Added: 973 days ago by Mardod | Posted in: Politics | 8 Comments

Rating:

 

Share:     Embed:     Fave:    

Item added to your favorites.

You must be logged in to add to your faves. Use the login box on this page or click here to regsiter.

<div align='center'><a href='http://www.kontraband.com/blog/18052/Combatcom-the-Military-Gamer-Complex/'>Combat.com: the Military-Gamer Complex</a><br><div align='center'></div><br><a href='http://www.kontraband.com/blog'>See more like this on kontraband.com</a></div>

Alex Rogan: That was just a game, Centauri!
Centauri: Well, you may have thought it was a game, but it was also a test. Aha, a test! Sent out across the galaxy to find those with the potential to be Starfighters. And here you are, my boy! Here you are!
-The Last Starfighter (1984)

So, how good are you at Halo? How about World of Warcraft, or any of the other games where the strategic elimination of your enemy is a key requisite in winning? Well, if you're really good at it, why not do it full-time? Why not for the Army? Think I'm joking? The Army doesn't.

Set up in an impressive and unambiguous fashion, "America's Army" is an online game developed in 2002 in partnership with the Department of Defense (DoD) for the purpose of penetrating, "the youth culture and get the Army in a young person's 'consideration set'", quoting from an ACLU report citing testimony from a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee meeting.

Organized in an attractive and user-friendly interface for PC, Mac and Linux platforms, the site offers all kinds of tidbits for exploration including a section for news, soldier profiles, community boards and even a Facebook group promoting the upcoming June 17 release of the version 3.0 software. Most importantly, though, are the direct links to the Army's recruiting site. However, the game was only the beginning.

Last year the DoD launched a new endeavor based on 10 years of work and research that culminated in a pilot project called the Army Experience Center (AEC), a 14,500 square foot, $12 million facility in a Philadelphia mall that houses 20 permanent staff members and resembles a gamers paradise of highly interactive gameplay in a war setting.

Opening in August 2008, the center had one purpose in mind; get kids as young as 13 to play the games with an eye on measuring their ability and strategic thinking and then encouraging them to enter military service as soldiers. The staff, all recruiters, can offer the recruit any number of services that ordinary offices cannot like full mentoring and full GRE and ASVAP test preparation. According to the website AfterDowningStreet.org (ADS), one AEC can do the work and produce the results of 5 regular recruiting stations (although these are early numbers). If deemed successful, ADS speculates that the Army will begin building more throughout the U.S. "like Wal-Marts".

In testimony before the U.S. Senate's Armed Services Committee, representatives of the program claim statistics that show 60% of those who came to the AEC on a regular basis played the game five times a week and from those, four out of 100 will sign up for service.

The program is becoming so popular that it's been noticed and emulated by our allies overseas. Currently, the British Army is in the process of creating their own version of the program. The British program consists of promoting an online game called "Start Thinking Soldier". The game, according to GamePolitics (one of the best sites I've seen in quite some time) is aimed at the 68% of the 17-21 years olds who have yet to make a career determination and are open to suggestions.

This may all sound fine to many people. Military service is an honorable profession that thousands of people sign up for each year for a multitude of reasons. However, there are a growing number of civil liberty groups and activists on both sides of the ocean who are beginning to push back at targeting kids as young as 13 for recruitment.

The ACLU has recently lodged a protest with the United Nations (specifically the committee on the Rights of the Child) concerning recruitment of children under the age of 18 by agents acting on behalf of the military, claiming that such actions violate the obligation the U.S. agreed to under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. In their report they claim:

The Army uses an online video game, called "America's Army," to attract young potential recruits at least as young as 13, train them to use weapons, and engage in virtual combat and other military missions. Video game-players complete obstacle courses, learn how to fire realistic Army weapons such as automatic rifles and grenade launchers, and learn how to jump from airplanes. As of September 2006, 7.5 million users were registered on the game's website. As of February 2005, the Pentagon was investing about $6 million each year in the video game.

In its defense, the Army's representative was asked (in an interview with The New York Times) about the restrictions on younger kids to which they responded:

"We have a Teen rating that allows 13-year-olds to play, and in order to maintain that rating we have to adhere to certain standards.We don't use blood and gore and violence to entertain. That's not the purpose of our game.We want to reach young people to show them what the Army does, and we're obviously proud of that. We can't reach them if we are over the top with violence and other aspects of war that might not be appropriate. It's a choice we made to be able to reach the audience we want."

The answer, however, glosses over larger questions. Recently, the U.S. Congress has been threatening to hold hearings on the use of violence in video games, believing it to be excessive and harmful to younger audiences who could become desensitized to violent situations. Will they then call the makers of "America's Army" to testify? Secondly, what are the ethical guidelines when recruiting those under the age of 17? Is someone younger than 17 really able to make an informed decision about their future? It appears that in an race to keep recruitment numbers on pace, proponents have been playing fast and loose with the country's international obligations rather than heeding them.

Added: 973 days ago by Mardod | Posted in: Politics | 8 Comments

Rating: