Are videogames training us to be soldiers?

I was reading up a bit about how videogames can desensitice hardcore gamers. Then it got me thinking, are there actually any advantages to playing videogames at all? Can videogames actually make us better soldiers?

I then came across this short article which seems to think so. www.atelier-us.com...

Think about it, the average gamer today know alot more about weaponry, tactics, infiltration than the same person maybe 50 years ago. We are being conditioned for war.

Apparently there is also alot of other advantages to playing video games.
Have a look please:

medgadget.com...

I would like to know what you guys think please.

VVV

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


They are if you want a good discription PLAY METAL GEAR SOLID. Its a old 1 from xbox but the deeper you get into it, it explains how the player Snake or Raiden have been thru v.r. virtual training as kids to prepare for the war. Fast forward to the HALO series MY FAVOTRITE DOWN LOAD you can see what is being taught. Play left 4 dead and you get zombie training play resident evil you get UROBOROS TRAINING. Rainbow six or SPLINTER CELL MY FAVORITE. SPLINTER CELL TEACHES YOU HOW TO HACK AND PROGRAM. These games would be a great way to embedd the concious, smh my daughter likes killing zombies and my son loves the MASTER CHIEF and killing the floods me I am a fan of Pheonix from Gears of War locust killer lol.

I agree mate.

I also forgot to mention something else. I have played alot of the more "realistic" videogames. I have an extensive knowledge now of the weaponry used by alot of the military forces around the world. I would even go so far as to say, that if i were to be handed some of these weapons in the real world, I would have no problem operating them. And all this from playing a videogame.

Now combine the desensiticing (spelling) of videogames with the fact that they are teaching us alot of weapon related information, and bam, we are being made into soldiers, without even knowing it. While we are having fun.

This might be a stretch, but might there be an agenda behind all this?

VVV

Honestly, with what is on our [collective] plate, regarding the future, a little military training ain't all that bad. It's better than being in the actual military, and the concepts of engagement are quite similar to that of a real firefight.

Videogames are training us to be powerless, violent, moronic drones as well as convincing many to join armed forces. So, yes, but there's more to it.

Do you think these games teach you how to keep your head when you're bleeding or maybe lost a limb ?
War is nothing like pressing a button to activate bandages and be instantly healed up.
So, I don't think there's a point here at all...

I'm learning how to be an orc in Lala land.

Also learning how to be an Italian plumber.

Well naturally the younger generation of gamers would definitely have the idea of "hey I wonder what this is like in real life?". Games like Modern Warfare 2 which is the most popular shooter on the market today (I think), I've played the campaign myself, and they make everything in war seem so impressive that kids probably think that's the war is.

You could say most shooters are 18+ or 16+ or whatever but you know for sure every kid 12+ is shooting away.

www.youtube.com...

Does playing guitar hero make you a better guitar player? Or playing roller coaster park tycoon make you able to manage an amusement park? Does dance dance revolution make you a raver?

While video games may serve as a 'primer' (ie get someone interested) it doesn't really train you. Most 'war' video games are either first person shooter or real time strategy. The FPS does not accurately reflect how a real gun fight goes, and also really only applies to a small part of the military. I have yet to see a military game where you are a human resources specalist, cook, or light wheel mechanic.

Now if someone is already thinking about joining the military, sure this might give them a tap over the edge. But I don't think it trains you any more than Risk.

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


All I know is that if there is ever a zombie apocolypse only two groups will survive: Gamers and Rednecks. Luckily I belong to both so I'm going to rule the new world.

:upfcourse you become a soilder when you are posted on your video controls and are able to kill someone form 500 yards away. but it is your own adaptability into the soilders that your country wants you to become. what do you think will happen when your conuntry tells you you can go to war and you don't have to leave your leiving room you can do it all from the controll of your own program. will you say o knowing you are the best trained soldier amoung an elite of 10000 that stand before you. computer. technology is far more reaching than is given public credit you must remember govt. tech is 10 years ahead of public tech.
thaey have you covered they know who you are.

I do not play games, video or otherwise, so I may be biased in my opinion. I am around those that do and I have noted a few things about them. They believe they are actually using their muscles and their minds. They aren't.

They also know the fine intricacies of the game including the mythology and history behind the "story line", enough in fact that they even act like they believe in the depth of the characters and those fabricated worlds. When you ask them about our own mythologies or our own world affairs they look perplexed and lost, but if you ask them to describe the "game" they go into history and depth as if it were real.

I think that these poor gamers will be the first to freak when they see real blood and understand that in the real World war is "real death" and that you cannot just turn the game off.

These folks, the gamers, are not activated in any sense of the word, instead they live in a fantasy world and they often confuse this world with that one.

The worst of them all is WarCraft!

reply to post by Awory

While video games may serve as a 'primer' (ie get someone interested) it doesn't really train you.

It's not that video games show us how to be efficient, well trained soldiers... it's that they turn us into trigger-happy zombies who have nothing better to do than shoot and blow stuff up for hours at a time.

Perfect for what the government uses soldiers for these days.

It's not that video games show us how to be efficient, well trained soldiers... it's that they turn us into trigger-happy zombies who have nothing better to do than shoot and blow stuff up for hours at a time.

Perfect for what the government uses soldiers for these days.

But even the most violent of video games aren't going to really prime a person for war. First we can take into account that 8 out of 10 Americans are unfit for service; mostly due to overweight. If they really wanted Soldiers they would be giving out Wii Fit games instead.

Second, as I said, 90% of the military isn't devoted to the killing of people. There are the cooks, mechanics, fuelers, admin, and a laundry list of other personnel. If you get those people wired for killing you're going to have more problems than anything.

