The "Peace Maker"

by Kamangir (Iran)

I do have Iranian friends here in Canada who are able to write down the Middle East crisis as a single-variable easy-to-solve mathematical problem. Then, the solution to that “problem” would be as easy as President Ahmadinejad “formulates” it; “wipe them off the map”.

My research field is devising and solving optimization problems in telecommunications. In that respect, the type of problem I try to stay away from is the multiple criterion tasks which include parameters of different types that are non-stationary (in other words, their statistical parameters are not fixed). It seems that not everybody has the luxury of working on nice problems.

The PeaceMaker is a turn-based strategy game in which you can act as either the Israeli Prime Minister or the Palestinian President. The flow of the game is fairly simple; you give a speech or do something and wait for one week to see what happens. Then, you do the same, again. As simple as this seems to be, the game literally convinces you to stay at school and find a job as an engineer, and stay away from politics.

There are the Palestinian public, the Palestinian organizations (Fatah and Hamas), the Israeli settlers, the Israeli public, the Arab countries, the US, and all others. Each action by you is followed by increases and decreases in the satisfaction level of each one of these parties. In the Israeli side, for example, you can send a group to assassinate militants and wait to see the settlers praise you. You can also talk nicely to the Palestinians, just to see suicidal minds smiling.

I played twice, once for every side, and both times I ended up getting a secret message that I have just helped the third Intifada begin. I think I was too simplistic, probably exactly like Ahmadinejad and Sharon.

The game is developed very well. The graphics and the details are very good for a package sold for $20. I also enjoyed watching the very appropriate multimedia files showing the results of my actions. The game is also very easy to learn. I would suggest adding a few saved games to the package, because I seriously doubt that you can satisfy both sides at the same time to high extents. I should mention that I found myself shamefully delighted when, after I ordered targeted assassinations, the US bar went upper.

The game installs in three languages of English, Arabic, and Hebrew. The engaged parties are also those speaking these languages. After the dawn of the infamous star, Ahmadinejad, I think they might like to add Persian to the languages, too. Then, I suggest sending a copy of the game to the Islamic Republic Presidential Palace. I wish Mr. Ahmadinejad could find the time to practice his ideology in the “demo” mode, in which bombs don’t kill and crying women easily turn into happy faces.

p.s. I love the Peace Maker’s music.