MAINZ, Germany – Running through Kurdistan as a Peshmerga soldier, bypassing obstacles and shooting dead Islamic State (ISIS) gunmen is a thrill for a growing number of enthusiasts.
While Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria are scoring victories against the religious zealots in real battlefields, gamers are taking on the militants in a growing number of popular video games.
With titles like Smash the ISIS, Peshmerga Runner or YPG Shoot Terrorist, the games are getting about a thousand downloads a day from playstores for Android and Windows phones.
In the Swiss city of Zurich, two friends in their late 20s started to develop the games, enthralling many Kurdish gamers who regard the Peshmerga as heroes.
“We wanted to let people all over the world know about the current events in Kurdistan and how Kurds are fighting for humanity,” said Attila Akay, who has Kurdish roots and is one of the developers at AAAppDEV, the publisher of the games.
The games are simple but fun, depicting ISIS enemies as bearded bats, Zombies and other ugly creatures.
Kurdish flags and music add to the patriotic flavor of the games, which have been downloaded by well over 15,000 enthusiasts.
The games feature the Kurdistan region’s Peshmerga forces fighting ISIS in Iraq or the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which have taken on the militants in mainly Syria’s Kurdish regions, or Rojava.
The Kurds, who are in the frontline of the war with ISIS, have been recognized by the US-led coalition as the most effective force against the militants on the ground.
Before the new games became available, Kurds and Kurdistan were depicted sparsely – and inaccurately -- in other videogames.
In Battlefield 3, which was published in 2011, the city of Sulaimani in Iraqi Kurdistan is the site of a big battle. But the game illustrates the city with big palm trees, which are not indigenous to the temperate mountainous region. Road signs appear in Arabic, while in real life they are mainly in Kurdish.
For the most part, gamers have been giving the new titles a thumbs-up, though many would like to see them improve.
“Great!!! I like it, It really became my best game,“ wrote Radwan Rasul in the reviews section of YPG Shoot Terrorist in the Google Play Store. “Nice game initially but needs to be improved with some more features so that it may attract non-kurds too,“ wrote Ridwan Yavuzel.
And it is not only gamers with Kurdish backgrounds that love the thrill of shooting at ISIS.
“I love killing ISIS.... i love ypj. I love kurdish people,“ wrote Bhavuna Chandra from India, referring to the YPG’s women’s wing.
But not everyone leaving a comment is in favor of the Kurds: some are cheering for ISIS.
“You just make these games because you have no chance against ISIS in real life,” wrote user Abu Latif. Cem Tuzunget from Turkey, where Kurds have fought a three-decade war for greater autonomy, wrote: “For Kurds there are no games but only death.”
“We reported those dreadful comments to Google but they didn’t do anything yet,” said Akay, one of the developers of the games. “Nevertheless, we will go on with our work and we won’t be intimidated!” he vowed.
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