14 DAY TRIAL // An anonymous user has created a game called Raid Gaza!, playable on the Newsgrounds portal, that acts as a commentary on the situation in the Middle East - the conflict between the Palestinian Hamas terrorist organization and the Israeli Defense Forces. The 12 day offensive has until now resulted in significant victims amongst the civilian population and cease fire efforts are now being made to stop the fighting.
Raid Gaza! is pretty simplistic as far as videogames go. But the fact that it was released on December 30, 2008 means that it was very quickly developed and opens the possibility that videogaming can be used as a powerful tool to make clear political statements. After playing no more than ten minutes of Raid Gaza!, any player can see that there's a clear political view point behind the action.
The game presents itself as a real time strategy where the task is to kill as many Palestinians in a three minute period and is illustrated by a comment by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regarding “reducing” the number of residents in the Gaza strip. The player can build a variety of military hardware and some buildings, like headquarters, that can be used to assault Gaza. There's a lot of irony in the fact that hitting civilian targets brings players extra points and in the fact that any request of aid from the Israeli side is immediately granted.
Unfortunately, the game fails as a statement because it is completely one sided. It can fuel the anger of those who already believe that the Palestinian side is right and the Israelis are wrong for attacking them. But it does not inform or teach about the situation, presenting the history of the area and that of the conflict. After all, even those so called mindless first person shooters like Gears of War 2 or Resistance 2 provide the player with a history of the in game universe. If Raid Gaza! manages to do this, it could be a little more than a simple political statement.