War crimes- GS

I was asked to talk about war crimes and how they can translate to Civ 5. I came up blank on the first day, but after a little research I found some things to talk about. War crimes were solidified by the Geneva convention after world WWII. They were established to limit the brutalities of war, so that things like the holocaust would never happen again. The basic rules are that you are not allowed to attack people that are not part of the war (civilians) or are out of combat (wounded, sick, prisoners). It also limits the use of indiscriminate weapons like landmines, cluster bombs or chemical weapons. The reason for that is that they cause damage that can't be controlled creating a threat to civilian lives.

In Civ 5 you can see these crimes made all the time. For example, in the game of my friend, someone shot and killed a missionary. This is a war crime because people that are not part of the war have been harmed. In Civ the use of some weapons, for example Nuclear bombs, is a war crime. These are indiscriminate weapons because they kill everything: units, crops, animals, civilians. They cannot be controlled like archers or tanks. The damage is more random and dangerous to everything.

(Nuclear bombs)

The reason these actions have no repercussions on the player is that you can't see the population. It is a number you are killing, not a man, woman or a child. This is a problem video game can't solve because you can't make the game seem human enough that it gives the same feeling as in real life. This makes war crimes feel like a normal action you would do on any other turn. It's a flaw that could maybe be solved by having a consequence for war crimes.

(Sorry, could not find good images)

In class we are talking about the Palestinian Israelis war. I was asked to try and find war crimes the two countries committed. I found that both sides did not respect the fact that civilians should not be harmed in war. They both bomb civilians and civilian property. Just browse around the web and you will find millions of examples of how innocent people were killed in these attacks. Things like this should not happen, but the Geneva convention can only do so much to stop the horrors that happen in wars. The only thing we can do is hope that people will use their humanity to see that what they're doing is wrong.


Here is some really bias, propaganda from both sides:

Game theory- GS

Game theory is a concept that was invented during the Cold War. It shows how humans think when they are faced with a situation in which they need to put faith in someone else. It has been shown that people will choose to act in self interest rather than to cooperate. In the cold war this was based on this simple premise. If we don't produce nuclear bombs and the other country does, then we are defeated. This lead to both sides deciding to build nuclear bombs in "self defense," even if both sides knew that not building bombs would be better for both of them.

I liked the experience we had in class, I think that it really made us understand the concept of game theory. We lost because my team decided to share. I was the only one against that idea because the math showed me that saying steal would have made been better. Here is the math:

Us Them

share share= 1

share steal= -1

steal share = 1

steal steal = 0

Steal 1-0= 1 Share 1-1= 0

By these calculations, I concluded that stealing would guarantee a non-negative outcome. The reason (share-steal) is -1 is that if we lost we had a consequence. This showed me that people sometimes will try to follow their feelings, even if the facts show that the outcome is more likely to be negative. I think that the fact that we picked share actually made me happier because it proved that my idea was right.

In Civ 5 the open border option works on game theory, this practices your trust in the other Civ. The reason for that is that it could be bringing troops in your capital to attack it, but the other Civ could also just want to pass through your land. This leads to an open border deal often being countered by another open border deal by the other civilization. This is a negative outcome because you could have asked for something else that would have been more helpful (gold, resources, ect...). In my personal game I am dealing with game theory right now. My game theory is more complicated because it involves three countries: Me, Brazil, and Spain. Brazil and I are now attacking Spain. These factors that come into play: The player playing Brazil is good friends with the player playing Spain, Spain is in 1st place, I am in 2nd place. This makes me think of all the possible outcomes from him helping me or him betraying me. Right now I hope that all will go well and that I will win this war. I am putting faith in someone else or choosing "share" in The prisoners' dilemma.

I think that the prisoners' dilemma can connect to the real world trough relationship between countries. A great example is Palestine and Israel. In this "war" share = don't shoot and steal = shoot. This is repeated almost every day and most of the time both chooses shoot. This makes the other side mad so the shoot and this make that battle an infinite mess that will not stop if they do not both choose to not shoot.