Using Pentagon's 'America's Army' video game as memorial and protest

[bigtree]

A New Kind of Art Form Leads to a New Kind of Protest (PC)
Associate Professor at the University of Nevada Reno tackles politics and gaming art at the same time.

By Li C. Kuo | May 23, 2006
http://www.gamespy.com/pc/americas-army/709854p2.html

2,456 Names

Joseph DeLappe can often be found logging into an online session of America's Army for hours at a time, but this Associate Professor from San Francisco isn't running around shooting terrorists. Instead, Prof. DeLappe spends the entire session typing. He may stop occasionally when his character is killed and he has to wait for a respawn, or he'll stop to take a screenshot of a reply sent to him from another player, but otherwise, he's just typing.

Prof. DeLappe expects to be typing for some time. This is because he's typing in the name of every single American soldier killed in Iraq since the war started, which according to the Department of Defense is currently 2,456. DeLappe knows this project will take a while. "I tend to do probably 2-3 hours a week" he says, "That'll get me somewhere between 40 and 75 names." The name of his project is "dead-in-iraq," and it's also the name that he signs in under when he logs on to America's Army.



In Memoriam and in Protest

"The piece is intended as a memorial and a protest," explains DeLappe as he talks about his motivations. "It merged really from my thinking both as an artist and as a citizen. Thinking about what is happening, the nature of this war, how it came about, and really, essentially the nature of the America's Army computer game." He goes on to say "Part of it was thinking about the nature of what is a memorial... A memorial is to remember sacrifice and heroism and death. Why wait for when it's (the war) over? Why not do it now?"

One of the reasons DeLappe has specifically targeted America's Army is because he has some personal issues with the game itself. During our interview, he calls it "a tax-payer funded propaganda and recruiting and advertising tool for the Army." His issues don't stop there. He also adds that "you have a fantasy about killing and being in the military, but nobody dies, there are no consequences. It's a complete fabrication... it's free, it's fun to play, it's seductive, it presents a fantasy portrait of what war is like." Still, DeLappe makes it a point to say, "I don't have a problem with military service."

. . . why not use an online deathmatch as a pedestal for speaking out against a war?

more: http://www.gamespy.com/pc/americas-army/709854p1.html

[Lars39]

1. What a brilliant idea.

I hope he keeps a running total with the list.

[Bonobo]

2. LInk to his website:

http://www.unr.edu/art/DELAPPE/DeLappe%20Main%20Page/DeLappe%20Online%20MAIN.html

I think he's brilliant. Bravo!

[bigtree]

4. "are those real people??"

[file83]

3. That's a good idea, but I think in the game world that's called spamming

or something and the other users can just "block" his messages from getting through.

On the other hand, the screenshots he get's from it, when grouped together would make for a impactful website/slideshow or something along those lines.

I like this form of electronic protest! :thumbsup: :patriot:

[gatorboy]

5. K & R

:kick: