Istanbul Attack Very Similar To MW2's No Russian; Are Video Games To Blame?

Yesterday, the whole world stood in shock and fear for our fellow Turkish citizens as they experienced one of the biggest terrorist attacks in history,however, in the midst of all this, I couldn't help myself but see the resemblance between the events that happened and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s infamous mission “No Russian.”

[Null1980]

No. You have to have a warped ideology to want to kill people in real life. Doesn't matter how similar it is to any game. You have to have a warped ideology first.

Good article.

[Player124]

True but I think at least they got some inspiration from that level because you can't just ignore how they entered the airport, shooting machine guns at security guards and civilians, sounds a bit too familiar? I am not one of those people who claim video games are bad but imo I always thought that this level is too controversial.

[Null1980]

I'm sure there have been murders that copycatted famous movies too, but that doesn't change the fact that they were deranged in the head first.

[Player124]

Of course they are deranged in the head, that's why they did in the first place of course.

[jony_dols]

In other news:

9/11 was inspired by Independence Day & Ghostbusters

[Mr Pumblechook]

A shameful article. By all means ask the question when there is a real link, but don't go making tenuous links just so that your website can get hits. If you watch the news and are aware of current affairs you would know that this terrorism is related to matters transpiring across the world and to make this link does a great disservice to gamers and the gaming industry.

[morganfell]

Airports have been he target of terrorism long before MW2. Had there at least been some small attempt at False Flag responsibility then I would say the idea the article purports bears consideration. But without that there is no more similarity with MW2 than any other airport incident ever. It was a target where a large number of people gather and due to supposed security they could feel safe. As Lenin stated, "The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize" and they did precisely that in a location that was believed to be secure. MW2 to blame? No. You might as well blame snowstorms on ice cream sales.

[ScorpiusX]

People have been shooting their way into areas way before video games or any form of Medium. The problem is that most in society would rather blame someone else than accepted responsibility and the easiest target is always video games .

[qazitam67]

9/11 was not inspired by Independance day and Ghost buster. It was Godzilla. Destroying buildings, fighting against our corrupt society.
This whole thing is so stupid.

[Angeljuice]

Yes, I'm pretty sure that for years now, Islamic State have been wanting to kill people but didn't know how to do it......Until Videogames!!!

How else are you going to attack an airport? There are security measures in place so you need to go about things in a certain way for maximum impact.

The reason the attacks are similar is because they are tackling the same problem in a logical way and coming to the same conclusions.

[ravinash]

The problem is, airports.... like night clubs are soft targets.
So if your aiming to target a particular type of person, say nationals, then the ideal place to do this is airports and hotels... both of which have been targets over the years.
it only stands to reason that a game or any other media which is looking to investigate a subject like terrorism will have cross over of events that have happened and will happen.

[senorfartcushion]

Isn't that usually how a person would attack an airport with a gun?

[hay]

Say hello to Betteridge's law of headlines.

[mhunterjr]

Most terrorist shootouts involve walking into buildings and shooting people... That's an inherent part of having a shootout.

It's also not the first time terrorist have targeted an airport. It more likely the video game drew inspiration from real life, not the other way around.

The fact that they both occured in an airport is neither here nor there...

[shmowboyfebop]

Sounds exactly how an attack on an airport would go. I don't think the similarities are coincidence. I doubt these guys are taking ideas from call of duty.

[chobit_A5HL3Y]

i guess bomberman is the inspiration to every bomb-based attack then, right? you know, because there's a guy with bombs that blows stuff up.

[Dirtnapstor]

@player
Give it a rest. The blame game never ends... Books, movies, TV, video games.
How about that which has already happened in real-life perpetrated by others who are not of sound mind?
Art imitates life, not the other way around. 99%of what's been scripted for whatever medium has already occurred in real life.

[wellard]

That's what crazy people do in all of these types of attacks. Take Paris as a prime example. They gun people down until they go down themselves.

