Are videogames training us to be soldiers?

Strangely enough all I do is play first person shooters and games like splinter cell. Just look at the military has their own online first person shooter called America's Army. I have heard rumors that it is a ploy to get recruits.

Originally posted by jaamaan
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.

That is called spraying and praying and that almost always gets you killed in an online game, and in games like call of duty and Halo Reach, killing civilians will result in an automatic suicide.

Thats alright, we just respawn.

NO...They use many different types of platforms (HD, 3D, Surround Sound, Digital, Tv Programs, Movies, Video Games) to program, deprogram, and reprogram.

Pretty neato huh? and it works. Like I have said before...it's not so much what you see and hear as what you dont see and hear.

Or, Are video games just creating a very large group of very lazy kids..
Jus sayin. See that vid of the fat kid complaining his game station quit workin?
FAT AND LAZY

reply to post by Chrysalis


americas army the game from the military trains ya

and the new version of fall out vegas has a hardcore mode where you have to actively bandage your wounds see a dr if you have a broken limb drink water and eat to prevent dehydration and starvation and ammo has weight and its suposed to try to make it as real as possible in a game for the tech at the hand

reply to post by Awory


the new rock band game has a guitar with strings and an amp you can hook up to it so yeah it can atleast now atleast teach you how to play a guitar so yeah games are evolving

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


I read an article which stated that playing action oriented games help with quick decision making without sacrificing accuracy of the decision.

Source

So yes there does seem to be a slight benefit to being a gamer in that regard, those sorts of quick decisions would likely be made on a battle-field.

I personally am a gamer and while I love violent gory games I don't think I'm desensitized, I don't think I'm any more comfortable with the idea of taking a life whether it be on a battle-field or in a full out zombie apocalypse

I also hear that a gamers eyesight is 40% better than a normal mans, I look down at all of you subhumans, I have reflex's of a cat and the sight of a hawk!

Fear my Uber leet skills.
And if Video games are training us to be soldiers, then they are also teaching us to be racecar drivers and emotional twits with stupid hair.

Originally posted by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep
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

Im pretty sure there is no R for reload key on a modern weapon, nor a third middle button to aim down the sight.

It's funny when people claim things like this, WASD to move and a mouse to aim. A very far cry from actually working the mechanics of a weapon in a battlefield while avoiding being shot in the head - and there's no respawn.

There are teaching you nothing of weapons. Every weapon works the same. Pistol to RPG.

You're basically saying that if these games were instead of war based but operating room based, you could perform brain surgery because you clicked WWADWW left-click, right click, R within the time limit and saved the guy...

Yes and no. Video games definitely help with the tactical side, but kids nowadays aren't as physically fit as kids were "back in the day" They don't have the real world physical skills or the hours and hours of playing versions of hide and seek like I did when I was a kid. Being able to clear a level in a game is different than being able to track and spot somebody at a distance of half a block in an urban setting.

Just wait till we have Avatar Robot soldiers though...........or Mechs.

Video games predominantly give the fantasy of being a soldier, with limited realism, depending on the game and how your character sustains and recovers from damage inflicted by enemies.

Your motor skills considerably improve from playing video games because you mentally coordinate your player character's moves in accordion and your tactical skills also improve as you devise ways to defeat your enemies.

Can video games improve learning, motor skills?
The good things about video games
Surgeons may err less by playing video games

Originally posted by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


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.


VVV

I'm not sure about this.

I might be missing some ultra realistic game that I don't know about, but I would say that the average gamer has a massively false perception of weaponry / tactics and infiltration.

Video game falsehood 1.
You can carry more or less infinite ammunition, or if you can't then you can just find ammo laying around on the floor. This does not happen in real warfare

Video game falsehood 2
You can carry multiple heavy weapons at the same time and use them all within a few seconds. In real battles you cannot run around with a grenade launcher a machine gun a rocket launcher and 50 grenades at the same time.

Video game falsehood 3.
You can get shot multiple times and it barely slows you down, this greatly effects any tactical thinking that you may be using in a game as you can "afford to get hit a few times" this doesn't work with real machine gun bullets.

