War is hell and brings out the worst in people, just look at the current situation in Ukraine where Russia has already committed tons of heinous war crimes. However, there are certain rules of war that most countries have agreed upon (including Russia, even if they don’t follow them themselves), and now the International Red Cross thinks gamers should be aware of them too.
They have now launched a new campaign called Play by the Rules. It’s basically a code of honor for how to treat people in a real conflict, set in video games, although these are things that will definitely get you lost online:
No Thirsting: When an enemy is down and can’t respond, you can’t keep shooting at them.
No Targeting Non-violent NPCs: Bots that don’t fire unprovoked are considered civilians, and you can’t target or harm them.
No targeting civilian buildings: In any given game map, houses, schools, or hospitals are considered safe zones that you cannot harm. When fighting in these spaces, you must do everything you can to avoid damage.
Use medkits on everyone: If you have an unused med kit that works on others, you must give it to those who need it—be they friendly or enemy.
We think it’s a good idea to remind players of these rules which are 100% meaningless in video games though – even though very few of us (hopefully) will ever have to deal with a real war.
