In their furor to fill combat boots, America's military has often assumed the role of the diabolical genius you'd see next to a set of train tracks twiddling with a nefarious-looking black moustache while a blonde ingenue shrieks in terror at the sight of an approaching train. Of course, when that blonde ingenue is actually a fat, impressionable teen sitting in his parent's basement and that train is a country full of angry jihadists, the threat becomes much less comical and in the case of the Army's gaming-based recruitment schemes, specifically the America's Army game, I'm not the only person who sees the brass as villains on par with Chris Walken in A View To A Kill.
Gamepolitics has word of a protest conducted by veterans of the Iraq War in which our boys rail against the military-industrial complex for exploiting naive kids in their quest for ever more people to hand rifles to. From the GP story:
About 90 Iraq war veterans, dressed in black shirts, stood in formation Saturday afternoon in front of military recruiters at America’s Center and shouted their protest message three times: “War is not a game!”
They were referring to the large military simulation game set up by Army recruiters… The group of veterans, known as Iraq Veterans Against the War, were in St. Louis for their annual meeting this weekend when they decided to stage a brief demonstration at the Expo.
Now, when it's just me shouting into the ethereal corridors of the Internet about how our military has become a sort of Frankenstein's monster hell bent on killing everything beautiful and pure on our planet, you can just chalk it up to my being a long-haired pinko-commie, but when the anti-war sentiment comes from people who were actually there being shot at -- and possibly bitten by these insanely huge things -- perhaps it's time someone listened to them.
[Updated with footage from the protest.]
Contest:
5:30 AM on 09.04.2007
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Thanks a lot Nex, no sleep for me this week.
Well, they have a good point. But if someone is stupid enough to enroll in the army because of some FPS, you can`t really help him anyways.
and aint the Arms just an FPS but with better gfx?? i hear there are no respawn points tho...
Yeah... FPS Doug FTW!
Seems like theyre pretty desparate to get people in.
I don't like public demonstrations or protests much. I find them embarressing. People have differences in opinion and the fact that this group think theirs is important enough to shout about just to me seems a bit embarresssing. I can see that they have a point but what the hell did they achieve from it all except for a bit of exorcism of their own emotions?
I'd just feel embarressed if I was there.
I'm a damn commie hippie. Put me on a black list and lock me up or, even worse, take away my video games.
@ lemon: I loled. :)
War is a game when you have the mind of a hyperactive half mentally challenged 10 year old...
Exploiting naive kids? Seriously? This sounds like something Jack Thompson would say. You did everything but call it a "murder simulator". Does anyone here really think that some teenager is going to want to join the Army so they can shoot Arabs based on some video game? Because if so, old JT might have a point or two. Using that logic, one could expect to see a generation of game players with an insatiable urge to become plumbers and jump on turtles. I haven't seen too much of that, but maybe that's just me.
"...our military has become a sort of Frankenstein's monster hell bent on killing everything beautiful and pure on our planet..."
Really, Nex, this is below you. Our men and women are over in harm's way every day. They have been given a justifiable mission (Afghanistan) and a really messed up mission (Iraq), but are doing the best they can with the cards they have been dealt. They are normal men and women in abnormal situations. (Not to mention that going to war against the Taliban and Saddam Hussein can hardly be classified as destroying something either beautiful or pure) If you have a problem with how they do their jobs, I would, with all sincerity, invite you to join the service. As you would expect, we don't have many long-haired pinko-commies around my unit, and that's a shame. The military should be a reflection of society as much as possible, but it doesn't quite fit that ideal. But is that on us, or on you?
Just be more careful about slamming the people that guarantee the very right to speak out about what's important to you, k?
Point taken. I'm sure that AA has had at least some positive effect on recruitment, and possibly gives some people an unrealistic expectation of what life in the military is like. My concern is that the military kind of gets a bum rap by a lot of people for the false impressions that some people get before entering, which are subsequently shattered when they enter service. I've had false impressions about every job I've ever had before actually punching the clock for the first time, but that was my own ignorance, not some plot by my employer to trick me. People might be swayed by having some brand recognition the AA produces for the army, but if people are actually getting "tricked" by AA to join up, then they probably also fall for the "got yer nose" thing that grampa pulls. Either video games can make killers, car thieves, or soldiers out of teenagers, or they can't. I'm inclined to say they can't, unless the person is already predisposed to that activity anyway.
As for the second part, I guess my sarcasm meter was haywire, which was my bad. In any case, I didn't really take it personally, so don't sweat it. And even though I disagree with the content of these soldiers' protest, I'm glad they're sticking up for what they believe. Anyway, good article, and I didn't mean to make everything serious in here. Just to lighten things up...
cocks.
But to the topic on hand, yeah it is not very amusing to see the army trying to recruit using video games as a plot. "Hey there buster you got seventeen terrorist you are like a super ninja. Sign here and we will pay you to do that in real life, Just like the Gibbs college commercials only BETTER, no classes needed!"
When veterans tell you the work sucks, why the hell aren't people going yup time to go!