It was bound to happen. If the world got high tech new avenues of defense research had to be opened. But isn't this taking this to a whole new level?

The American defence headquarters (aka Pentagon) committee's becoming increasingly sensitive to terrorists using virtual worlds to plan a real life attack. A professor at the Pentagon research committee, Dr. Dwight Toavs, has actually laid out a scenario where the "terrorist" plot might unfold.

The good doctor presented slides to the committee detailing how the World of Warcraft jargon could be interpreted as a possible nuclear attack on the White House.

If you still can't believe it, maybe the slides might help.




Steven Aftergood, an analyst at the Federation of the American Scientists, wonders how close these scenarios may be to the actual truth. He quoted, as reported by Wired,that "This concern is out there. But it has to be viewed in context. It's the job of intelligence agencies to anticipate threats and counter them. Could terrorists use Second Life? Sure, they can use anything. But is it a significant augmentation? That's not obvious. It's a scenario that an intelligence officer is duty-bound to consider. That's all."

A lot of people are sceptical on the policing of MMORPG's as one of high national security, but don't be too surprised if the next nightelf druid you face on the field is actually a military officer of the Pentagon.