Could online 'warriors' in Call of Duty be forced to obey the Geneva convention?

By Rob Waugh

Earlier this year, game maker Activision counted up that 62 billion people had been 'killed' virtually in online games of Call of Duty: Black Ops - including 242 million stabbed to death at close range.

That's just one title among hundreds of modern war games - most of which lack any kind of 'surrender' button bar switching the machine off.

Now, a committee of the Red Cross is debating if gamers might be violating the International Humanitarian Law as they slaughter each other online.

'While the Movement works vigorously to promote international humanitarian law worldwide, there is also an audience of approximately 600 million gamers who may be virtually violating International Humanitarian Law,' said the committee's site.

'Exactly how video games influence individuals is a hotly debated topic, but for the first time, Movement partners discussed our role and responsibility to take action against violations of this law in video games.

'There is, however, an overall consensus and motivation to take action.'

Whether or not gamers who had won the longest 'killstreaks' - an uninterrupted run of kills in online games - could be prosecuted is another question.

The committee's action is aimed more towards developers: as war games become more realistic, do they have a responsibility to add humanitarian elements to their games?