Saturday, December 30, 2006
America’s Army
The US is much more protective of its armed forces than we here in Britain are. Perhaps this is why there has been no public outcry towards America’s Army, a video game released by the U.S. military as a way to reach out to America’s youth and hopefully persuade them to join up.
It’s a first person shooter, dressed up with full military paraphernalia. A console version was released with a tag line, meant to underscore the realism of the experience, “Our developers don’t NEED imagination.” This sentence may well tell you everything you need to know about Americans.
America’s army plays very similar to Counter-Strike; unsurprisingly it was the level of obsession of Counter-Strike players which inspired the military to design this game. It was the key demographic of young males with split second reflexes that Military officials wanted to attract. America’s Army focuses on the same style of team based, strategic, unforgiving gameplay, designed to mimic real-world combat situations.
For a game that aspires to realism, America’s Army is extremely tame. A bullet will make a small tasteful hole in a player, with very minimal blood or gore. Maybe the army thinks that showing potential candidates for military service what it looks like to loose an arm or a leg would be detrimental to their goal. The game also lacks any frame of reference for the combat it simulates. Who these enemies are and why you should kill them is not explored, except to say that they are bad and should be shot at.
I can’t imagine many people would have the patience for such an unrewarding experience. Then again, a pretty small percentage of people would consider joining the military anyway. Those who do play the game are tracked and recorded constantly, so that if they should decide to enlist the military can profile them according to their actions, determining what job they may be suited too. Personally I find this Big Brother method of information gathering extremely worrying. However since 9/11 America has shown little regard for its own civil liberties, so I doubt they care that much.
The success of America’s army as a recruiting tool will not be effectively measured for some time to come. There is very little in the game that makes me feel like enlisting. It omits so much of the reality of war that it feels hollow and plastic in comparison to even mild television coverage of conflicts. Perhaps I’m just thinking too much to enjoy the game, but then America has never wanted its solders to think to hard, has it?
Matt Stone
The US is much more protective of its armed forces than we here in Britain are. Perhaps this is why there has been no public outcry towards America’s Army, a video game released by the U.S. military as a way to reach out to America’s youth and hopefully persuade them to join up.
It’s a first person shooter, dressed up with full military paraphernalia. A console version was released with a tag line, meant to underscore the realism of the experience, “Our developers don’t NEED imagination.” This sentence may well tell you everything you need to know about Americans.
America’s army plays very similar to Counter-Strike; unsurprisingly it was the level of obsession of Counter-Strike players which inspired the military to design this game. It was the key demographic of young males with split second reflexes that Military officials wanted to attract. America’s Army focuses on the same style of team based, strategic, unforgiving gameplay, designed to mimic real-world combat situations.
For a game that aspires to realism, America’s Army is extremely tame. A bullet will make a small tasteful hole in a player, with very minimal blood or gore. Maybe the army thinks that showing potential candidates for military service what it looks like to loose an arm or a leg would be detrimental to their goal. The game also lacks any frame of reference for the combat it simulates. Who these enemies are and why you should kill them is not explored, except to say that they are bad and should be shot at.
I can’t imagine many people would have the patience for such an unrewarding experience. Then again, a pretty small percentage of people would consider joining the military anyway. Those who do play the game are tracked and recorded constantly, so that if they should decide to enlist the military can profile them according to their actions, determining what job they may be suited too. Personally I find this Big Brother method of information gathering extremely worrying. However since 9/11 America has shown little regard for its own civil liberties, so I doubt they care that much.
The success of America’s army as a recruiting tool will not be effectively measured for some time to come. There is very little in the game that makes me feel like enlisting. It omits so much of the reality of war that it feels hollow and plastic in comparison to even mild television coverage of conflicts. Perhaps I’m just thinking too much to enjoy the game, but then America has never wanted its solders to think to hard, has it?
Matt Stone
# posted by Matt @ 11:10 AM 