Also airports are full of foreign nationals so the incident gets more foreign press. That makes it a prime target, so it's merely a coincidence and definitely not a direct influence of cod

[bouzebbal]

Video games aren't to blame, retardation and evil are.
Prayers go to victim's families.. This madness is limitless

[Mostafeto]

Without a doubt you would need a warped ideology first and foremost to do something like this to other living human beings.
Thanks for letting me know it's a good article appreciate it very much :)

[Null1980]

I really love that you write this from the perspective of an Egyptian Muslim too. It's great to hear voices of the community, actual good hearted individuals, speak out against terrible things like this. Painting the whole Muslim community as killers is just like painting the whole Gaming community as killers. Just dumb.

[DVAcme]

Hey, sadiki, I was stationed over at the MFO base in Sharm el-Sheikh. In my experience, Egyptians are loveable, hard-working people who make everyone feel like family. You guys treated me with nothing but love and respect while I was there, I was sad to come back home. I wish you the best :)

[Mostafeto]

@OtterX Thank you again for your kind words and yes I wrote this just to get my voice out there and not let people think we are all alike. Most Muslims are really helpful and wonderful people.

@DVAcme Haha Thanks dude, if you ever come to Egypt again, I would be more than happy to show you around and take you to some hidden local places only Egyptians know haha ;) :D

[DEAD-DEVIL-DISCO]

Tom Clancy wrote about airplanes flying into buildings. Why are video games to be blamed for psychological disorders? Uni bomber was against technology . He had a disorder. Serial killers.._ blah blah blah. Only thing i can blame games for are just a few cocky young men '' ive met a few '' btw,,,, that join the military glorifying war. For God sake a portion of our own government have to meet the MENTAL CRITERIA of a SOCIOPATH. To make certain decisions. Probably never really played pacman. If ,,ISIS are playing the infidels video games they are against their idealogical confusion. I believe the answer is NO!! Video games are not important here. God bless the victims.

[Paytaa]

Just like when they blamed Doom and Marilyn Manson for Columbine. It was just a cop out excuse for people with serious negative mental health. Completely disregarding the legitimate issue surrounding mental health.

I mean people blamed bands like Slayer and old Metallica for worshipping Satan. Like cmon.

The issue in Istanbul transcends gaming.

No Russian wasn't the first to depict a scenario like that, it just added a believeable type of attack carried out by a mad man (Makarov).

Terrorist attacks like this happen all the time, just the mainstream media chooses which ones to report.

[Mostafeto]

Couldn't agree more and I remember those DOOM and Slayer allegations back then, those were SO ridiculous. :D Imagine someone who has just gotten off playing DOOM and is like that could work on people too not just demons, I should try thay :D

[Adrian_v01]

Regardless if people are pro or against gun bans, the debate will come up after incidents like this anyways. Putting blame on things like video games is just a way for politicians and media to deflect the attention to something that's not so difficult for them to deal with.

[Genuine-User]

Absolutely. These scums use a perverted form of said religion to legitimise their heinous crimes.

They hide behind a guise.

[Deadpooled]

They are just like bullies, prey on the innocent in groups and brag about it thinking they're big, but when bullies get confronted by someone tough enough to stand up for the innocents the bullies run and hide.

[Palitera]

Another example of warped ideology is using such a serious matter to make a stupid clickbait that will earn the blogger what? 100 bucks?

[Alexious]

Agreed on all accounts. A similar game is not any different than a similar movie or book, it doesn't take a lot to imagine such things. But to act on them, it is heinous.

[Erik7357]

Not giving this article the clicks like you did

[Player124]

I swear I was just thinking about that yesterday. I surely agree about the resemblance part but I never think video games will be a reason for someone to be violent, just like the article says.

[StillGray]

This was well-written. Video games are not responsible for real-world violence.

[Mostafeto]

Thanks for your kind words, I think we all know already that video games were NEVER responsible for real-world violence but I had to make sure the idea is still there because some people were pointing it out that this mission may be the reason.

[Alexious]

People do that all the time, but only those who don't actually have a clue on what gaming is.

[Gaming_Cousin]

Since video games are blamed I should play Madden 16 for a few years to become a professional football player /s

[Mostafeto]

Yep exactly :D or play FIFA 16 and go win Ballon D'Or, HELL you might as well play NBA 2K16 and go snatch that MVP Trophy from Curry and that NBA Finals championship from LeBron haha :D

[Francis201]

Was expecting something more substantial from the article, but no - just one paragraph saying that games should not be connected to violent acts. Why? How? Nothing - just that the author is an Egyptian Muslim. It's bad enough that it's clickbait material, but at least give the dead of Istanbul enough respect *not* to use their deaths as click-fodder.