Lastly, the majority of a combat arms Soldier's time is dedicated to boring patrols and downtime. You may walk for four hours so you can shoot for ten minutes. Again, something you won't see in a game.

Games are just that: games. They are for entertainment purposes only. It is why even the most violent, bloody video games you don't see people scream and roll around on the ground as they die. That isn't fun and would make the game less enjoyable. People get shot, lose hitpoints, and fall down. Done.

I don't know why everyone thinks that you can take anyone off the street that has been 'indoctrinated', slap some camo on them, hand them a gun, and think they are good to go. Infantry basic training is 14 weeks long. A good deal of the guys who sign up for that can crack under the pressure. An overweight guy off the street who only knows video games won't deal with it any better.

In 1996 I played Goldeneye 007 on Nintendo 64, after which I devoted the next 6 years of my life to being a spy.
I was unsuccessful at joining the alphabet agencies of course, but guess what, I joined the Army and got to do all the stuff from the game in real life; everything that is but wear a tuxedo while bungee jumping off a dam.

So I would say they influence people heavily and glamorize the unglamorous.
They make killing people easy and reflexive, maybe not by themselves but certainly aid in the development of reflexive killing attributes that would later be honed in a military training environment.

I can safely say that I was wrangled into being a soldier by what I watched as a child, which was at that time, GI Joe, Rambo cartoons, and later Atari and DOS based computer games. Later still, Doom series, all the way up until I went into the military. Yes it may be a sad state of affairs, but I was brainwashed quite easily and took to the BS like a fly on #*&%.

Now I have many regrets and pains that can't be recovered from. Thank you PTB for creating another paranoid veteran.

id like to add my veiws but please dont judge me by them. im a gamer and a fan of modern warfare 2 on xbox, however i do and i dont believe the games are making us become soldiers. i do believe becuase in some games there are stratagies (spelling?) to the games sometimes. During my gaming life ive taught myself to give mself cover like hiding behind something, getting the best vantage point to view the 'enemy' and to not stand out in the open as your going to get slotted. Ive always wanted to join the army, of course the best army in the world the british army (sorry had to throw it in there for a bit of comedy). However due to personal matters and lack of bottle i never joined and now im in my mid twenties i dont think it will ever happen. But i do like going paintball. Now i know its completely different to having real bullets fired at you its probably the closest your going to get at actually being shot. When i first started to go paintball it was all good fun running round out in the open, however whether its due to video games i find myself being a bit of a bossy boots by telling people what to do. An example of this was i was with 2 other people behind a muddy mound and we were pinned down, the two people i did not know and myself were thinking what to do. So i thought we needed to move as we couldnt stay in the place we were, so again whether the gamer side in me took over i dont know, i told the two guys with me to peep over the mound and provide suppressing fire on the other teams firing point just enough to make sure they took cover and i could run out of position to a new location and actually flank the other team. The result was once i moved i could then provide supressing fire so the two other guys could move to which they did and we ended up paintballing the other team.

However as someone had pointed out computer games or paintball for that matter doesnt teach you or tell you how to handle with a casulty or being hit yourself. Games dont teach you how to deal with the adrenaline rush that im sure soldiers get when they are being fired at or when orders are being shouted at you.

Sorry to go one my point is i think and this is my own opinion that is some aspects computer games can develope you in acting differently but at the same time can mislead the way you look at real situations, for example comparing modern warefare 2 to a real life fire fight in the heart of afghanistan. I hope this has made sense

Polite answers will be welcome about what i think if any

Originally posted by Greensage
They believe they are actually using their muscles and their minds. They aren't.

Okay, the muscle comment I agree with, but how can you say gamers don't use their minds. Constantly coming up with unique strategies to beat a game, map reading skills, puzzles, all of these things send the mind into overdrive at points and other times you're on cruise control. Either way, your mind is very much engaged. It's like saying reading a book doesn't use your mind. My generation and beyond have the best hand eye coordination and reflexes of anyone on the planet (except for you obese gamers....you all just need to stop and go outside).

Originally posted by KILL_DOGG

Originally posted by Greensage
They believe they are actually using their muscles and their minds. They aren't.

Okay, the muscle comment I agree with, but how can you say gamers don't use their minds. Constantly coming up with unique strategies to beat a game, map reading skills, puzzles, all of these things send the mind into overdrive at points and other times you're on cruise control. Either way, your mind is very much engaged. It's like saying reading a book doesn't use your mind. My generation and beyond have the best hand eye coordination and reflexes of anyone on the planet (except for you obese gamers....you all just need to stop and go outside).

Perhaps in that aspect, but in the aspect of thinking about the needs of those around them they are not using their minds. Using their minds in real-time by extending beyond their own needs and actually considering someone else. Sorry, they are not! Games are fantasies and if the mind is engaged in a fantasy then reality is too far removed from them, especially during those long extended hours they play the games. I don't know of any gamer that does not lose track of time because they are not "thinking" outside of themselves.

I guess I am biased by my own observations. I will have to try to see if I can get some to think outside of themselves. I just might be wrong and find that while they are playing they are thinking about what they can do to make this world a better place.

reply to post by Greensage


Man, honestly, I get enough reality working, being a father of two, and grinding it out in the real world. I don't game as often as I used to (35 years old will do that to you), but that is my escape FROM reality. It's the one time that I don't have worry about everyone else in my life. Some people turn to alcohol or drugs, others use meditation, but it's all an escape from reality....mine's just interactive.

What you learn most from first person shooters is to pull the trigger without thinking.
In world war 2 a lot of soldiers did not pull the trigger when their first moment of shooting an enemy was there.

Some tactics can be learned to.

In these games things might feel like real but they are very far from it.
You try to run for 1 mile with full combat gear and try to shoot some people after that, most of the modern gamers will not hit a thing after running around in real life.