{"206211":{"#nid":"206211","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Nunn School Undergrad Speaks on Online Gaming and Adherence to Laws of Armed Conflict","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen one hears of research on international humanitarian law, the laws of\u0026nbsp;armed conflict, and nonproliferation regimes, a discussion of video games is not\u0026nbsp;what is usually expected. Fifth-year Economics and International Affairs (EIA)\u0026nbsp;major\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;D. Adam Thigpen\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;presented the findings of research on adherence to\u0026nbsp;international law in modern video games at the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/pcaaca.org\u0022\u003EPopular Culture\u0026nbsp;Association\/American Culture Association\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;National\u0026nbsp;Conference in Washington, D.C., which was held 27-30 March 2013. As a\u0026nbsp;member of the ongoing research group led by Assistant Professor Margaret E.Kosal, Thigpen has been studying non-traditional means of political\u0026nbsp;communication via new media as part of understanding how emerging\u0026nbsp;technologies affect international security.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Popular Culture Association\/American Culture Association\u0026nbsp;(PCA\/ACA) is the leading scholarly organization dedicated to the study of\u0026nbsp;American culture and popular culture in all its forms, venues, contexts, and\u0026nbsp;exchanges. Publishing the Journal of Popular Culture and the Journal of\u0026nbsp;American Culture, the PCA\/ACA is composed of academics and affiliated\u0026nbsp;experts, who explore politics, race, religion, gender, identity, and philosophy as\u0026nbsp;manifested in books, historical events, cinema-television, music, digital media,\u0026nbsp;and, even, video gaming.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIncluded on a panel on modern representations of war, Thigpen\u0027s research\u0026nbsp;explored how video games portray the legal ramifications for violations of\u0026nbsp;international law. As video games continue to grow in popularity and the\u0026nbsp;audience for these digital experiences grows, some of the most popular games,\u0026nbsp;such as the Call of Duty series, include the depiction of weapons of mass\u0026nbsp;destruction and war on the global scale. It is these games that are the focus of\u0026nbsp;the research, in which he dissects the events of the games and compares them\u0026nbsp;to many of the restrictions put in place by the international legal regime. Game\u0026nbsp;developers then acknowledge these violations by punishing the player or\u0026nbsp;characters. Ultimately, Thigpen found that many games punish crimes against\u0026nbsp;civilians and allies, but less so towards civilian property. Additionally, the use of\u0026nbsp;weapons of mass destruction generally go unpunished, not necessarily due to\u0026nbsp;negligence, but because most of the uses of these weapons are not perpetrated\u0026nbsp;by the player, but instead by non-state actors in the role of antagonists. This\u0026nbsp;research aims to expand the understanding that we have about the implicit\u0026nbsp;knowledge gamers will gain regarding weapons of mass destruction and\u0026nbsp;international law.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFifth-year Economics and International Affairs (EIA)\u0026nbsp;major\u003Cstrong\u003E D. Adam Thigpen\u003C\/strong\u003E presented the findings of research on adherence to\u0026nbsp;international law in modern video games at the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/pcaaca.org\u0022\u003EPopular Culture\u0026nbsp;Association\/American Culture Association\u003C\/a\u003E National\u0026nbsp;Conference in Washington, D.C., which was held 27-30 March 2013.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27694","created_gmt":"2013-04-12 12:18:24","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:04","author":"Debbie Mobley","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-04-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-04-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"206221":{"id":"206221","type":"image","title":"PCAACA Logo","body":null,"created":"1449179977","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:59:37","changed":"1475894864","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:44","alt":"PCAACA Logo","file":{"fid":"196733","name":"pcaaca_logo_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/pcaaca_logo_0_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/pcaaca_logo_0_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":8460,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/pcaaca_logo_0_0.jpg?itok=BtNyJAfk"}}},"media_ids":["206221"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"63961","name":"D. Adam Thigpen"},{"id":"11687","name":"Margaret E. Kosal"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:margaret.kosal@inta.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMargaret E. Kosal\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAssistant Professor\u003Cbr \/\u003ECenter for\u0026nbsp;International Strategy, Technology, and Policy (CISTP)\u003Cbr \/\u003ESam Nunn School of International Affairs\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["margaret.kosal@inta.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}