[Player124]

The article isn't clickbait at all, even if it doesn't have enough statistical data, he still proved his point.

[Mostafeto]

I deeply apologize if this article seemed as clickbait or as if I am taking advantage of the situation for some internet clicks, but as a reply to your comment and to make the article a bit more interesting, I went ahead and explained the similarity and added enough statistical data to prove that video games never were a reason for a person to be violent. :)

I hope you re-read the article and tell me what you about it now :)

[Sketchy_Galore]

The conclusion you draw in the article itself has no bearing on whether or not this is clickbait. The title alone makes it deplorable clickbait.

If I write an article and title it, "Steve Buscemi seen having dinner with a man. Is he in a gay relationship?" It doesn't matter if my actual article reads like, "Of course straight men can have dinner together all the time, it's foolish to suggest there's anything more to this than two friends hanging out", the piece would still be clickbait trash.

YOU'RE the one suggesting the possibility that there is a link between a specific videogame and a horrible recent tragedy. The fact that you raise this possibility and demand that we click on your article (giving you ad revenue) before we have any idea of your actual opinion about the question you've raised makes this exploitative clickbait.

I'm willing to accept that it's due to ignorance more than a slimy desire to exploit a tragedy for money but next time you really should use a declarative statement of the point you're making to title your article, rather than raising a tasteless and stupid question that you then go on to call tasteless and stupid in the article. It doesn't matter if you throw in a vague reference to 'people on social media' making the claim, this is no more than the 'there have been rumours' excuse the media uses to manufacture controversy.

[Francis201]

Thank you, Sketchy_Galore, for explaining in greater detail what I felt but could not point out. Props for the example as well.

[Bobafret]

Why is everyone gushing over the author like he is some kind of celeb?

[Tedakin]

Oh good lord........

[WelkinCole]

You don't need to play video games to know how to cause carnage.

[annoyedgamer]

We need more sensible bomb control laws. Not one more!

[Clown_Syndr0me]

There is violence in all forms of media.

I have experienced scenes in books far more violent and graphic than any movie or game, but you don't see libraries taking the blame.

[Mostafeto]

It's hard to experience "far more violent" scenes in book because it highly depends on imagination while games already help you with a visual representation that everybody sees equally.

[Kallisti]

No

[ScorpiusX]

NO video games are not to blame , Lonely sad demented people ,corrupt governments, people who take advantage of those who are easily controlled are to blame . Wish the media would stop trying to Scape goat video games for issues governments ignore

[spicelicka]

There's obviously no correlation, but this was still a stupid mission. Just trying to exploit controversy.

[PygmelionHunter]

I still can't get over the fact that some people found No Russian to be shocking at all. We see far worse things in movies and TV shows all the time. Heck, I've even read far more twisted crap in some books, and you don't see me attempting mass carnage.

[THRASHMOUTH]

Yea, I mean, the whole Die Hard series has foreign terrorists doing horrible things to large groups of people. Not the best example, but why isn't that genre of media being blamed for anything? Because you can't control a character?

[Jayszen]

Humans are to blame. I watch all kinds of movies and play all kinds of games, some of them very violent - I don't go around blowing people up! Why? Because I like people, have a 'live and let live' attitude to all aspects of life including race, religion, and sexuality. There is no religion that tells people to go and kill others in order to get what they want. All this bullshit is made up by human beings who are warping the facts to suit their ideology and desires. Any religion that does not preach tolerance, peace and goodwill towards all regardless of colour, race or gender is one that should be avoided and ignored.

Trying to blame videogames, films or books is a cop out and shows a reluctance to deal with the real issue - that warped men and women make up reasons to take life in the name of religion. These idiots who took life at the airport are NOT going to meet any maidens to give them hand jobs in heaven - they are just dead, blown up beyond recognition.

