War Thunder Devs Remove Classified Military Docs Allegedly Leaked on Forum

In this Friday’s edition of “strange gaming news,” a War Thunder fan allegedly leaked classified military documents on the developer’s forum in an attempt to win some kind of an argument. The documents were swiftly removed by developers Gaijin, but it’s still a funny story of what lengths gamers will go to in order to triumph in a war of digital words.

According to the Kotaku report, the user in question (who has the handle Fear_Naught)took issue with the design of the in-game Challenger 2, which they said was inaccurate. This user claimed to be a commander in the UK’s Royal Tank Regiment, and attempted to prove their point by uploading screenshots of what they claimed was the “Army Equipment Support Publication, for the Challenger 2 tank.” I think the user’s intention was to show how developers made errors in the construction of the tank, but whether this was true or not was superseded by the fact that, if this document was what Fear_Naught said it was, this was not supposed to be shown to everyone.

Inevitably, the developers had to step in, close down the thread in which the argument took place. A moderator responded to Fear_Naught, saying: “We have written confirmation from MoD that this document remains classified. By continuing to disseminate it you are in violation of the Official Secrets Act as stated by the warning on the cover of the document, an offence which can carry up to a 14 year prison sentence if prosecuted.”

Obviously, I don’t have the savvy to know for sure if the documents were what the user claimed them to be — they could have been IKEA instructions for all I’d have understood them, but the possibility that they were what they claimed is way funnier than the alternative. Leaking classified military documents — I’m not sure there’s any argument on the internet where winning would be worth that price, but I’m old so what do I know?

Source: Kotaku