Halo exposes the mind of a suicide bomber

[Ardentfrost]

Suicide Bombing Makes Sick Sense in 'Halo 3'

Suicide Bombing Makes Sick Sense in Halo 3

I used to find it hard to fully imagine the mind-set of a terrorist.

That is, until I played Halo 3 online, where I found myself adopting -- with great success -- terrorist tactics. Including a form of suicide bombing.

This probably bears some explanation. I'll begin by pointing out a basic fact: A lot of teenage kids out there play dozens of hours of multiplayer Halo a week. They thus become insanely good at the game: They can kill me with a single head shot from halfway across a map -- or expertly circle me while jumping around, making it impossible for me to land a shot, while they pulverize me with bullets.

I can't do those things. I haven't got enough time to practice as they do: I'm an adult, with a job and wife and kid, so I get maybe an hour with Halo on a good day. I wind up sucking far, far more than most other Halo 3 players, and despite the best attempts of Xbox Live to match me up with similarly lame players, I usually wind up at the bottom of my group's rankings -- stumbling haplessly about while getting slaughtered over and over again.

So after a few weeks of this ritual humiliation, I got sick of it. And I devised a simple technique for revenge.

Whenever I find myself under attack by a wildly superior player, I stop trying to duck and avoid their fire. Instead, I turn around and run straight at them. I know that by doing so, I'm only making it easier for them to shoot me -- and thus I'm marching straight into the jaws of death. Indeed, I can usually see my health meter rapidly shrinking to zero.

But at the last second, before I die, I'll whip out a sticky plasma grenade -- and throw it at them. Because I've run up so close, I almost always hit my opponent successfully. I'll die -- but he'll die too, a few seconds later when the grenade goes off. (When you pull off the trick, the game pops up a little dialog box noting that you killed someone "from beyond the grave.")

It was after pulling this maneuver a couple of dozen times that it suddenly hit me: I had, quite unconsciously, adopted the tactics of a suicide bomber -- or a kamikaze pilot.

It's not just that I'm willing to sacrifice my life to kill someone else. It's that I'm exploiting the psychology of asymmetrical warfare.

Because after all, the really elite Halo players don't want to die. If they die too often, they won't win the round, and if they don't win the round, they won't advance up the Xbox Live rankings. And for the elite players, it's all about bragging rights.

I, however, have a completely different psychology. I know I'm the underdog; I know I'm probably going to get killed anyway. I am never going to advance up the Halo 3 rankings, because in the political economy of Halo, I'm poor.

Specifically, I'm poor in time. The best players have dozens of free hours a week to hone their talents, and I don't have that luxury. This changes the relative meaning of death for the two of us. For me, dying will not penalize me in the way it penalizes them, because I have almost no chance of improving my state. I might as well take people down with me.

Or to put it another way: The structure of Xbox Live creates a world composed of two classes -- haves and have-nots. And, just as in the real world, some of the disgruntled have-nots are all too willing to toss their lives away -- just for the satisfaction of momentarily halting the progress of the haves. Since the game instantly resurrects me, I have no real dread of death in Halo 3.

I do not mean, of course, to trivialize the ghastly, horrific impact of real-life suicide bombing. Nor do I mean to gloss over the incredible complexity of the real-life personal, geopolitical and spiritual reasons why suicide bombers are willing to kill themselves. These are all impossibly more nuanced and perverse than what's happening inside a trifling, low-stakes videogame.

But the fact remains that something quite interesting happened to me because of Halo. Even though I've read scores of articles, white papers and books on the psychology of terrorists in recent years, and even though I have (I think) a strong intellectual grasp of the roots of suicide terrorism, something about playing the game gave me an "aha" moment that I'd never had before: an ability to feel, in whatever tiny fashion, the strategic logic and emotional calculus behind the act.

And the truth is, I'm probably going to keep doing it. Because when it comes to online Halo -- I still suck.

I find this to be a brilliant, albeit simplistic, illustration of the mind of a terrorist. It brings up points that a lot of Americans can relate to (I know I've played games before where I wish I had a sticky bomb to throw at mofos)

[Scrum]

The author obviously hates America, our troops and apple pie.

[Stylerod]

At least he is killing the attacker. And not the cafe down the street with a bunch of families eating dinner.

[AVengeance]

Originally Posted by Stylerod

At least he is killing the attacker. And not the cafe down the street with a bunch of families eating dinner.

But that's who the attacker is, to them. When the real attacker is hiding behind glistening white buildings, you just throw a sticky grenade at whatever you can run up to.

Makes sense to me.

[RMNIXON]

I was hoping the thread meant opening the terrorist brain pan? To cut, stir fry, and serve with a nice Chianti?

[SVTman]

so he is saying that the terrorist completely untrained and not good at war compared to america and out alies. he would be right about that. now i would like to know how often that he wins useing this method. i can tell you considering that i play the game to that if you are good at the game it is much more effective then being suicidal.

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by SVTman

so he is saying that the terrorist completely untrained and not good at war compared to america and out alies. he would be right about that. now i would like to know how often that he wins useing this method. i can tell you considering that i play the game to that if you are good at the game it is much more effective then being suicidal.

If you read the article, he says that it's not about beating the really good players, it's about lowering their score. Deaths don't look good on the rankings, so even if he dies too, he still makes them look worse.

[7960]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

If you read the article, he says that it's not about beating the really good players, it's about lowering their score. Deaths don't look good on the rankings, so even if he dies too, he still makes them look worse.

but IRL this only works once.

[Rouger2]

I would agree with him that maybe in a tiny tiny fashion he was able to feel what a suicide terrorist might feel, but I don't know about his have and have not theory. I have read that most of the terrorist do not come from the have not class but from the have class.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by 7960

but IRL this only works once.

Yeah, but they believe they'll respawn anyway

[motivez]

Originally Posted by Rouger2

I would agree with him that maybe in a tiny tiny fashion he was able to feel what a suicide terrorist might feel, but I don't know about his have and have not theory. I have read that most of the terrorist do not come form the have not class but from the have class.

Where'd you read that?

[7960]

Originally Posted by motivez

Yeah, but they believe they'll respawn anyway

they don't believe in reincarnation

and I believe that whole "70 virgins" thing isn't actually true

but then again I'm talking out my ass right now

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by 7960

but IRL this only works once.

Yeah, but IRL team size isn't limited. It doesn't have anything to do with respawn, it has to do with a complete helpless feeling that produces an unreasonable solution.

[Rouger2]

Originally Posted by motivez

Where'd you read that?

I read the newspaper here everyday and usually the editorials and I read it in an editorial a few days ago. It did mention that the many of the 9/11 people were from the middle class or higher, and that is what I understood also. I wish I could remember who wrote it but I don't. I had heard from a teacher I had in school that people rebel not when they are completely down but when they have some hope and are on the way up, and middle class in many countries over there would be considered poor over here. So when they talk about poor people over there that is sometimes just by our standards. Osama and many of his leaders were well off especially Osama.

[Ardentfrost]

Originally Posted by Rouger2

I read the newspaper here everyday and usually the editorials and I read it in an editorial a few days ago. It did mention that the many of the 9/11 people were from the middle class or higher, and that is what I understood also. I wish I could remember who wrote it but I don't. I had heard from a teacher I had in school that people rebel not when they are completely down but when they have some hope and are on the way up, and middle class in many countries over there would be considered poor over here. So when they talk about poor people over there that is sometimes just by our standards. Osama and many of his leaders were well off especially Osama.

I think you misunderstand what the original piece means by haves and have nots... it's not talking about money.