[Kratos0289]

No now can stop scapegoating video games its moronic, scientific study has shown this time and time again that there is no connection between video games and real world violence

[KurtRussell]

Attacks like this are a godsend for people in power. Sultan Erdogan is deeply grateful.
Also, gameranx is clickbait trash.

[AnubisG]

ISIS and radical islam is to blame.

[discobastard]

So that article can basically f*ck off then...

[senorfartcushion]

Even id they are what can you do about it?

Ban all games JUST INCASE THE NEXT ATTACK DOES IN FACT SAY IT WAS GAMES?

How about warped religious idiots? Can we blame religion for them? Yes, can we ban religion? Nnnnope.

[the_mack_attack3]

Airports are well-crowded areas that terrorists see as prime targets for maximum casualties. They're not going to walk into an airport with teddy bears as weapons, so saying they have automatic weapons isn't similar to "No Russian", it's just common sense when planning out attacks like this, looking to cause as much hurt as possible.

How I see, you've used a controversial scene from a video game with the only connection being the location, an airport. Then through a range of stats that have very little to do with the attack itself, you try to find a connection to prove your point. An interesting idea for an article yes, but it has no filler.

[Lynx0207]

Sure, because there were never similar attacks before MW2, right?

[DVAcme]

This is just about the stupidest thing I've ever read. The terrorists will most likely be identified as members of IS, on account of Turkey's fighting with their forces in Syria. If something identifies IS, it's their complete rejection of Western culture and ideals. In other words, I seriously doubt any IS terrorist is playin MW2 right now, or they'd get beheaded.

This is art imitating life, pure and simple. Terrorism inspired the scenarios in COD, not the other way around. What's next, terrorists detonating a nuke and MW1 getting blamed? Please.

[SirBradders]

How can it be linked to games when isis are the ones who have a clear agenda. Stupid shit like this should be removed from existence.

Terrorism in the form of journalism.

[xtheblackparade]

You can blame whatever makes you cope with reality. It's still just people and their inability to handle frustration in life what's causing it.

[Mikerob2007]

NO VIDEO GAMES ARENT TO BLAME. MUSLIMS ARE TO BLAME

[Papafynn]

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

[TwoForce]

After i hear the new, i was terrified.

[Ristul]

This will become more common in Europe, we will see these attacks again in the future, it's just a matter of time. All we can hope for is that we are not at the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Activemessiah]

Video Games responsible for WW1, Nintendo refuses to comment on the accusation it triggered everything.
Seriously... that's how ridiculous it all sounds weirdos out there blame fictional events to real life events.

[MCTJim]

Ahhh..just no

[GrimmyReaper]

Oh my fuck.
This shit again?! Really?!

[Mirdus]

When a nuclear bomb goes off in Paris they will probably blame BF3. "DID BATTLEFIELD 3 CAUSE THE BOMBING!?!?!?!?! - MORE AT 11!"

[DivineAssault]

I have guns and never ever used it for such a malicious crime.. Video games have nothing to do with psychopaths.. Theres sick people in this world and thats not going to change regardless what the media shows.. Its been happening since the beginning of time..

[23Breach]

No, I don't see the connection besides a terrorist attack at an airport. Whatevs

[1nsomniac]

It's also very similar to Die Hard 2 & thousands of other films. Maybe we should hold all entertainment accountable for the evil in the world....

[Artemidorus]

Weak left wingers trying to find excuses for their nanny state approach and poor excuses.

MW2 has zero to do with this.

[PizzaSteve]

Sad what happened. May the people that perished rest in piece. I wouldn't blame the Turkey attack on a video game but still it's a video game with realistic looking digital humans that's being killed. You would imagine a FPS is about military soldiers shooting up aliens or other enemy soldiers. Shooing up innocent civilians in a airport is a disgusting scene to put in a video game.

[Gunstar75]

No. Islam is to blame.

[christian hour]

To pin this on videogames or any sort of medium that portrays or glorifies violence (as I've seen several news outlets do since yesterday) is to completely ignore what has been happening in Turkey lately; these attacks are happening more frequently and escalating to greater heights by a disenfranchised and disillusioned minority that is quickly growing in to a majority. It's easier and more headline grabbing to simplify it down to a singular cause, than to actually examine and explain the much larger complicated picture.

