America's Army on Linux

jojor writes "It seems that icculus.org has gotten America's Army to run under Linux, as this screenshot will attest. America's Army is UT based and free (as in beer). More games for Linux, yippeh!" Awesome. I consider America's Army to be one of the best things my government has funded within recent history.

Comments

The government didn't fund it ...

[The AtomicPunk]

You did.

Argh!

[Dark Lord Seth]

Awesome. I consider America's Army to be one of the best things my government has funded within recent history.

Yes! Immagine all that money being used on education, safety of healthcare instead of being used as some military recruitment/propaganda toy. WHAT A WASTE THAT WOULD BE!

Note: Not a troll, nor a flame. Might be hard to see the difference in this case but I'm actually serious, heh.

Re:Argh!

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to flame you or anything but you do realize that the game only cost about $7 million to produce (at least according to Wired). You couldn't really do anything worthwhile in education or healthcare with only $7 million. As far as recruitment for the army goes $7 million is only probably about the amount the army spends on those "army of one" recruitment ads on TV in a week so no big waste of funds there. Now if you're trying to say that spending money to recruit people into the army is a waste of money, well that's a completly different conversation entirely.

Re:Argh!

[KDan]

You could create and fund probably over 7 schools with that tiny budget. Every little bit helps.

Daniel

Recruiting

[Kjeks]

Slightly off-topic, so mod me down if you wish.
It's weird that after a billion years of human evolution, we still solve conflicts by killing each others. The only thing that has evolved is the method used.

I think it's sad that young people are encouraged to kill other people, and the army even sends out computer games to recruit people!
Why not spend more money on *preventing* war, in stead of *fighting* war?

There should be an political army as well as a millitary army, but then again, it won't be so "fun" to not be able to kill other human beings.

-"Killing people with bow and arrow is primitive. Killing people with nuclear bombs is civilized."

Re:Why?

[NineBall]

"A dollar spent on brainwashing is better than a dollar spent on product improvement."- The Dilbert Principle

Answer

[Fastball]

Look, the civilized world, the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, and even France, among other equally important, civilized nations have a lot (maybe more, maybe less) at stake when they go to war. If you recall, the U.S. did next to nothing (that we know of at least) after the original WTC bombing, its embassy bombings, and the attack on the U.S. Cole. You can turn the cheek all you want, but it doesn't stop anybody from slapping you.

If you're lucky, sometimes the threat of force is enough to prevent an attack. If not, you do what you have to and you do it decisively. Look, I appreciate your views and however you arrived at them. You have good intentions.

Unfortunately, there are enough fractured souls in this world who will stop at nothing to lash out, often violently, and sometimes catastrophically. There always will be. Blame it on the human condition.

As shitty a deal as it was for those Japanese who suffered the atomic bombs at the tail end of WWII, something important bloomed from it. We understood just how destructive we as humans can be. And so far while ideologies, politics, and cultures have clashed, the civilized world at least has enjoyed a mostly peaceful, prosperous time. It took a while and a bunch of lives in Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan to name a few to get where we are now, but right now ain't so bad.

Can you imagine what it would be like if the third world, the Middle East, all of Africa, and some spots across Asia join the fold? I can, I really can, and what a great time that will be. But we'll never get there watching on the sidelines. When the world can rid itself of despot rulers and give people like the Iraqis a future beyond Saddam Hussein's despotic predestination, we'll be closer to preventing war than anyone can imagine.

Re:Why?

[jsav40]

I aggree it is a great game, but shouldn't the government be putting that money to better use? I meen it's just a recruiting tool isn't it?

It is a recruiting tool but not a bad idea overall. Consider how difficult selling enlistment in the armed forces is.Every little bit of positive PR helps achieve that goal. Having served 8 years in the Army, and being old enough to remember the draft, I really appreciate the importance of having a dedicated volunteer force rather than a conscripted army.

You're not going to believe me, but...

[DarthWiggle]

That's what law and lawyers are for. Think about it. 99% of the stuff people go to civil litigation for nowadays is stuff that might have resulted in a duel in the past. Encroachment on property? Bang. Breached contract? Bang. Fraud, deceit, misappropriation of village wheat. Bang.

Now we just sue the hell out of each other and nobody gets killed.

Nation states evolved from the personal fiefdoms of kings, but, at some point, the rule of law stopped counting. Oh, that's right, presidents and kings aren't bound by law.

My bad.

Re:Why?

[ianp5uk]

It's a great game but as for recruitment? It'd put me off. Scares the xxxx out of me and I get killed a lot.

Re:Recruiting (Burning Karma)

[Jadrano]

When you meet a follower of the current US administration's doctrine: 1. Punch him in the face as hard as you can 2. As long as he hasn't fallen to the ground repeat step 1 3. Tell him that it was necessary to punch him because otherwise he might have punched you or gained the abilitry to punch you in a few years 4. When he is getting up again, this shows that you were right, the likelihood of him punching you in the future rises again. Therefore continue with 1. Repeat all this until he admits that the idea of pre-emptive strikes was not meant to be used by anyone else, is actually the same like the "right" of the stronger and doesn't make sense as a general principle.