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Gaming fuels competitiveness, and when that gets an added dose of dopamine due to gaming algorithms, it sometimes leads to disaster. That is what happened when an online gamer got too passionate over a debate about a military platform while playing a war game.
Players were discussing the capabilities of European fighter jet Eurofighter Typhoon while playing the popular online game War Thunder. The focus of the chat was regarding the scanning capabilities of the Eurofighter Typhoon's Captor radar system. The fighter jet was recently added to the game.
The discussion soon turned into a heated debate, and minutes later a full-fledged verbal duel. Tempers flared, and in the heat of the moment, one of the players - just to prove his point - ended up posting a classified military document.
The leak of the document - a state secret - led the Italian Ministry of Defence to scramble for immediate action in order to take down the file from the gaming platform. The document was found to be a genuine military secret. It is not known if the payer was someone from the military or an official privy to such information.
Within minutes of the document was taken down by the admins of the gaming platform and the user's profile was suspended with immediate effect. The user was reportedly warned by the system, which sent out an alert that this was classified material, but the user decided to ignore it and proceed anyway.
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, supersonic, canard delta wing, multi-role fighter jet. It is headquartered in Germany and is developed by a European multinational consortium comprising UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and their leading aerospace and defence companies Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo.
According to British tabloid newspaper Daily Mail, after the incident, the Italian Ministry of Defence said "We take all unauthorised disclosures of information extremely seriously. This incident will be reviewed and, if appropriate, an investigation will be launched, and mitigations put in place to prevent re-occurrences. We do not comment on leaked documents."
WAR THUNDER
War Thunder is an online, free-to-play, real-time, multi-player combat and strategy game. It uses animated versions of actual military platforms and vehicles. It was developed and produced by Gaijin Entertainment in 2013. It has since continued to evolve over the years. The game is available on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4 and above, Xbox One and above, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive platforms.
The accuracy of the game is said to be so precise that during the COVID-19 lockdown, US Army soldiers used to carry out their training exercises on War Thunder.
It was originally developed as a flying simulation game, but later introduced other military vehicles and platforms.
Gaijin Entertainment is a privately-owned gaming firm headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. The company was founded in Russia in 2002 by Anton and Kirill Yudintsev. The company moved to Budapest in 2015.
CONCERNS OVER REPEATED LEAKS
Though its most popular game War Thunder is a big success, it has seen its share of controversies with repeated leak of classified military documents - the Eurofighter Typhoon being the fourth such incident.
Previously there have been leaks of the Challenger 2 tank which is in service in UK, Ukraine and Oman, the Leclerc main battle tank which is in service in France, Jordan, and UAE, and Chinese ammunition systems, used by the People's Republic of China.
The leak of the Challenger 2 document had led the British Ministry of Defence to step in and take it down. An investigation was carried out post the incident.
After the most-recent Eurofighter Typhoon leaks, the moderators of the game have said that they will not allow any claims to be made using classified information. They have also said that no in-game content will be modified based on unauthorised sources.
According to Daily Mail, after the latest leak, one of the forum community managers reminded users of the risks and responsibilities involved. "I will take this opportunity to again remind everyone here, please do not, under any circumstances, try to post, share any sources unless you are 100 per cent certain they are legally declassified and publicly safe for use," they reportedly wrote.
A technical moderator on the forum reportedly further stated that "We have directly confirmed with the Italian MoD these are available illegally. You cannot use these documents for reporting and you cannot post them."
INDIA UPDATE BEING PLANNED?
War Thunder may be planning a major update regarding India's military platforms. India is currently not in the game, but a detailed forum is open regarding India's military platforms. It so far has vehicles and select aircraft that were used by the British Indian Army followed by the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy.
The update pitch, titled 'Call of Mahabharata - The Indian Nation', is reportedly being considered. The forum already has detailed lists of India's platforms, vehicles, and munitions.