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America's Army - Development, Impact Analyzed
Professor writes "The MOVES Institute's America's Army team has placed a booklet on the game's development and impact (PDF link) onto the web." The MOVES Institute is part of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and their page notes this booklet was "...developed for the America's Army exhibit [part of the Bang The Machine exhibition] at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Art Center... [and] tells you all you wanted to know about the philosophy, history, and implementation of the MOVES Institute's hit game." We've previously covered the reported recruiting success of America's Army.
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Bisexual Clones from Africa!!!
...but I won't play this game and help the army's recruiting methods succeed. I'd rather encourage my friends to play games that aren't made by organizations bent on killing people. :)
That's just me, though...you may like killing people for a living.
But there is another kind of evil that we must fear most... and that is the indifference of good men.
Penny Arcades Best Misappropriation of Tax Dollars Award.
It says it in the pamphlet.
Thats hilarious.
I mean we all know how great the world did when the Roman armies crumbled.
Yup... your country sure protected us from all those eeevil weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
Well actually yes. The last 12 years of heavy surveilance and overflight (US and UK) would have helped in that regard. Its better to prevent a weapon from being built in the first place than have to go destroy it. The problem was the US never really knew how successful it had been. Saddam seemed to want to keep that a state secret.
...video games recruit YOU.
/. is this FUBAR american stuff...
Sorry, just woke up in europe and the first thing I see at
and i'd like to state for the record that all pacifists aren't quite as smarmy as yourself
Keep in mind that some "pacifists" are just kids trying to be trendy, be fashionably rebellious, etc. They tend to over do it.
Having to remember tank designs in order to run covert ops training really got me thinking. I'd say this game oversteps the mark. Ok, the first aid training actually turned out to be handy (long story, involving blood) but identifying millitary vehicles?
I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
I have no desire or plan to join the Army, but their game is quite fun. I just started playing yesterday (Always a late adopter), am up to 14 honor (Someone look me up- Tireos). I suck on most of the bigger maps, but get me on Swamp Assault, FLS Assault, or, wossname, the one where you protect the helicopter and I'm money.
No, having more nukes than any other country protects the US militarily. You have scientists to thank for that, not grunts or generals. The army is a relic whose primary function is to subdue other countries whom the current US leadership, for whatever reason (say, to access the emergency powers of the executive branch), dislikes enough to punish... but who aren't enough of an actual threat to warrant a nuke.
i still play AA because it's a decent game.
Compared to MS Solitaire? Sure.
One of the more popular flame wars on the message boards is AA realism vs atypical FPS. From my viewpoint, its just a game. I haven't read any threads saying, "After playing AA, I decided to enlist." Gamers were just looking for another option besides Counter Strike and AA was the answer for some.
i really believe when HL2 and Doom3 is released, there will be a castrophoic drop off in AA players.
-- ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space!
If training in this game isn't greatly toned down compared to the real thing, it probably explains the many failures of the american military (though I know you'd rather forget... Beirut, 1983, anyone?) That, and putting technology above men and "self preservation first" as pillars of the doctrine...
While it lasts, I don't think the US corps will get anywhere close to corps like the Foreign Legion in terms of efficiency on the field. No Kolwezi for you, guys.
I work at a computer store in Cincinnati, OH.
Recently, we were approached by an army recruiter asking us if we had spare computers, network hardware, and space we would be willing to "donate" for free to him. He wanted to attract kids to the army by setting up a free network gaming environment.
While the game might be fun, this is quite frankly evil. The army recruiter was, in fact, under orders "from above" to find a place and acquire free equipment and time in order to use the game to attract otherwise uninterested people to the army.
My viewpoint is simple; if you want to join the military, join it. If you don't want to join, there's probably a reason for that. You don't want to die, you don't like being told to do things you don't agree with, you don't like being yelled at and fed crap... any number of reasons. Using a game to make it look glamorous is just another way of lying to kids in order to get them to join the military under false pretenses. This is nothing new; don't get me wrong. It's just slimy.
I'm not overseas fighting for your freedom just so you can go around saying anti-government and anti-army things.
If you don't like the country you should move! You shouldn't be allowed to stay in the country that I am protecting if you don't like the freedom I'm giving you.
Or maybe you're a Terrorist, or a Communist, or a Homosexual, or Black, or Hispanic, or Native-American, or a Woman, or a Man who disagrees with me, or maybe you're all of those! If you are any of the above then you should be shot!
--Sgt. Bushespawn
IWhy are we paying for them to develop a computer game that they are not even trying to make a profit off?
:-)
Well they are a non-profit organization.
Seriously, recruiting is much more subtle than you suggest. T-shirts, hats, bumper stickers, and now video games are effective tools. They do not directly get folks to run down to the local recruiter but they are not meant to. They are meant to simply remind a person about the Army. Lots of young folks are not sure what they want to do, periodic reminders of the Army's existence sometimes leads to the Army getting onto a list of things to consider.
Secondly, it is also a PR tool. It counterbalances some of the unrealistic perceptions generated by movies. This can have a positive effect on someone thinking about the Army as well.
I recently watched a former UN weapons inspector, presumably British from the accent, being interviewed on the news. He said:
- Iraq used long range missles with chemical weapons against Iran.
- Iraq used chemical weapons against the Kurds.
- Iraq admitted having nerve agent based weapons.
- Iraq admitted having biological weapons.
- Iraq claims they destroyed it all in 1991 and refuses to provide evidence of this.
The Gulf War cease fire required Iraq to get rid of all of this AND it required them to document/prove it. Failure to document/prove their claims led to 12 years of UN based sanctions, overflights, and whatnot while Iraq existed in this self induced post-Gulf War limbo state.
So, Iraq had a large chunck of its military destroyed. It had some of the troops who did this hanging out in the neighborhood. It had some of the aircraft that did this constantly overflying enormous chunks of its territory. And you fail to see how this may have:
(a) if Iraq's WMD survived the Gulf War help prevent its further use or development.
or
(b) if Iraq's WMD did not survive the Gulf War help prevent reconstitution of the programs and weapons.
That's sadly amusing.
Regarding your question of Saddam being deterred I have some recollection of WMD research equipment being dug up at some scientists home. He claimed that he was told to bury it until the UN inspectors signed off on Iraq being WMD free, the sanctions lifed, and all the foreigners are no longer nosing around the country. I don't find the scientist as reliable as the UN inspector, maybe he stole the equipment so he could sell it, who know. In either case your denial that the US/UK presense in the area could have possibly helped keep this crap buried and out of use is amusing.
that and some people want to knwo what army training is like and what you learn. Kinda like getting the training without the commitment, but not really, you know?