NATO’s first-ever gaming tournament in Warsaw, Poland | #ProtectTheFuture

NATO Experts joined Maciej Musiał, Polish gaming talent @setokani and @grabagra, alongside American streamers @ZeRoyalViking and @mischaCrossing and Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Marie-Doha Besancenot to play games including Among Us and Party Animals, and talk all things disinformation and information security. At the NATO Gaming Tournament in Warsaw, Poland, thousands of gamers from across the Alliance and around the world gathered to play online games and chat with experts from NATO Headquarters. From countering disinformation to reconciling differences in an organisation of diverse countries, the gamers and NATO staff discussed key challenges facing NATO – and where the Alliance is headed in the future. The vibe in the room is casual and relaxed. Young gamers from Warsaw mingle with artists, soldiers and NATO experts. In one corner, troops from NATO’s multinational battlegroup in Poland play vintage console games, including Street Fighter and Super Mario. In another area, gamers mash buttons on old arcade games like Pac-Man. But the main action is online. Thousands of viewers tune into Twitch livestreams hosted by online gamers from both sides of the Atlantic: GrabaGra and Seto in Poland, ZeRoyalViking and Mischascrossing in the United States. Also hosting the event is young Polish actor and Netflix star Maciej Musial, who has been partnering with NATO this year to help tell the Alliance’s story in his own words – and who was recognised at the event as a NATO Protect the Future champion. For Maciej, like for many others, the motivation to work with NATO is driven by both political values and a personal connection. “My grandfather was a Second World War soldier,” he says. “He was an amazing person – my best friend. He built that feeling of patriotism in me. He always was thanking everyone he met, who was either a doctor or a bus driver, and especially people who serve in the army. He was really thanking them for whatever they do, and he was always telling me… serve a good cause, if you find a place to do so.” So when Maciej received an offer to partner with NATO, he was eager to talk about the values of NATO from his own perspective. “He passed away a year ago, and after half a year, I received that invitation. And I didn’t think for a second. I immediately agreed. Because he always said that we are on a very specific place on the map, from a geopolitical perspective, in Poland. And we need strong friends. He was super happy when we joined NATO. And he always said that this is a really important alliance for us to be in. So being able to serve a little bit to the cause, it’s a great honour for me.” During the tournament, Maciej and the Twitch streamers played two popular online games with NATO staff. First, the gamers took on pandemic classic Among Us, where a group of astronauts have to sniff out the impostor in their space ship – and the impostor has to sabotage the life-support systems and wipe out the rest of the crew without getting caught. The game provided a great springboard for a discussion about disinformation, as the impostors help spread false narratives about their innocent crewmates in order to stir up suspicion and avoid capture. “How can we, as an Alliance and as common people, do any countermeasures [against disinformation]?” asked GrabaGra at one point. “How can we verify information?” “The same as we were doing before in the game – not believing people just because they say so,” said one of the NATO experts. “We were seeing in the game, someone said, ‘Oh, [the impostor] has been Red!’ And without any proof, people believed that it was Red… This is a bit how disinformation works, right? Someone said something randomly, and usually the person that is creating disinformation doesn’t want you to believe that it was them – they just want to confuse you and sow this question mark… So as citizens, the most important thing is to be informed, to check your sources, and to try not to trust random information just because you saw it online.” Story continues: ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ SUBSCRIBE to this channel SUBSCRIBE to NATO News SUBSCRIBE to NATO History Connect with NATO online: Visit the Official NATO Homepage: Receive NATO updates via email: Find NATO on FACEBOOK: Follow @NATO on TWITTER: Follow NATO on Instagram: Find NATO on LinkedIn: Find NATO on Flickr: #NATO #OTAN #WeAreNATO