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Iraq War Veterans Protest America's Army Title
Via GamePolitics, a story reported by the St. Lois Post-Dispatch of frustrated war veterans protesting America's Army . Roughly 100 veterans of the Iraq war marched near an elaborate demonstration of the military-funded game, outside of an expo center in Missouri. Their shouts of 'war is not a game' must have contrasted sharply with the elaborate simulator the Army had set up to publicize their (already very popular) FPS title.
FTA:
One onlooker told the protesters they should support their country. Another passer-by snapped back at him: "That's exactly what she's doing."
That might be the most embiggening thing about the entire episode... that people (who are not just typing it on their blog) are starting to realize that.
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
It's my position, and one that I see echoed in many online communities, that games don't impact actual behavior. That laws seeking to limit or restrict games based on content are out of line. That lawsuits blaming violence on games are completely out of line. So - while I understand the emotions driving these folks, from a logical stand point, I think they are wasting their time and the army is wasting money.
If someone would like to argue that the game preps youth for war and predisposes them to join the army, then they would seem to be arguing that gta prepares and predisposes players to crime and violence, etc.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
They're well within their rights to protest the game as far as I'm concerned, the VA and/or local commanders may have other views. I however, do not agree with them and believe part of making an informed decision about joining the military should not in the least be influenced by playing an "Army Simulation". Get information from every source you can about joining BEFORE your sign up, choose a path that suits you and your talents and go from there. War is not a game, it's not a joke, but it exists regardless of whether you want it to or not. The game exists and whether or not it is designed to be a "simulator" which with today's technology could only loosely be called a "simulation", or just a game for fun's sake, is beside point. I say let it go...
Any time America's Army comes up, I always think about how insane it is that on the one hand many people and politicians in the U.S. are hysterical about video games supposedly causing violent behavior, while at the same time I hear no real objections from these people to their tax dollars being used to develop a game whose explicit point, AFAIK, is to persuade kids to take part in actual violence (by becoming soldiers).
I am not a pacifist, and I don't object to people serving in the military. My father served in the military and so did his father. I think that, whatever the realities, there are some good, noble reasons to become a soldier. I just don't think that "killing people is fun" is one of them.
I also don't really think (in the absence of convincing evidence) that video games generally lead to violent behavior. I do think, though, that a game put out by the Army that touts its realism can shape the ideas of what combat is like in impressionable minds, so I definitely have an ethical problem with them using it as part of a recruiting effort with people who are just coming into adulthood.
"You call it a new way of thinking; I call it regression to ignorance!" -- Operation Ivy
The military is, at the very least, being disingenuous and misleading when it advertises and recruits. Recall the old National Guard slogan? No? Probably because they stopped using it... "One weekend a month, two weeks a year." Sounds like a sweet deal "Come on, the National Guard doesn't do shit! At best you work a couple months and get paid well!" It was the NG's big selling point in advertisements and television for years. That was until the Iraq war when the National Guard was required to stay for excessive and extended tours of duty... soon it wasn't enough to convince people that the "Easy" National Guard was just a couple months of training and work.
Absolutely, the military doesn't LIE and it spells out exactly what you may potentially be asked to do... but they're very good at using semantics to mislead people. In this case it is a Kickass(tm) action game meant to entice children to join the military.
According to this ad for the army, the army seems to think that war is just another game on another level. sickening.
A random member of the public told AN IRAQ WAR VETERAN to support his country?
Next time some senator wants to censor games, how about sending him a copy of AA and ask him for a comment?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
> Of course when there is a war you're expected to go fight.
Forever. Until you die or go crazy. None of this "limited tours of duty" crap that we did with WW2, no sir. It's Warhammer 40K in the corps: life is war, war is life, venerate the immortal emperor.
That's what joining the army now means. Army Strong means huddling in a corner when someone drops a book behind you.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
The WW2 generation and their children have a sickening level of governmental trust. I heard the "we are at war" line from some old guy in the grocery store, but we are NOT AT WAR. The playtime in Iraq police action wasn't important enough to merit a declaration of war from Congress, nor a draft! I dunno about you, but I don't think we really need to be in Iraq. We should have kept in Afghanistan and found Osama, even if we did have to invade our 'allies' the Saudies.
Blar.
America's Zombie Jesus Army?
I got nothin'
So in an ethical game - a player should go out on a mission - and if they get wounded or killed, the game should be over and they should never be able to play it again.
I can't imagine that any sensible person would play a game like you describe and then decide that they are impervious to rockets and gun fire. Shoot- A-team tried to teach me that and I made it through o.k. But anyway - everybody is keying on this 'simulation' thing and how this is different from every other video game because the army pays for the development and I say nope. It's just another first person shooter - and it is wrong to say that somehow this game is bad but all the others are o.k.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
As a military member, I agree with a lot of what these veterans are saying. War is NOT a joke, it is NOT a game, and its consequences are very real. I've been injured in the desert, and getting health care from the Army-- even while I'm STILL on active duty-- is a very difficult task. I don't know that these elements are covered by the game. I'm also wary of the government spending taxpayer money on a video game-- I certainly don't consider it the *wisest* use of my tax money, but then again, I think the same thing about OIF.
That said, I have no desire to see the game discontinued because it might-possibly-theoretically-kinda-sorta convince a kid that joining the Army is something worth doing. The Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps all offer something to those willing to take up the challenge-- whether it be educational benefits, travel opportunities (eight countries and counting), or just a steady job. For a lot of people, these are great opportunities. If a video game provides people with a more detailed view of military life, and helps somebody decide that they want that life, then I'm not sure it's such a bad thing.
(I would also like to note that military recruiters in EVERY branch are known for not showing "the whole truth" to recruits. I've seen tons of recruitment videos, pamphlets, and presentations that show the same above-listed benefits and opportunities-- while showing none of the downsides. It's the nature of the recruitment machine. If we want to change it, perhaps we should start with the top, and institute reforms throughout the recruiting corps-- not just the video game.)
The game is propaganda, and we should recognize that and make sure that our kids who play the game realize it, too. Once we've done that, we have to allow the next generation to make their own decisions about whether or not to enlist. For those who do-- I thank them for their service and wish them the best. For those who don't-- I thank them for their consideration and wish them the best, as well.
In Clinton's defence how many people would turn down about the most prestigous scholarship there is to serve as a drafted grunt in a war in South East Asia that was increasingly looking as if it had nothing to do with the USA? Actually being in the forces and going AWOL for months is a different story to refusing to enlist for a legitimate reason.
Good lord! At least somebody will "cut them some slack" for exercising their First Amendment rights!
You think these soldiers have been misled by the liberal media just because they oppose the war? They saw the war. You didn't. My friend Jim, 25, was a medic in Falluja. He is against the war. He came back and his hair was gray, and he is 25. I think that gives him more than the right to have any opinion he wants.
Anecdotes aside, even if I disagree with someone who is pro-war, I can at least argue with them because I think they are wrong, giving them some credit for coming to their own views through experience or rationale...no matter how stupid I think the conclusions are. So "pray" they change their minds about it, wow. Sounds like you are ashamed of them for having minds in the first place.
Think about your argument: the big thing I hear from pro-war people with the "support our troops" line was that after Vietnam, troops came home and were spit on by anti-war people; now troops come back from Iraq and are given crap by pro-war people? And simultaneously told they need to "support the troops" by people who didn't even serve? Unbelievable.
i am the opposite of tom_good, i am the XOR of ]=9fÆ"ÝÕ and ÖÆ\KF, i am 746F6D5F6576696C00.