The Italian publishing house Nottetempo recently released a controversial book titled "Playing with War: How the Games Industry is Militarizing Our Minds" (Giocare alla guerra. Come l'industria ludica militarizza le nostre menti) by the young Italian writer and researcher Dario Bassani. This book, published on May 29, 2026, in 192 medium-sized pages, deconstructs the frightening entanglement between digital entertainment technology and contemporary geopolitical wars, shedding lightOn the transformation of gaming platforms from spaces for innocent entertainment into strategic tools for directing public opinion and preparing future fighters.
Bassani begins his thesis by observing a clear phenomenon in current conflicts: “Nerds” (those obsessed with technology and games) have come to dominate the course of modern warfare, and joysticks have often replaced traditional rifles. The book explains that this merging of violence and entertainment is not a coincidence, but rather an extension of deep historical ties that began since war games19th century board games (such as the Prussian Kriegsspiel), through the military backgrounds of Dungeons & Dragons, to Cold War nuclear weapons simulators, which paved the way for today's popular shooter series like Call of Duty.
The author believes that playing has never been an innocent act throughout history. Empires have long employed Luddite forces to train people and normalize them with and accept the logic of constant conflict.The report cites field facts that Bassani presents to link digital imagination and dystopia. In the Russian-Ukrainian war, video gamers are being recruited openly and systematically and are using their superior remote control skills to fly drones on the battle fronts.As for the Gaza Strip, the book reveals a darker dimension, as digital military industries depend on artificial intelligence systems programmed by engineers who grew up as “voracious gamers” within major technology companies aiming to carry out precise liquidation operations. These technologies are now managed by giant companies, some of which have names inspired by the worlds of fantasy and literature (such as Tolkien's literature), and are led by businessmen who today whisper in the ears of superpower leaders to win military contracts that generate billions of dollars.Bassani strongly criticizes the transformation of real wars into “entertaining visual displays” that are consumed through screens and social networking sites, which leads to the absence of human and moral distance between the striker and the struck. Isolating the body of the fighter behind a screen on another continent, and separating the military decision from the direct feeling of killing thanks to artificial intelligence algorithms, puts humanity before a frightening question about what the future human identity will be.Written in a sharp and intelligent style, this sage aims to sound the alarm against the “normalization of the idea of endless war” and making it part of our hidden everyday culture.
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