Independent Czech developer Bohemia Interactive has released a statement regarding footage of Arma 3 being falsely used as footage from real-life conflicts, mainly from the current war in Ukraine. “These user-made videos have the potential to go viral, and are massively shared by social media users; sometimes even by various mainstream media or official government institutions worldwide,” Bohemia Interactive said. “The Arma 3 dev team would like to take this opportunity to point out how the general public can distinguish such in-game videos from real-world footage.”
The PR manager of Bohemia Interactive, Pavel Kižka, stated:
“We found the best way to tackle this is to actively cooperate with leading media outlets and fact-checkers (such as AFP, Reuters, and others), who have better reach and the capacity to fight the spreading of fake news footage effectively.”
The statement includes a list of things to look out for when trying to differentiate between real-life combat and Arma 3 gameplay, and this includes things like the video being low-resolution, using shaky cam, being in the dark or at night, lacking sound, having a HUD display, and several others. These are all the kinds of things that propagandists may attempt to use to attempt to pass this footage off as real footage of a warzone.
Bohemia Interactive has shared some tips on how to distinguish in-game videos from real-life footage. The devs say that in-game videos will contain very low resolution, shaky cam, they often take place in the dark or at night, mostly without sound, doesn’t feature people in motion, the Heads Up Display (HUD) will be visible, unnatural particle effects, and unrealistic vehicles, uniforms, and equipment.
