Online game simulates 'Worst Case Scenario' in Iraq

Toppling Saddam Hussein is in the war simulation game "Gulf War 2" is the easy part. Coping with what comes next is more difficult.

In "Gulf War 2", players assume the role of President Bush in the online game, receiving regular briefings from caricatures of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

The game starts with Baghdad's quick fall, but then proceeds to an Iraqi anthrax attack on Israel, a retaliatory nuclear strike, revolt in Saudi Arabia, and a Kurdish coup in northern Iraq. Once Saddam Hussein's body is found, players are asked to select one of three look-alike successors, who soon requires military backing to fend off an anxious Iran.

Dermot O'Connor, a 33 year old computer animator who moved to California from Ireland 3 years ago created the game in November. As Dermot says "This is a projection of the most likely outcome of a new war in the Gulf".

The game appears interactive but leads players down a set path, designed by O'Connor to highlight the risks of war. "There is only one deliberate outcome. It didn't make sense to give people the idea that they could avoid the worst," he said in an interview.

So far, over 20,000 people play the game every day. Dermot recently posted this on his web site...

I've been getting a LOT of emails lately, and the majority are overwhelmingly positive. Some of the "critics" just don't seem to get it however. Out of the 12 messages in my "negative" folder, 2 are literate, 1 is written in a strange version of the english language, 8 are childish to varying degrees, and one is from a psycopath. Infantile Ad Hominem attacks are common. Sounds like the republican party to me.