War Thunder, ARMA3 and the War in Ukraine
What is the responsibility of those who profit from the imagery of war?
The war continues.
Ukraine has defended herself against the Russian invasion for nearly three months.
The Ukrainian people have made their mark on history and much of it has been caught on camera. Analysists note that the Russo-Ukrainian war will become the most documented conflict in human history.
As former army journalist Daniel Johnson described for Slate and ABC News:
“For the first time in history, a large-scale war is being livestreamed minute-by-minute, battle-by-battle, and death-by-death to the world. The amount of information coming out of Ukraine is simply astounding. We have more information coming out of Ukraine in one day then we would have in a week during the Iraq war.”
Of course, we shouldn’t believe everything we see on the internet. Information and misinformation are difficult to distinguish at the best of times, let alone during wartime.
As the Livestreamed War, much of this misinformation comes in the form of video. Trolls take clips from different times, places and conflicts and reupload them as breaking footage from Kyiv or Kharkiv. And, mixed amongst the fakes: video games.
War Thunder’s Missile Defense System
Russian troops invaded Ukraine on 24th February. Within hours, a video surfaced on Facebook purporting to show images of the conflict. Five clips were edited together. Explosions, lightning strikes and anti-aircraft guns.
But none of it was true.
Of the five clips, two were identified as older videos. An explosion filmed at a warehouse in China in 2015 and a lightning strike lifted from a 2019 TicTok upload. Two could not be verified by factcheckers.
And the final clip came from Gaijin Entertainment’s War Thunder.
More specifically, it was taken from the video: The Iron Dome in War Thunder. The clip was produced for the YouTube channel Pandramondo as a countdown teaser for a livestream.
This small fact did not stop the clip being shown on national news stations in Italy, Portugal, and Korea.
“In a way, it made me feel oddly flattered knowing my content is quality enough to be passed as some war footage.”
I reached out to PJ, the animator behind the Pandramondo YouTube channel, to find out more.
“The video originates from a countdown livestream I made in preparation for my latest video release. Since the video featured the introduction of the Israeli forces, featuring their Iron Dome defense system seemed like a cool idea.”
I asked PJ how the incident had affected his work.
“My vision and my line of work remain the same. However, I’ll be more thoughtful when it comes to making videos that can be portrayed differently out of context in the future.”
Despite his apparent nonchalance, PJ decided to tackle the misinformation head on. The day after the fake video was circulated, he published a breakdown of the techniques used to make the video. An effective debunking.
“I could argue that I have no fault at this and simply ignore the issue, however, I decided to step forward and help debunk the misinformation.”
Given that so much misinformation goes unchallenged, PJ’s response was heartening. Inspired by PJ’s initiative and enthusiasm, I was excited to reach out to Gaijin.
However, they declined to comment:
“Sorry, but we do not have anything to say about this, as it’s not about the
game. We have always stayed out of politics. The only thing that we can say is that we pray for peace and safety.”
ARMA3’s Anti-Aircraft Gunners
A similar story emerged in March.
A video began circulating on Facebook claiming to show anti-aircraft guns firing on a Russian jet. The aircraft pitches and rolls as an anti-aircraft gun lays down volley after volley of flack. It is fake, of course. The footage originates from Bohemia Interactive’s military simulator ARMA3.
This was not the first time ARMA3 gameplay has been passed off as real events. Seven days before the invasion, a similar video emerged on Facebook, again claiming to show Ukrainian artillery firing at Russian jets.
Bohemia confirmed with factcheckers that footage was taken from their game. According to Full Fact, a spokesperson for Bohemia verified:
“I can confirm the video originates from heavily modded Arma game falsely tagged as a footage depicting the current conflict in Ukraine.”
Unlike Gaijin, Bohemia did not ‘stay out of politics.’ Instead, they opted to raise money for humanitarian aid. In a blog post from March 2nd, a spokesperson for Bohemia writes:
“We stand with the people of Ukraine and hope for a peaceful resolution soon.”
Responding to a New Genre of Misinformation
We are more aware than ever before of how misinformation damages public discourse. Trolls are not going anywhere, so how institutions respond to misinformation is worth analyzing.
For a change, Facebook acted relatively decisively on the issue. The posts were shared thousands of times but were eventually suppressed. Better late than never. Factcheckers and content creators collaborated and coordinated detailed debunks. These are all relative wins.
On the flip side, the credibility of any news outlet that becomes an unwitting vector for misinformation should be questioned. It is their first responsibility to check their sources. To be so easily misled is frankly embarrassing. As such, news agencies like TG2 and their reporters are the biggest losers in this scenario.
Then, there are the video game publishers.
This story goes far beyond Gaijin and Bohemia. As graphical fidelity improves, stories like these will become commonplace. Developers and publishers would be prudent to prepare a response.
Bohemia comes out of this story pretty well. They not only collaborated with factcheckers but acknowledged the seriousness of the political situation in a meaningful way. They raised money to aid the humanitarian crisis and used their platform to highlight the importance of International Humanitarian Law.
Gaijin on the other hand have done everything they can to distance themselves from this story. In an attempt to escape the political conversation, they have avoided factcheckers and the press and banned voice and text chat in its games to censor political discussion. All the while, pretending that their product is not political, despite allowing players to adorn their tanks with Russian Z’s (see below).
Gaijin’s behavior is particularly galling given the proactive nature of their community. PJ’s response to his content being used as misinformation was exemplary. But, without him there would have been no response. The contrast between the community and the corporation is unnerving.
PJ didn't seem to mind:
“I believe things like this are entirely out of their control, thus I feel the responsibility would not fall on them either. However, they did state that they intend to keep their game away from politics, and made an effort not to make their publications seen as a promotion of war.”
But ‘staying out of politics’ is not a passive process. Particularly if the subject is war. Whether they like it or not, Gaijin’s products will be politicized for them.
While writing this article, I came across a post on WarThunder’s official forum titled: “Z logo on tank.”
A concerned player writes:
“Hi, we all know what is happening in ukraine and i understand that gaijin doesnt want to do politics but we see alot of “z” logo on tank and i mightbe wrong but i think people play game to escape their daily life and relax not to be reminded everything wrong in this world. Is it something that goes against the rule, can we report them? Does gaijin have plan to punish those people like removing the option of putting decal on their tank or something like that ? Thanks”
The post is locked with one reply from the forum moderator, who writes:
“Nothing is breaking the rules, some will always just find someway to politicize world events in game.”
Good enough for Gaijin.
Slava Ukraini.
