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Let the Games Begin - The New Wave of eRecruitment

 
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:42 am    Post subject: Let the Games Begin - The New Wave of eRecruitment Reply with quote

Let the Games Begin - The New Wave of eRecruitment - April 26, 2004

By Reg. Member davidsaine, Journalist


Let’s start by getting a few things immediately out of the way. I am a dyed in the wool gamer. For those not in the “entertainment know”, a gamer is someone that lives and breathes video games. I am completely unapologetic about this fetish and hope that this passion continues until I am too elderly to put on my VR “trodes” and jack into the latest sci-fi romp. Nevertheless, something is happening out there to my beloved hobby. Something sinister. Something insidious.

This may not be news and my concerns here may seem laughable, however it dawned on me reading a review for a game called Steel Battalion, that includes is own hyper-realistic forty button custom controller for added realism, to paraphrase, with an experience like this, it is hard to believe that these vehicles don’t exist somewhere. Anyway this got my screenwriter mind running. For example in The Last Starfighter, an arcade coin op is used as a recruitment tool for an intergalactic war. With that in mind, I wondered what if these metallic beasts exist? What if this game is a method by which to beta-test its battle field prowess with endless user financed skirmishes? The game and controller cost about $200 US and the fact that this game simulates a virtual war between two sides with similar technology in a real time perspective, whereas the results are posted on a global map. Additionally if you don’t eject from your vehicle, your character is killed without the ability to resurrect him or her made me stop and think If this game is recruiting for future technology, trust me on this one the plausibility factor on this game is surreal in it’ realism, what about the internet based games utilizing more common equipment and real world scenarios? What about online console games?

Let me digress for a moment.

Now from a haphazard historical perspective, mass media focused recruitment drives have been around for centuries. More recently, the beloved Bugs Bunny flogged bonds during the Second World War while Daffy Duck was portrayed as a draft dodger being chased by the inescapable man. Television and movies have glorified war since their inception however as the audience becomes more intelligent the once subliminal messages have dropped the sub and come out in their more garish and utterly liminal form.

I digress again. I need to add some perspective to this romp. Anyway it was announced in early April that Ubi Soft, one of the largest publishers of video games in the world had signed an exclusive agreement with America’s Army, a military developed virtual recruitment tool in the guise of a First Person Shooter. This on top of the fact that Ubi Soft already publishes exceedingly popular video games based on various Tom Clancy franchises. Specifically this deal covers the console video game market. As consoles have a broader appeal as opposed to their PC based brethren, for all intents and purposes the content published through this deal will have the broadest possible audience. An audience comprised primarily of teens, children and adults alike. Make no mistake video games are mainstream now. Even if you are not part of the demographic yourself, you undoubtedly know someone who has at least one gaming console in their home.

Couple the above information with the fact that online console gaming is starting to blossom in the form of online statistics via leader boards, clan formation which tight knit communities of gamers who maraud the internet in teams attempting to crush other likeminded gamers. With the recent announcement that extremely user friendly online services such as Xbox Live not only track user statistics regarding virtual kills as well as the fact that the FBI recently focused additional pressure to garner unilateral access to this type of information as well as the online services themselves, means that the US government is already aware of the potential for this data, regardless of the PR spin they may put on this.

Now it has been argued that if Hitler had not disregarded television as a mass medium during his reign of terror many of us may have had a decidedly different future, if any future at all. What am I getting at? Well I am honestly concerned here. This medium, namely video games, formerly deemed a child like pastime has reached such a broad appeal that with the US military funding game development (Full Spectrum Warrior for example), signing exclusive deals with top video game publishers (Ubi Soft and America’s Army) and the new wave of up to the minute type of scenario based war gaming (www.kumawar.com) that we are actively being solicited for e-duty. We are field testing new equipment for future wars with hyper realistic physics simulations.

So What?

My favorite pastime is under aggressive acquisition from the United States and for the first time it looks like they are succeeding. Previous attempts by American companies to enter the console market have fallen flat (look up the 3DO for example), however now that Microsoft is in the ring, the bouts are longer, bloodier and almost assuredly guarantee an American victor. Although I do not blame Bill Gates for this, as I am an ardent fan of the Xbox, this change towards American game development, as opposed to the predominately Japanese efforts of the mid eighties onward, adds a completely different flavor to the experience; namely blood, racism and the United States stylized version of democracy.

Middle American loves it. Canada loves it. Guns are in. Blood is in. War is in. The Southern US is in like flint. The South has risen and taken both the north and virtually the entire world over with it’s inescapable propaganda machine which now more than ever actively solicitis our kids. We’re being trained for war. We are being force fed which side to root for. Whether you believe me or not, we are under one of the most insidious military recruitment drives ever. In retrospect the Air Force enrollment after the likes of the Tom Cruise craptacular Top Gun are laughable in comparison. Well I don’t know about you but I for one am starting to miss the loveable Mario and his acid-trip adventures although I have a taste for virtual blood now and then man knows it.

For more information:

http://www.kumawar.com/

http://www.fullspectrumwarrior.com/

http://www.capcom.com/SB04/

http://www.americasarmy.com/

http://www.ubi.com/US/News/news_2004-04-16_americasarmy.htm



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