http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=169486

and if the head of the Australian High Tech Crime Centre says it, it must be true!

OMG THAT GRIFFON HAS A BOMB                                                OMG RUNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*shield buff*
BOOOMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uber I lived !

Uh-huh, I think old boy was getting WoW confused with Second Life. Neither would make good training grounds though. It'd be easier and way more private to get an old copy of Rogue Spear and model whatever it was you were going to.... er... forget I said that.....

Originally posted by Jimmy_Scythe

Uh-huh, I think old boy was getting WoW confused with Second Life. Neither would make good training grounds though. It'd be easier and way more private to get an old copy of Rogue Spear and model whatever it was you were going to.... er... forget I said that.....

ITS ONE OF THEM! **POINTS AND BLOWS WHISTLE**

Brilliant.

This guy needs to drop 250 grams of reality, 3 hits of common sense, and a slap in the face for good measure.

i'd go with the mass PvP.  not hard to start a huge fight

LOL! I knew it all along, why do you think they've got so many subscribers. :P

Oh my God! I have read many many many stupid things on the net but this one has to take the cake. This guy should really be working for King George.

This particular piece is possibly one of the worst examples of sensationalist journalism I've ever seen. This person took a very small snippet of text from a rather large article and spins it to make it look like Zuccato said something he really didn't.

Here is the actual quote from the actual news report from Zuccato: www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22161037-28737,00.html

Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian High Tech Crime Centre in Canberra, says terrorists can gain training in games such as World of Warcraft in a simulated environment, using weapons that are identical to real-world armaments.

Zuccato told an Australian Security Industry Association conference in Sydney that people intent on evil no longer had to travel to the target they wanted to attack to carry out reconnaissance. He said they could use virtual worlds to create an exact replica and rehearse an entire attack online, including monitoring the response and ramifications.

"We need to start thinking about living, working and protecting two worlds and two realities," Zuccato says.

The focus of that article are on very recent events in the Second Life game which have known terrorist cells in them. These terrorist cells are getting practice in taking out targets of opportunity. Money is being laundered. This stuff is happening. I think his usage of WoW was only because it's the most prominent, well-known MMO ever. And he also said terrorists can gain training in games such as World of Warcraft. While WoW probably has very little to profit these cells, games such as Second Life as can be seen in the real article and through the Microsoft Flight Simulator games, it's a very real concern.

The posted article is just more sensationalist journalism crap. The actual article from The Australian paints some very real concerns that should be considered.

What utter nonsense!!  When I'm not playing WoW, I'm stockpiling fertilizer and nails in my garage. 

Originally posted by Adythiel

This particular piece is possibly one of the worst examples of sensationalist journalism I've ever seen. This person took a very small snippet of text from a rather large article and spins it to make it look like Zuccato said something he really didn't.

 

Here is the actual quote from the actual news report from Zuccato: www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22161037-28737,00.html

 

Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian High Tech Crime Centre in Canberra, says terrorists can gain training in games such as World of Warcraft in a simulated environment, using weapons that are identical to real-world armaments.

Zuccato told an Australian Security Industry Association conference in Sydney that people intent on evil no longer had to travel to the target they wanted to attack to carry out reconnaissance. He said they could use virtual worlds to create an exact replica and rehearse an entire attack online, including monitoring the response and ramifications.

"We need to start thinking about living, working and protecting two worlds and two realities," Zuccato says.

 

The focus of that article are on very recent events in the Second Life game which have known terrorist cells in them. These terrorist cells are getting practice in taking out targets of opportunity. Money is being laundered. This stuff is happening. I think his usage of WoW was only because it's the most prominent, well-known MMO ever. And he also said terrorists can gain training in games such as World of Warcraft. While WoW probably has very little to profit these cells, games such as Second Life as can be seen in the real article and through the Microsoft Flight Simulator games, it's a very real concern.

 

The posted article is just more sensationalist journalism crap. The actual article from The Australian paints some very real concerns that should be considered.

 

Let's see... Real World weapon usage? yes.. everyone knows that to learn to shoot a sniper rifle, you just load up the latest Sniper title for your ps and start training right? oh and Planetside has all sorts of them.... that is gonna train killers in no time right?

Sorry, but real weapon handling and videogame weapon handling are not the same and being good at one does not make you good at the second or then our world is full of crack shooters in their teens.

Let's fly on the Real World weapon useage and WoW (plenty of terrorists using swords right?)

Let's go to reconnaisance. There are several sources to acquire detailed satellite views of an area or maps of the same area. After all we had just months ago those terrorists planning an attack at the JFK airport in New York by using Google Earth satellite maps... should this be a cause of concern?

no!

