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America's Army - FPS Psych Experiment
dory writes "Newsreview has up a story from October on America's Army and the way the military is using it. The piece discusses a clan, the Army's research mentality and implementations, as well as some MRI studies on gamers." From the article: "The Army has been collecting player information in a vast relational database system called "Andromeda," Wardynski said, which recruiters will be able to use to look up a player's statistics if one of them shows up in a recruiting office. A version of America's Army now in development will take that a step further, allowing players to create a "persistent" online alter-ego, one that steadily progresses through the virtual ranks by taking additional training or specialized missions, generating valuable data along the way."
Wartime Culture is another way of saying "Clueless sheep who believe that a video game is like real war"
I've never played the game, so I don't know how realistic the game seems. I would think, though, that the game must involve the possibility for your character to be injured or killed. Maybe you're driving along a desert road and BOOM! your up-armored jeep blows up and you die. Or maybe you just get sniped by a camper.
And people are going to want to sign up for real?
If I were making a game to recruit young boys into the Army, God-mode would be the default, and there'd be plenty of nudity and sex. At least then the 'clueless sheep' would join the Army in the hopes of meeting the beautiful topless nymphomaniacs that roam the battlefields.
I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens. --Isaac Bashevis Singer
Battle School made use of a "mind game", an adventure game designed to analyze the mind of its players. You remember it for the "Giant's Drink", which put the player in an unresolvable situation to force adoption of unconventional strategies. It is a much more appropriate analogy in this case, which uses a an FPS game for a similar purpose, except that the skills developed are pertinent to the front-line grunts rather than their commanders. "Less brains, more action" is the future slogan of the American Army.
You thought you were kidding about the plastic surgerysd.
Cheap storage VM.