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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.
Penny Arcades Best Misappropriation of Tax Dollars Award.
It says it in the pamphlet.
Thats hilarious.
i'm a pacifist pinko, but i still play AA because it's a decent game. sure, it's propaganda, but i'm a big boy, and i can handle playing a game without being influenced negatively. you come across as a bit condescending, and i'd like to state for the record that all pacifists aren't quite as smarmy as yourself.
"Life is great; without it, you'd be dead." -Harmony Korine
Please tell me the difference between playing a video game made by the army and a video game made by say, Valve, Epic, id, Red Storm, or Dice.
There isn't any.
The Army noticed that people liked realistic tactical shooters, such as Rainbow Six. So hey, instead of writing up a fictional story, how about teach them about how the Army works in real life? Maybe they'll sign up!
The Army did nothing wrong, and I congradulate them on this risky attempt at reaching a new generation.
So please, if you're going to complain that the Army is wrong in making this game, then practice what you preach and don't play any violent video games at all.
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.
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.
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!
You need to be able to separate the Army, from the politicians.
Politicians are the ones who made the poor decisions you mentioned. The Army just did their job and implemented those bad decisions.
I think this is a good thing too. The army needs to be a tool of the politicians. The army cannot make decisions on its own. Otherwise, it turns into a situation where the army runs the country, and that never works out.
No reason to lie.
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.
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.