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Being both a college journalism student and a veteran of internet first-person shooters, I have no idea why Ms. Clarren felt like writing an article about this.
The guy is protesting the Iraq war by being a spamming newbie with a weird name on an America's Army server?
Believe me, the people who play these games are not exactly worth preaching to. In an environment where "lolz u r teh gay" the pinnacle of political speech, making your handle that of a dead soldier is political protest for the lazy. Screwing up a server because you feel like being essentially AFK (away from keyboard; not moving or shooting) is annoying and pointless.
"Performance art"? I don't understand why he feels the need to mess up a game by not doing anything. The Army isn't paying any attention to some guy in a server on their videogame, and the people who play with this guy are simply going to be annoyed because one team has to carry around the dead weight of a spammer.
For those who aren't aware of another, more popular, online game called Counter-Strike, it's a game where Counter-Terrorists fight Terrorists and try and prevent them from blowing up a target.
I was an avid Counter-Strike player in 2001, and I joined a server with a bunch of my online friends when I got home from school on this one particular day in 2001. I announced to everyone that I was only going to play Counter-Terrorists that day, to commemorate what had happened. I recieved a few echoes of agreement and a few players switching teams to join me.
That day was September 11th, 2001. That was my personal video-game memorial.
But you know what? I still shot people playing Terrorists on that day, and I still defused bombs that they had planted.
It's a videogame. Being a worthless lump just pisses ordinary players off because he's not playing will only make them angry and probably less likely to actually be motivated in helping out his cause. Go protest people who actually make decisions, like... I don't know... politicians!
