Army invades the mall with video game recruitment station

Post by **Freakzilla** » 14 Jan 2009 17:29

Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:29PM EST

Pssst, kid! Wanna play some video games?

That's the latest come-on from the U.S. Army, which continues to refine its approach toward engaging teens and twentysomethings. Having seen amazing success with recruiting thanks to its America's Army home computer game, the military is now taking the pitch to the mall. Specifically, to the Franklin Mills shopping center in Philadelphia, where it has set up 60 gaming PCs, 19 Xbox 360s, plush couches, and "rock music" for potential recruits to enjoy.

There's even a real Humvee that players can shoot from installed as part of a 15-foot-high projected battle simulation and an Apache helicopter simulator that recruits can fly.

Sounds like a killer gaming setup... but of course there's a not-so-ulterior motive at work. It's all part of a plan to get younger kids interested in signing up for service, thinking that shooting terrorists in active combat is all part of a day's work.

Naturally, critics are out in full force, including a former Army staff sargeant, Jesse Hamltion, who accuses the Army of misleading kids with deceptive, unrealistic scenarios. Hamilton notes that recruits are unlikely to see active combat and that "the only way to simulate the heat is holding a blow dryer to your face."

Still, the move of course comes at a good time for the Army, which has struggled to fill its ranks for several years thanks to some overwhelmingly bad press. But with civilian unemployment skyrocketing and the situation in Iraq looking better than it has in ages (particularly with the prospect of troops coming home), the Army's high-tech mall paradise may actually be more than it needs to woo the young and impressionable.

I was a beta tester for this game.

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 14 Jan 2009 18:16

Well, I guess they have to get people interested somehow. In the 80's, it was making recruitment movies like "Top Gun". Today, it's The Master Chief

Drunken Idaho · Post by **Drunken Idaho** » 14 Jan 2009 21:07

Little did the participants know that they were unwittingly controlling actual battles over in Iraq. The n00bs they were fighting were actually Iraqi insurgent n00bs! they call it Operation: Ender's Pwn...

Heh, seriously though, this is pretty scarey.

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 14 Jan 2009 21:21

Drunken Idaho wrote:Operation: Ender's Pwn...

LOL

That's a nice one.

SandRider · Post by **SandRider** » 14 Jan 2009 21:33

I can't begin to tell you how much trouble I've gotten into
over the last five years drunk in front of the recruiters'
flytraps in our little mall.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 15 Jan 2009 08:51

Drunken Idaho wrote:Little did the participants know that they were unwittingly controlling actual battles over in Iraq. The n00bs they were fighting were actually Iraqi insurgent n00bs! they call it Operation: Ender's Pwn...

Heh, seriously though, this is pretty scarey.

In America's Army, you can only play as a US Army soldier, the guys on the other team only appear as terrorists from your POV. To them, you look like terrorists.

Let me tell you, that was a tricky think to work out in beta testing.

BTW, it was never marketed as anything but a recruiting tool, there is no trickery here.

Drunken Idaho · Post by **Drunken Idaho** » 15 Jan 2009 14:19

Freakzilla wrote:
Drunken Idaho wrote:Little did the participants know that they were unwittingly controlling actual battles over in Iraq. The n00bs they were fighting were actually Iraqi insurgent n00bs! they call it Operation: Ender's Pwn...

Heh, seriously though, this is pretty scarey.

In America's Army, you can only play as a US Army soldier, the guys on the other team only appear as terrorists from your POV. To them, you look like terrorists.

Let me tell you, that was a tricky think to work out in beta testing.

BTW, it was never marketed as anything but a recruiting tool, there is no trickery here.

Hmm, it's pretty lame of them to not give the option to be anything but an American soldier, but as a recruiting tool it makes a lot of sense. You have no business being anything but a patriot! You gotta wonder what their sales pitch to these young guys (and gals I suppose) while they're playing.

"So... Having fun? Cool. That's cool. You know, war is fun too. Yeah, war is totally cool. You think those graphics are sweet, you should see it in the shit!"

Post by **Freakzilla** » 15 Jan 2009 15:14

It's free, BTW.

And I'm proud to say that the weapons (jam/missfire rate, reloading rate AND procedures, rate of fire, recoil, etc...) are all extremely accurate. Your breathing and health and stance/motion effect your aim too.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the AK-47 and 74 but they had guys at the Picatinny Arsenal to verify that. But the US weapons are spot on.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... atinny.htm

There is no "respawn". When you die, you die. Wait for the next round.

Also, friendly fire is penalized. You WILL be sent to Levenworth for shooting a team member. When there, look for my grafitti on a cell wall:

"Freakzilla loves Karen"

SandRider · Post by **SandRider** » 15 Jan 2009 18:27

dang, that makes me want to get the game
& frag an Ell-Tee just to see it .....

Post by **Freakzilla** » 15 Jan 2009 19:39

SandRider wrote:dang, that makes me want to get the game
& frag an Ell-Tee just to see it .....

Know what the difference is between a Second Lieutenant and a Private First Class?

The Private First Class has been promoted twice.