Gamers Encouraged Not to Commit War Crimes in ‘Fortnite’ Mode Designed by Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is asking gamers to follow the rules of war when they’re murdering friends and enemies in Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Escape from Tarkov. “Play by the rules,” a website set up by the ICRC says. “How you play FPS makes a difference on battlefields IRL.”

To spread awareness of the laws of armed conflict, the ICRC has teamed up with streamers to show how challenging it is to follow the rules while playing games like PubG and Rainbow 6: Siege. 

“Every day, people play games set in conflict zones right from their couch. But right now, armed conflicts are more prevalent than ever,” the website said. “And to the people suffering from their effects, this conflict is not a game. It destroys lives and leaves communities devastated. Therefore, we’re challenging you to play FPS by the real Rules of War, to show everyone that even wars have rules—rules which protect humanity on battlefields IRL.”

The Laws of Armed Conflict are very real, but the ICRC has simplified them for video games. They are “No thirsting: when an enemy is down and can’t respond, you can’t keep shooting at them, no targeting non-violent NPCs, no targeting civilian buildings, use med kits on everyone.”

Some of the rules can be difficult to follow. Most of the fights in PubG take place in civilian infrastructure and some of the games completely disallow the use of medkits on enemies. But ICRC has set up a Twitch channel and partnered with several streamers to make an attempt to follow the rules of war while gaming.

It also designed its own level and mode in Fortnite that’s meant to educate players about the rules of war. The ICRC did something similar in 2017 when it partnered with Arma III to release an expansion called Laws of War, which focuses on reconstruction efforts after a violent conflict.

The ICRC’s intentions here are noble, and it’s good that an international organization recognizes the cultural power of video games, but the “Play by the Rules” campaign feels tone deaf. There’s something grotesque about telling gamers that the way they play an FPS can make a difference on the real world battlefield when video of Russian soldiers decapitating a Ukrainian soldier is circulating on Telegram. Were the butchers of Bucha, where Russian soldiers killed civilians and left in the streets, gamers? Would it matter if they were?

It’s easy to dunk on the ICRC for being out of touch when it comes to video games, but this is far from the only thing it does. Its efforts in Ukraine and the rest of the world are extensive. In Ukraine, it helps prisoners of war on both sides of the conflict talk to their families. In Bucha, it spoke to survivors and published their testimonies.