Gaijin Entertainment's War Thunder is a military MMO putting you in control of an army of military vehicles, but, like most games, some of those vehicles may not be the most accurate. One player was dissatisfied with War Thunder's in-game accuracy, so they uploaded excerpts from classified tank documents belonging to the British Army to the official forum.
According to the UK Defence Journal, someone with access to classified documents took it upon themselves to try to right War Thunder's perceived wrongs. The uploaded documents appear to have been altered, and users noted that labels indicating the delicate nature of the documents had been either removed or struck out. "UK Restricted" allegedly have been marked through, while "UNCLASSIFIED" was a label added to the document instead.
Related: Steam Deck Reservation Errors Prevent People From Purchasing, Shipments Pushed To Q1 2022
The moderation team for War Thunder stepped in on July 14, removing the documents and taking a strict stance against further dissemination of those images. The moderator noted that there was no proof that the documents were ever unclassified, and that continuing to share those images made you "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."
You can still view the full conversation on the official forums, but all images of the document have been removed. There were a few players who voiced frustration that the in-game tanks were still inaccurate based on the data shared, but the community management team from War Thunder indicated the design would not be revisited based on what was shared. "There is no valid source material that can be used. Therefore no change will take place. We have made it very clear our stance on source material," wrote Smin1080p, a community manager for War Thunder.
The thread has since been closed for comments, but what will ultimately become of the user who shared those documents is unclear.
Next: It Really Shouldn't Be This Hard To Legally Play Old Games
