I’ve never shot a gun before — and it’s not an activity I’d actively seek out, given the grim implications of trivializing an act of violence by transforming it into recreation.
Yet it’s never been easier to fire a weapon. Now, in fact, it doesn’t even require you to get off your couch. A just-launched website called Shov allows users to “shoot guns on the internet” by remotely-controlling a weapon right inside their web browser. The pneumatic weapons fire .68 caliber hardened rubber “less lethal” munitions, which have killed dozens and wounded thousands worldwide when they’ve been deployed by police.
The project is provocative, launching as remotely-operated weapons becomes a common sight on real-world battlefields. Back in 2021, Israel used a similar remote-control gun to assassinate a top Iranian nuclear scientist. In Ukraine, militaries on both sides have used explosives-laden drones as weapons, and even reportedly taken the concept to its natural conclusion by allowing AI-powered autonomous weapons to identify and strike targets without human intervention.
While Shov certainly isn’t recreating the intricate horrors of modern warfare, the very proposition — allowing anybody to assume control over a “gun” turret that could easily be outfitted with a deadly assault rifle — feels laden with dark baggage.
A live feed show a long metal structure with a dozen .68-caliber pneumatic guns mounted to it, each of which appear to be aiming and firing independently. With the sound turned on, it’s an ear-splitting chorus of shots overlaid with a deep, videogame-like voice announcing the start and end of each 90-second round.
To assume control over one of the twelve guns, players can purchase five credits for $5 and proceed to aim at round targets that turn from green to red when struck.
I was given the opportunity to take the macabre game for a spin prior to launch, and was left scratching my head. After a brief 30 seconds inside a waiting room, I assumed control over the turrets, click on green targets spread out across a simple “arena” decked out with motorcycles and mannequins that the guns seemed to refuse to fire at.
“Range hot, real gun turrets, click to shoot green targets,” the booming hypermasculine voiceover announces. “Most kills win.”
The gun turrets are powered by “extremely high pressure air, not gunpowder,” Shov founder Domm Holland told Futurism an email.
In other words, in many ways the project is basically an online carnival shooting gallery. Upon closer inspection, you can see hoses connected to each of the guns feeding them round ammunitions.
“We had them manufactured for us, they are primarily hardened rubber,” Holland told Futurism, referring to the projectiles and sharing a photo of a sign dented by one of them. “But extremely hard.”
The game also technically doesn’t need any humans to shoot the targets.
“Any empty seat gets an AI player, marked [AI] — so every round is a full 12-turret firefight,” a tiny notice at the bottom of the company’s website reads.
As such, a panel on the right shows the live players actively firing at targets. Prior to launch, each listed player was accompanied by a suspiciously well-lit selfie, exactly the kind of AI-generated profiles we’ve repeatedly come across while reporting on the slopification of the internet.
Personally, I feel reassured that I wasn’t actually controlling a lethal weapon, something I’m not planning to do any time soon. For now, I’ll happily keep the gunfire limited to video games — a far better value proposition than clicking green targets inside a browser.
More on war drones: Russia Now Using Fully AI-Controlled Drones to Kill Ukrainian Civilians, Powered by Nvidia Chips
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