America's Army - Development, Impact Analyzed 56
Professor writes "The MOVES Institute's America's Army team has placed a booklet on the game's development and impact (PDF link) onto the web." The MOVES Institute is part of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and their page notes this booklet was "...developed for the America's Army exhibit [part of the Bang The Machine exhibition] at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Art Center... [and] tells you all you wanted to know about the philosophy, history, and implementation of the MOVES Institute's hit game." We've previously covered the reported recruiting success of America's Army.
Re:Winner of (Score:4, Insightful)
Absolutely briliant.
Unlike some other posts on this page, I have no problem with AA and actually think it's quite fun. It's free, and it doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is (a recruiting method). So what's the problem?
-Trillian
Re:I don't know about you... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I don't know about you... (Score:3, Insightful)
There isn't any.
The Army noticed that people liked realistic tactical shooters, such as Rainbow Six. So hey, instead of writing up a fictional story, how about teach them about how the Army works in real life? Maybe they'll sign up!
The Army did nothing wrong, and I congradulate them on this risky attempt at reaching a new generation.
So please, if you're going to complain that the Army is wrong in making this game, then practice what you preach and don't play any violent video games at all.
I enjoy AA (Score:3, Insightful)
AA not a recruiting tool, its just more realistic (Score:2, Insightful)
i really believe when HL2 and Doom3 is released, there will be a castrophoic drop off in AA players.
Re:I don't know about you... (Score:3, Insightful)
Politicians are the ones who made the poor decisions you mentioned. The Army just did their job and implemented those bad decisions.
I think this is a good thing too. The army needs to be a tool of the politicians. The army cannot make decisions on its own. Otherwise, it turns into a situation where the army runs the country, and that never works out.
Re:Evil... (Score:2, Insightful)
Not for profit (Score:3, Insightful)
Well they are a non-profit organization.
Seriously, recruiting is much more subtle than you suggest. T-shirts, hats, bumper stickers, and now video games are effective tools. They do not directly get folks to run down to the local recruiter but they are not meant to. They are meant to simply remind a person about the Army. Lots of young folks are not sure what they want to do, periodic reminders of the Army's existence sometimes leads to the Army getting onto a list of things to consider.
Secondly, it is also a PR tool. It counterbalances some of the unrealistic perceptions generated by movies. This can have a positive effect on someone thinking about the Army as well.
Re:Evil... (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes. And a recruiter won't change your mind.
But "want to join the military" isn't a binary state. There are those who want to join the military (and either do, or don't due to circumstances beyond their control [asthma, etc]), and there are those who DON'T want to join the military (pacifits, folk who don't want to die, etc.)...
and then there are folk who just haven't given it serious thought, or who are sitting on the fence about it. This last group is a fair and valid target for recruiters.
Using a game to make it look glamorous is just another way of lying to kids in order to get them to join the military under false pretenses. This is nothing new; don't get me wrong. It's just slimy.
Have you played America's Army? The darn thing is about as far from "glamorous" as you can get. You learn how to use weapons, and you train to kill people with them. All in all, it seems like a fairly honest appraisal to me.