Videogames Are Far More Than Play

USA Today has a piece up talking with the writers of Smartbomb about the greater significance of gaming in the here and now. From the article: "In 2002, the military released America's Army, a game designed to inspire young men and women gamers to join the army. Within one year, it was registered by 2.4 million people and nominated for an award by a top gaming organization. It was a blockbuster. America's Army, along with a game used to train recruits and a sci-fi, holodeck knockoff (a room that allows the participant to see, feel and smell a virtual environment), will be used to 'train soldiers for the emotional experience' of war, making up a part of the U.S. military's new DNA, according to Chaplin and Ruby."

Comments

I've tried playing this recently

[sgant]

There is hardly anyone playing America's Army anymore. At least I couldn't find any servers playing it. VERY small numbers. And it's a great game too.

Same with UT2004. Hardly anyone playing that either. It's either the morons over playing Battlefield 2 (which I've taken off my HD in frustration to the rampant tardism there), or one of the newer games. Some of these things just fall through the cracks and you never see them again. Yet there's still people playing Team Fortress Classic on the old Half-Life.

Oh well...

Re:I've tried playing this recently

[Sierpinski]

There is hardly anyone playing America's Army anymore. At least I couldn't find any servers playing it. VERY small numbers. And it's a great game too.

This is probably because you are lacking one more more patches. I was playing AA not 2 weeks ago, and there were hundreds of servers, more than half of them were full. AA is still alive and well, but if you aren't patched up, you will only see servers that match your current patch level, which probably are few. Download all the latest patches and see if you can see any more servers than before.

You might also want to check your filters to make sure you aren't looking for some old map that nobody likes anymore, or have turned off some of the other filter options. There were lots of the US West/East "official" servers, and even more leased ones just recently.

Re:I've tried playing this recently

[quantax]

I am going to have to disagree with your assessment of no-one playing America's Army or UT2004. I just really quickly loaded up a server browser to see how many people were playing, and currently (at 4:30pm EST):

UT2004: there are 212 servers and 1526 players spread between those servers, though notably, few are filled to the max and only 2 dozen or so support 32 players.

America's Army: there are 621 servers with 8102 players currently playing, and unlike UT2k4, it seems to enjoy a large share of of 28 to 26 player servers some of which are maxed out with players.

Team Fortress Classic: 197 servers, 1588 players spread between them, only 3 servers are max filled and only a dozen or so support more 32 players.

TFC is still being played cause very simply, if you are addicted to TFC, you arent getting that fix anywhere else at the moment; believe it or not, theres still about 60 Quakeworld TF servers running with a couple hundred players.

I have to agree about BF2 to a degree, lots of asshat-ism and the server browser is frankly a piece of crap, but its not a bad game in of itself. But your point is taken; theres a lot of great MP games that just die as far as their MP goes since people stop playing and move onto newer shit, but I mean, thats kinda the nature of things. Things change, we move on to newer things; besides LANs or bots, you have little choice but to move on with everyone else regardless. But I won't deny that looking at the Quake1 cd in my cd-case often brings a mild feeling of nostalgic depression from seeing something that once was great and pretty much no longer is beyond talking of it as a classic and the memories. Those are probably what matter in the end.

Re:I've tried playing this recently

[karnal]

Same with UT2004. Hardly anyone playing that either.

Actually, as a member of a clan and an active UT2k4 player (>1 hour per night), I'd have to say you're probably not in a UT2k4 clan. For quick pick-me-ups, there aren't a whole lot of pickins to choose from in UT (check out our RTO n00b assault server- there's always someone there!), but once you get into a clan (be it assault, DM, TAM etc) you get a chance to get in on scrims and pugs and all sorts of fun.

Yea, for the casual gamer, it's frustrating (UT2K7 around the corner tho!) but if you are dedicated enough to be in a clan (and I'm really just an average player) there's so much more to play :)

FREE

[SafteyMan]

I think the biggest reason America's Army was so popular was because it was a decent first person shooter - THAT WAS FREE.

The emotional experience of war.

[pahoran]

"... will be used to 'train soldiers for the emotional experience' of war."

Really? Are they going to kill your friends off and tell you to suck it up and keep fighting? Are they going to separate you from your family for months/years at a time?

Re:The emotional experience of war.

[vertinox]

Are they going to separate you from your family for months/years at a time?

I take you have never played WoW.

reality?

[drDugan]

I think the army should consider very seriously just how "real" to make an immersive training envoronment. If they actually made it close to reality, not many people would join.

Will they include losing limbs? Losing your best friends? Not having enough armor? Superiors without a spine following orders against regulations? Rightfully angry people trying to kill you?

I can't imagine ANY 3D game in an immersion cave coming close to these experiences.

Go read this guy's experience: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/wdc/118782492 .html

I don't mean this as a troll - I think that many people who go into the armed services in the US have no intention of dying for their country. They are trying to get money for college, and they are attracted to the excting images they see on the TV commercials: I love the one: "Join the Army - you'll learn how to work with computers" yeah right, at it's core, messages like these are simply lies.

A little dry..

[Rapter09]

Perhaps it's just me, but considering the depth and the deep-rooted history of the videogame industry writing an article that seems to try and make a widesweeping comment on the explosion of video games that covers only one or two 'major' games seems a little dry. Maybe they should rename the article dealing more with the promotion of a recruiting tool. I can understand with what the writer of the article is trying to get at, but it needs to be a little bit more researched, with a greater except from 'the industry', unless i'm missing something big (which is entirely possible.)

America's Army: VR Missions

[drunken-sosage]

It was a blockbuster. America's Army, along with a game used to train recruits and a sci-fi, holodeck knockoff (a room that allows the participant to see, feel and smell a virtual environment), will be used to 'train soldiers for the emotional experience' of war, making up a part of the U.S. military's new DNA, according to Chaplin and Ruby."

A Sons of Liberty dialogue exchange comes to mind...

Pliskin : So this is your first.

Raiden : I've had extensive training -- the kind that's indistinguishable from the real thing.

Pliskin : Like what?

Raiden : Sneaking mission 60, Weapons 80,

Pliskin : VR, huh.

Raiden : But realistic in every way.

Pliskin : A virtual grunt of the digital age. That's just great.

Raiden : That's far more effective than live exercises.

Pliskin : You don't get injured in VR, do you? Every year, a few soldiers die in field exercises.

Raiden : There's pain sensation in VR, and even a sense of reality and urgency. The only difference is that it isn't actually happening.

Pliskin : That's the way they want you to think, to remove you from the fear that goes with battle situations. War as a video game -- what better way to raise the ultimate soldier?