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"Real Life Gaming??"

Have just finished reading an interesting article. The main point of it was all about how the US army have for the past two years been working on a game which they hope will atract more young people to sign up. So will these gamers be the new recruits?
The games web address is http://www.americasarmy.com/
Not only could it be an interesting game as it is made by people who know what they are on about but also if it is to attract a lot of people then it has to be decent enough.

All this got me thinking, could this be a sign of things to come? It reminds me of the scene in the film toys when the kids are all flying the space ships.

Could we see people being trained using software and to improve how they react in various situations? Is this way of doing things moraly correct? Should they be allowed to give the message that this game is like being in the army so if you like the game you will like the army? I seem to missing something from it all I think. Army life will be nothing like the game, sure you may run about shooting folk, but what about the early morning training, food, strict lifestyle etc. Can that really be shown in the game? My view is no chance.

So will we see race driver being picked from people who are good at racing games? Footballers picked from those who are good at football games? NO so why adopt this strategy?
Well obviously these examples are nothing like the army, they need people to sign up and will except almost anyone but remember just because you are good at something in a game dosn't make you good in real life.
Maybe it is just me but having played loads of army/shooting based games I have never felt an urge to sign up. But others may be different.

So what do you think? Will this idea work?

I can see it working, America is like that, given the oportunity and rights advertising then it will do what it is set out to do but I don't see it working like that everywhere, in the end if it is a good game then gamers will buy it for that one single reason.
I just hope it dosn't lead to developers making games for the wrong reasons and just concentrate on making the games the way they should be made and not to try sell/advertise or attract people to something. Thats not what gaming is about.

I think there are quite a few interesting things behind that... For starters, most military machinery is increasingly reliant on quick reactions and impressive hand-to-eye coordination rather than physical prowess. Although there will always be some need for ground-troops, most military power resides in their machinery.

And while you hear arguments from the 40+ generation that 'youngsters' don't get enough outdoor exercise, that is for good reason. While they're all inside playing video games, they are acquiring different skills. Today's society revolves around computers and machinery, and people need to be comfortable with that from an early age. This is inevitably at the expense of physical recreation and training: but then again, more and more jobs require little physical labour. And whilst once soldiers really needed to be strong, it would be better now for them to be able to fire a missile from a computer.

Humans' thumbs are getting bigger and stonger (a recent scientific finding about human evolution), and we are increasingly adapted to interaction with computers.

...er, my point being, er, that yes, military training should take advantage of game/simulations, and that the video-game generation will suit such tasks very well indeed.

I play games, because they are games.

To exploit a form of media to encourage 'signing up' is not new (TV ads etc) but in such an interactive form, it could have more serious connotations.

Have just finished reading an interesting article. The main point of it was all about how the US army have for the past two years been working on a game which they hope will atract more young people to sign up. So will these gamers be the new recruits?
The games web address is http://www.americasarmy.com/
Not only could it be an interesting game as it is made by people who know what they are on about but also if it is to attract a lot of people then it has to be decent enough.

All this got me thinking, could this be a sign of things to come? It reminds me of the scene in the film toys when the kids are all flying the space ships.

Could we see people being trained using software and to improve how they react in various situations? Is this way of doing things moraly correct? Should they be allowed to give the message that this game is like being in the army so if you like the game you will like the army? I seem to missing something from it all I think. Army life will be nothing like the game, sure you may run about shooting folk, but what about the early morning training, food, strict lifestyle etc. Can that really be shown in the game? My view is no chance.

So will we see race driver being picked from people who are good at racing games? Footballers picked from those who are good at football games? NO so why adopt this strategy?
Well obviously these examples are nothing like the army, they need people to sign up and will except almost anyone but remember just because you are good at something in a game dosn't make you good in real life.
Maybe it is just me but having played loads of army/shooting based games I have never felt an urge to sign up. But others may be different.

So what do you think? Will this idea work?

I can see it working, America is like that, given the oportunity and rights advertising then it will do what it is set out to do but I don't see it working like that everywhere, in the end if it is a good game then gamers will buy it for that one single reason.
I just hope it dosn't lead to developers making games for the wrong reasons and just concentrate on making the games the way they should be made and not to try sell/advertise or attract people to something. Thats not what gaming is about.