It could be salespeople, people who are trying to sell this at different trade shows. It could be people in foreign militaries. The Chinese example, it was a tank shell, something that goes in the tank that they shoot, and they post that next to what they posted from the manual to sort of prove its legitimacy.īROOKE GLADSTONE What do we know about how this classified information, these manuals, were obtained to begin with? They posted some manuals related to those tanks - a British one, French one and a Chinese one that were at least technically classified. Like, how does it even catch me?īROOKE GLADSTONE And to force their opinion on what would make it more real. ![]() From how far? Dude, he was, like, almost three kilometers behind me. GAMER CLIP What? Oh, he hit me with a missile, bro. This is then where the argument could ensue. The argument was something like, oh, that should have blown up the tank and it didn't blow up the tank. And then the Chinese tank shoots the shell and it hits the tank at a – I'm making this up – but say a 45 degree angle in the turret and there's no damage done. Not that realistic, but realistic so you have a British Challenger 2 tank, which is their main battle tank facing off against, say this Chinese ZTZ 99 which is their main battle tank. Not so realistic that they're in 120 degree heat and can't go to the bathroom and getting shot at. NOAH SMITH It's funny, they wanted it to be realistic, not so realistic that like the tank breaks down on the way to the battlefield, which is something a source told me, you know, and then they have to sit there while everybody else plays. He says that these were penny ante leaks, just ammunition really in a dust up between the designers of the game, War Thunder, specifically the Tank War edition of the game, and the ordinance nerds among its users who wanted the game to feel even more real. He writes on the business and politics and cultural implications of video games for The Washington Post. But no one has ever leaked classified documents related to national security in a public forum to win an argument until twice in 2021, and then again last summer” and – I'm updating now – several times since. ![]() The lead from the Washington Post piece last August read “Video games have long led to fights, controllers thrown, unsubstantiated accusations of cheating, insults hurled at mothers and even dogs. But we also see it as yet another case where a forum of vast importance to the post-Boomer generations is being ignored by their elders at their peril. So now we bring you a case where leaked classified material was so insignificant that even when posted online, the authorities barely blinked. BROOKE GLADSTONE This is On the Media, I'm Brooke Gladstone.
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