(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
UKAS ELECTIONS, 7. SEPTEMBER 2007
[marking] We are approaching the date that has become a term, and gradually an excuse to do almost what it should be. Whoever comes up with the most creative selection this year remains to be seen, but it will take something to top VG 11. September 2002, when the newspaper used the front page to tell how, among others, Arnulf "Høggern" Paulsen from Vazelina Bilopphøggers remembered 11. September 2001. [conspiracies] Who really started all this? Alternative theories abound on the web, ranging from real critical questions to the most amazing, bubbling creative conspiracies. For example, how could it be that BBC World reported that the World Trade Center building seven, one of the smaller towers, had collapsed 23 minutes before this actually happened? A nice place to start can be 911truth.org. [game] If you are among those who have claimed that the so-called "war on terror" is a solid geopolitical game of power, then you are absolutely right. That is, "The War on Terror" has now been launched as a small and handy, but equally fully geopolitical, game, or board game to be exact.The goal is simple and free to liberate the world and get rid of the fear and terror of eternity. Of course, only the strongest players, the great powers, can cope with such a challenge, so a vicious abuse of power must be expected. Alternatively, you can play as a terrorist and fight for a world without great powers. It does not pay to sit and wait for others to attack you, the safest is to strike first. And if you are forced into a war this way, you need energy supplies. Therefore, it may be advantageous to suspect attacks from oil producing countries.
If you end up on the roulette, you must give it a spin around the axis of evil, and flip one of the other players becomes a robber state. The same can happen if you pull a chance card: Suddenly you are a terrorist. There are four possible outputs of the game:
1. A great power takes over the globe.
2. The terrorists take over the globe.
3. World peace. Unlikely.
4. Infinite war. Likely.
This is big politics, dice and satire on one and the same board. When the game was launched in the UK on September 19 last year, there was cheers. The two game creators Andrew Sheerin and Andy Tompkins were awakened by a radio station requesting a live interview. Then it went from strength to strength until the two were on the train to London to participate in the BBC's evening broadcast. In their blog, they talk about how on the way in they discussed whether the BBC, as a small surprise, came to include one of the victims from the 9/11 or 7/7 terrorist attacks in the studio.
That's right.
But the surprise was rather that the person in question had had the opportunity to read through Sheerin and Tompkin's press release, and expressed that they had some good points, and that after all there had to be room for satire.
But exactly these statements would be cut off, the manufacturer explained. The show was recorded, live-on-tape, and the producer thought that the statements "did not really fit the shock angle".
The same producer told Sheerin and Tompkins that they had to stick to the topic, and that there was no room to get into foreign policy.
The game creators still receive dozens of reactions, and among the frequently asked questions on the website waronterrortheboardgame.com are: Is not this tasteless? The two answer that it depends on the taste, and that they personally think the actual War on Terror "is pretty bad taste. This is just a board game ».