All in all the articles author is 100% right with the latter half and the closing paragraph, but attention grabbing headlines and the opening paragraph, which the majority of folks will only glance at, deliver a false identity of what this article is actually about and just adds to the problem of misinformation and simplification of a much bigger, scarier problem.

[opinionated]

Blame everything but the pieces of shit that actually did it. Yeah, it's 2016 alright.

[PsyMonk3y]

How to get people to read your clickbait article.

1) Imply games are at fault for yet another mass killing.

2) Sit back and watch as people all flood to your site to argue.

Years back we heard these same arguments about demonic music & violence in movies funny nothing is being said about any of that anymore.

smh

[Zichu]

Of course they're to blame, I mean nothimg evil has ever happened in the world before video games. We can go back 100's or even 1000's of years and see how peaceful the world was. No violence at all. Then games came along and it's caused so much chaos. Hell I cant even go to the shops down the road without seeing the violence and terror that games has caused...

*sigh*

[jeenyus]

Idiotic clickbait.

[PistolsAtDawn]

Of course not. MW2 came out years ago....they stayed together with machine guns and no explosive vests. The terrorists split up and used explosives....pretending terrorists didn't know about attacking airports would be dumb...esp since these kinds of acts are older than videogames

[jay2]

no stop scaremongering, get rid of the fart that's religon, get rid of ISIS etc as well.

[S-Word]

No. Islam is to blame. People would rather blame guns (or games in this case) rather than a cult.

[ziadmessi]

if by cult you mean 1.8 billion people than you are right , muslims are a lot and you blame all of them because of stupid shit that some retards did, then you are to blame for the racism against 99 percent of muslims

[S-Word]

I don't care if the truth triggers you.

[ruefrak]

Of course video games are to blame. They're to blame for everything. You need to understand that people have no self control and that there was this group of people playing them some MW2 and said, "Hey. Let's blow the crap out of an airport!" Then they all high-fived each other, maybe tea-bagged a buddy who passed out from all the OverCharge and Mountain Dew they'd been drinking. I know from my personal experience, nothing gets me to do extreme acts of violence more than playing video games.

And the guys who attacked the airport in Brussels, that was also video games. Subway bombings in London? Video games. The World Trade Center? Video games. In fact, I have it on good authority that all of World War II actually started because of a mix of video games and offensive language found in Huckleberry Finn.

[DEAGLETURK]

1 terorist coming to in airport witout gun and he say " BOMMBBBBB QUICK GET THE EXIT" and there is 2 terorist waiting with gun and bomb fucking arabs destroy everything, i hope israel and russian destroy all soon

[BigGamersSmallTalk]

How is Islamic terrorists who suicide bomb like cowards similar to a videogame massacre that used guns and was part of a frame up?

[yomfweeee]

Attacks on airports happened before MW2. Next question.

[Diffraction_Fos]

People love putting blame on everything or everyone else except themselves. Video games are easy targets for this. Parents have been using them to cover up for their failures.quite often. Feminists have been using them to create "controversies" out of nothing to promote their agenda. And I believe a significant portion of the gamers use it to hide from reality when they feel vulnerable or want to live in denial.

Games are just like any other lifeless entity. They can only influence you if you let them.

[ziggurcat]

*facepalm* no... video games aren't to blame for the actions of a group of extremist terrorists.

[Dirtnapstor]

Written with objectivity and common sense. Thank you.

Edit: some of you readers really need to read the article instead of jumping to the conclusion that the author is blaming video games...

[Mostafeto]

Thanks for your kind words, I wish some people would actually read it fully before starting to criticize me and shout "CLICKBAIT".
You are a good man sir :)

[Dirtnapstor]

Well, you have to admit the title is misleading compared to the content you wrote. I was expecting something completely different based on the title alone. The questioning approach works but too many N4G readers are sheep.

[Commodore]

We're now trying to ration this was because of a 7+ year old video game instead of terrorism....AMAZING. It was terrorism stupid. Radical Islamic terrorism...

[homeruz1]

No. Games are not to blame. That is the TLDR answer

[hangdang]

Life imitates art imitates life

[SojournUK]

Simple answer, no.