Video game falsehood 4
A single man or small group can take on staggeringly overwhelming odds and win

Video game falsehood 5
You can run around for hours on end without eating sleeping pooping or getting tired, things such as how you eat and when you sleep are major considerations in real warfare.

Video game falsehood 6
You get more then one life allowing you to try the same battle over and over using different tactics every time. One life is all a real person gets

Video games are for fun...granted you can learn basic things....like in the new call of duty, you can get familiar with different weapons and how they function stuff like range how many bullets per clip and just different models and makes....and these game creators did there homework on a lot of things.....but in the end...no videgames are for fun....if you think real life is like in a videogame, you will soon be proven wrong....If anything I consider a lot of videogames as a form of art and story telling.

Originally posted by Greensage

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.

Talk about a case of the pot calling the kettle black. You do realise this is a conspiracy theory website, right? Tinfoil hats and little green men?
I guess I'll throw my hat (tinfoil, of course) into the arena and agree with another poster and say there's no yes or no answer to this question. If you've ever played Missile Command on your ATARI 2600 then you already know how to operate a patriot missile, but no video game can teach you the correct amount of pressure you need to apply to a knife or bayonet strike in order to penetrate human flesh to adequately deliver a killing blow. That may sound trivial now, but ever hear those news headlines such as 'Man Stabs Wife 52 Times'? Why so many? It's because most of those are usually failed stabs, because the person had never killed anyone before and it wasn't as easy as they thought it would be. Now, if your in combat, and you're screwing around trying to figure out how to kill the badguy, his buddy is just going to shoot you. In this case, video games neither increased your chance of survival nor made you a more efficient soldier.

Video games probably aren't the most effective means of training soldiers.

But they are a damn good way of conditioning people to overcome their aversion towards the taking of human life. Blow away a few hundred thousand very realistic looking people on an X-Box and I'd imagine doing so in reality gets to feeling quite a bit less taboo.

Originally posted by Chrysalis
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...

Hi,

You seem to be missing the point of my question.

Do soldiers get trained to loose a limb? Do they get trained to bleed to death? Does a fighter pilot or comercial pilot train to crash a plane? No they don't! They use simulation excercises or simulators to prepare them for combat. What they might expect to find.

Do you think I am that stupid, that I don't realise that a videogame is nothing like the real thing? I did my 2 year compulsory military training back in the day. I know what it's about.

Have you ever played some of the latest videogames. They are rather realistic. My question wasn't "Does videogamers make soldiers?" Of course they don't. I am trying to debate the fact that videogamers tend to perform better than non videogamers in their real life training. Did you read the links that I provided? Scientific studies proof this.

VVV

reply to post by dragnet53


Now see, you my friend are more in target with the question I asked.

I think it might just be ploy to recruit more soldiers. Why does all the developers of videogames have so much contact with military organizations. They recreate the weapons to the finest detail, they get taught by these military personel what to put in the game and what is totally unrealistic. Even in the credits of these games you will always see a special thanks going out to for example Genl. this or that, Maj so and so, or the 32 battallion.

So yes the military does have alot of input into these games to ensure their realism.

VVV

reply to post by badw0lf


Have you ever played some of the latetest games?

Have you ever been on the battlefield?

You seem to be an expert in both these fields.

VVV

I don't know about other video games but the flight simulators are teaching people to be pilots! Remember the Barefoot Bandit.

2nd line

Simply put, no. My reasoning. My now ex brother in law is a hardcore gamer. He was always into the war games like Socom for example....

They also served as part of his inspiration for joining the Army. He learned very quickly that the Army on those video games is VERY different than the Army in real life.... He thought for sure he would be prepared because he was crazy awesome with all the war games.... but... nope... As in most cases, virtual reality and reality are not nearly as similar as we like to think....

I think anyone who joins the military will quickly find that out as well... Video games do not train you for the military or war or anything like that...

Realistic looking and reality are not the same thing by any stretch of the imagination....