If a criminal is determined enough and has the right contacts, how long do you think it takes to get some map of the place? not much! the "virtual" reconstruction of places based on such map would be the only real thing here, but then again, how much efforts does it takes to acquire video footage of your target?

Building a virtual world to train in will just give you a sense of the place and not a very accurate one at that. But the social component will still be missing as any eventual security measures and the like.

So I would not start a censorship campaign just yet.

So video games are responsible for facilitating school shootings, crime, ozone layer depletion, bad manners, pollution, poverty, war, disease, and anything else you can think of. Now they are responsible for terrorism and terrorism training .  I guess video games are the holy grail of scape goats for imcompetent governments and its agencies.

   I dunno, but the day they start using Death Coil is the day I say we're all screwed.

LOL. Typical move for idiots trying to blame video games.

If you want to train for war, games like OFP, VBS1 and Armed Assault would best your bet.

Show that guy a FPS he will completly flip out !  Attention all fps players are future mass murders !   Now come on, if you start blaming video games for terrorism or violence, you should ban TV too and heavy metal music, while your at it, everyone should go live in a monastry.

This is coming from someone from a nation founded on criminals and undesirables  (don't get me wrong i love me an aussie lol)....hmm...maybe minesweeper could teach me something, the only things terrorists would learn from WoW or something else is how to dress colorfully, talk 13370, set up a merchant stand somewhere, carry a big warhammer or something along those lines.  They'll make it easier for the intelligence services to pick them out in a crowd.

Man i swear the intelligence in this world seems to be dwindling and this guys comments on WoW and terrorism are just proof of that.  It's kind of like when Rep. Tom Tancredo (a presidential candidate in the US) said bombing muslim holy sites will deter further attacks on the nation...Riiiiiiiiiiight...Quality IQ spent there let me tell you.  People will say anything nowadays even mixing WoW with terrorism.  I'll just PK the first goblin suicide bomber that comes my way, given my skill cooldowns are through.

EDIT: After reading and rereading the article I have to say thanks to the OP, comedy...man this is cracking me up inside...OP ftw

Originally posted by Adythiel

This particular piece is possibly one of the worst examples of sensationalist journalism I've ever seen. This person took a very small snippet of text from a rather large article and spins it to make it look like Zuccato said something he really didn't.

 

Here is the actual quote from the actual news report from Zuccato: www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22161037-28737,00.html

 

Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian High Tech Crime Centre in Canberra, says terrorists can gain training in games such as World of Warcraft in a simulated environment, using weapons that are identical to real-world armaments.

Zuccato told an Australian Security Industry Association conference in Sydney that people intent on evil no longer had to travel to the target they wanted to attack to carry out reconnaissance. He said they could use virtual worlds to create an exact replica and rehearse an entire attack online, including monitoring the response and ramifications.

"We need to start thinking about living, working and protecting two worlds and two realities," Zuccato says.

 

The focus of that article are on very recent events in the Second Life game which have known terrorist cells in them. These terrorist cells are getting practice in taking out targets of opportunity. Money is being laundered. This stuff is happening. I think his usage of WoW was only because it's the most prominent, well-known MMO ever. And he also said terrorists can gain training in games such as World of Warcraft. While WoW probably has very little to profit these cells, games such as Second Life as can be seen in the real article and through the Microsoft Flight Simulator games, it's a very real concern.

 

The posted article is just more sensationalist journalism crap. The actual article from The Australian paints some very real concerns that should be considered.

 

Nicely said...Seems terrorists these days are down for trying anything to get an upperhand on the opposition.  There are some very serious points we all should consider in the entire article.  But man, you can't help but find some humor in a very serious subject...This thread did lighten up the place a little, gave us all something to agree on and laugh about for a change.  But at the end of the day we all really need to consider everything that, "could" happen, especially when it impacts ALL of our freedoms and everyday lives, regardless of what country we're from.  I personally have made some good friends on MMORPG.com and in MMOs, from all over the world...and I wouldn't trade that for anything.  Especially avatars strapped with e-bombs, ...lol sorry had to.

Originally posted by Vendayn

actually, counter strike is the most terrorist like training simulation...you can even play as the terrorists.

Heh, or the KUMA War games...their best bet is to whoop all of our butts in online casino games.

Kinda funny that one of the better training games like America's Army and Full Spectrum Warrior stays out of the loop but a game with pointy ear baddies get the blame just because it's the newest hype and he needs to boost his article :D