[windblowsagain]

No Islam is to blame.

Killing in the name of god is a disgrace.

[Avalanche]

how about we blame the actual human beings who instill hate into people as they grow up to be scumbags.

[1060FX8300]

No. Fucking clickbait

[jjb1981]

Or maybe...
War is similar to Battlefield. Are video games to blame?

[jer1122]

Why did this even get approved. someone remove this article we don't even need this kind of crap again. Sounds like a Fox News article or something come on get this crap out of here

[hennessey86]

Yeah I'm sure they were thinking of MW2 when they committed this atrocity, what a load of crap this is.

[cfc83]

Lets blame super mario brothers for people thinking mushrooms can give them extra life.

[MasterD919]

Gee, never heard this argument before....

[Gwiz]

That game is from 2009,get a grip.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Idiots... just straight up idiots to even suggest MW2 is to blame. These ISIS A holes are to blame not a game not a movie hell not even a book including the Koran. These people are just warped and twisted and believe they can wipe the rest of the world out. And no they are not inspired by the game... they are inspired by any and all targets that they see and appear soft. Any place they feel they can do maximum damage in a short amount of time. They don't learn this from games, they learn it from traveling about and scouting out targets plain and simple.

[iTechHeads]

Yes, of course video games are to blame.
Video games are the root of all evil and sin in this world.
Let's ban video games and we will achieve world peace.

[exkalibur97]

remember when the games media defended games and gamers from nutjobs like jack tompson when he made idiotic statements like this? now its just anything for ad clicks

[mochachino]

I'd blame dumb journalists for all the world's ills before I attributed 1% of fault to games.

Seriously though, sensationalist/unethical/money hatting journalism probably is the cause of a lot of the worlds problems.

Not that I'm saying this particular article is bad per se

[AKR]

The thing about games is, they're interactive. Instead of watching a gunman on TV, you ARE the gunman. YOU aim down the sights, YOU pull the trigger. It's definitely not anything like shooting in real life, but it does instill thoughts into the mind of a player.

Definitely, a person needs to be mentally unstable to actually try and imitate the gruesome things they perform in video games, but think about it like this; don't kids like to pretend they're just like their favorite cartoon characters? In like manner, a grown adult in most cases wouldn't be trying to imitate Master Chief, Shepherd or Nathan Drake, but he can still fantasize about it. Games influence our minds a lot. While they don't create killers, they do fuel desires.

[zodiac909]

Ugh will these type of articles ever die?

[HAHAHAHAHAHAHA]

Oh totally coz i run random people over all the time just like gta
I abseil down a sky building and jump to smash through the window to breach the building and kill everyone inside coz of battlefield and cod
I also run along and jump on boxes people are delivering to stores trying to collect my 100th wompafruits to get an extra life like crash bandicoot....

I dont think peoples stupidity is to blame on video games.
It may have been simular to it but thats just pure coinsidence over anything. They are just sick twister morons that did that.

[LastcenuryRob]

Are videogames to blame? Of course not. Islam and the absolute violence and intolerance that are preached in that evil book, the Koran are to blame. Nothing else.

[SegaSaturn669]

The problem is that islamic culture is violent and barbaric -- rife with pedophiles and illiteracy. The game had nothing to do with it.

[PaleMoonDeath]

Religion warps people not video-games, ISIS are monsters following a very cruel very anti-human religion and literally believe they will be rewarded for murder. So no, it's not video-games.

[Manubiggs]

No, let's not even start having this discussion.

[Kombatologist]

We see violence in everything now days, and a lot of us have grown desensitized to it, but the majority of us don't go out there and reenact it because we're not sociopaths. Some people seem to think that these sociopaths are incapable of coming up with this stuff on their own, but I assure you, if a developer can come up with these ideas, so can a deranged individual. It doesn't really matter where they get the idea from, because they're going to hurt someone regardless. It's a mental health issue, not a violent video games issue.

There are many people living among us who were born without a conscience and lack empathy for others. That's not to say they're all violent people, but it's scary to think that all it takes is one bad apple.

[mad-dog]

No.
Good article.

[CIA_BOSS]

Sick murderers are to blame, not a religion and not video games.