[Acpc-l] Latest nfoBahn posting - the MOVES Institute at E3!
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nfobahn@attglobal.net
Wed, 22 May 2002 06:33:02 -0700
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nfoBahn News 22 May 2002
May 22, 2002
Army's New Message to Young Recruits: Uncle 'Sim' Wants You
Technology: The service has created video games to woo a media-savvy
generation with a simulation of military life.
Photo Gallery: The Army's Video Game
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-pg-armygame.photogallery>
By ALEX PHAM, Times Staff Writer - original article here
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-052202army.story> .
America's youth would rather play video games than do push-ups in the mud--a
reality the U.S. Army wants to harness to its advantage. Eager to prove it's
not your grandfather's military, the Army is developing video games to
recruit and build awareness among Generation Y. Today at the Electronic
Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, the Army will unveil two games designed
to appeal to a media-saturated, tech-bombarded generation. One is a
sanitized version of "Unreal Tournament," a classic first-person shooting
game known for its graphic, nonstop killing. The other is a take on "The
Sims," a popular game that mimics life itself. But instead of dismembering
mutants or pursuing romance, players can work on their organizational
skills, free hostages and rise to the rank of first sergeant. The games are
part of the Army of One marketing campaign, which stresses professionalism
and the importance of the individual, themes marketers say resonate with
youths. Though the military has long used realistic video games as training
tools, this is the first time the Army has relied on games to reach out to
the public. The intent of the free games--which will be distributed starting
in July at recruiting stations and on the Army Web site--is to sell the
soldiering life. Although interest in military careers rose after the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks, enlistments have changed little in recent years. And
it's getting tougher to attract and retain soldiers, in part because there
are fewer veterans to regale potential recruits with tales of their military
exploits. "The goal was to give them a synthetic experience of being in the
Army in game form," said Michael Zyda, director of the Naval Postgraduate
School's Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation Institute in
Monterey, which developed both games. "When I registered for the draft
during the Vietnam War, I asked veterans of the Korean War what it was
like," he said. "They were easy to find. Today, the Army is much smaller.
There aren't as many people around today to answer that question." The game
project started two years ago, when the economy was bursting at the seams
and dot-coms beckoned young people with the promise of riches and
freewheeling offices in which they could skateboard. The Army spent $5
million to develop video games to show what life would be like in the Army.
Like unscripted television shows, the games show mostly action, leaving out
the boring parts. "Soldiers," for example, takes gamers from basic training
to career development. Spit-shining shoes and peeling potatoes are not among
the list of activities. Players going through sniper training in the more
action-oriented "Operations" game don't have to camp out for hours waiting
for terrorists to show up. War may be hell, but that is not the message the
Army wants to send. Instead, the games depict an Army that is precise,
organized and technically advanced. Tactical missions and advanced weaponry
are the focus of the game's missions, not violence. In a survey this year by
Northwestern University of 1,000 college students, the No. 1 concern about
joining the military was danger, said Charles Moskos, professor of sociology
at Northwestern and an expert on public attitudes toward the military. "It's
something recruiters just don't talk about," Moskos said. "But being in the
Army is as dangerous as being a taxicab driver, which is considered to be
one of the most hazardous occupations." Because of such concerns, the armed
forces have a difficult time replenishing their ranks. The military spends
twice as much recruiting each soldier today--about $10,000--as it did 10
years ago. Although the Army met its recruitment targets in three of the
last five years--about 80,000 a year--those goals are far lower than in the
past, Moskos said. Given the current global climate, America is "likely
going to need more people in the armed forces in the coming years," he said.
"That's when the recruitment shortfalls will come." Although store shelves
are bulging with video games that have military themes, some of which are so
realistic they are used by the military to train soldiers, commercial games
such as "Halo" lack the realism of being in the Army, Zyda said. Technical
realism, in fact, is one of the biggest selling points of the two games. To
make "Operations," developers rode tanks and Blackhawk helicopters,
parachuted from airplanes and shot rifles and machine guns. They brought in
soldiers from the Army's Special Forces to critique scenes and levels. They
scanned images of 12 weapons and programmed their recoils, accuracies and
bullet speeds into the game. For "Soldiers," developers videotaped real
soldiers and drill sergeants. Will that be good enough? "It can't hurt,"
Moskos said. "But a video game isn't going to be as good as real personal
contact." Or like doing push-ups in the mud. Copyright 2002 Los Angeles
Times
For additional information on the US Army and the MOVES Institute's
America's Army, please click here
<http://movesinstitute.org/AApress-release.html> .
For additional information on The MOVES Institute, the publisher of nfoBahn
News, see here <http://movesinstitute.org> .
This is a posting from nfobahn@attglobal.net To be removed from this
occasional announcements-only list, please send a kind request to
nfobahn@attglobal.net
--Boundary_(ID_pw0pMElXNqoTT8hnsUdY2g)
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<font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="5" color="#000011"><b>nfoBahn News</b></font>
<p><font size="-1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b>22<font color="#000011"> May 2002</font></b></font></p>
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<h4><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">May 22, 2002</font></h4>
<h2><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Army's New Message to Young Recruits: Uncle 'Sim' Wants You</font></h2>
<h3><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Technology: The service has created video games to woo a media-savvy generation with a simulation of military life.</font></h3>
<div align="left">
<h4><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><img src="http://movesinstitute.org/americasarmy.jpg" alt="" width="134" height="121" border="0"></font></h4>
</div>
<h4><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Photo Gallery: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-pg-armygame.photogallery">The Army's Video Game</a> </font></h4>
<h4><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">By ALEX PHAM, Times Staff Writer - original article <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-052202army.story">here</a>.</font></h4>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">America's youth would rather play video games than do push-ups in the mud--a reality the U.S. Army wants to harness to its advantage.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Eager to prove it's not your grandfather's military, the Army is developing video games to recruit and build awareness among Generation Y.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, the Army will unveil two games designed to appeal to a media-saturated, tech-bombarded generation. One is a sanitized version of "Unreal Tournament," a classic first-person shooting game known for its graphic, nonstop killing. The other is a take on "The Sims," a popular game that mimics life itself.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">But instead of dismembering mutants or pursuing romance, players can work on their organizational skills, free hostages and rise to the rank of first sergeant. The games are part of the Army of One marketing campaign, which stresses professionalism and the importance of the individual, themes marketers say resonate with youths.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Though the military has long used realistic video games as training tools, this is the first time the Army has relied on games to reach out to the public. The intent of the free games--which will be distributed starting in July at recruiting stations and on the Army Web site--is to sell the soldiering life.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Although interest in military careers rose after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, enlistments have changed little in recent years. And it's getting tougher to attract and retain soldiers, in part because there are fewer veterans to regale potential recruits with tales of their military exploits.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">"The goal was to give them a synthetic experience of being in the Army in game form," said Michael Zyda, director of the Naval Postgraduate School's Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation Institute in Monterey, which developed both games.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">"When I registered for the draft during the Vietnam War, I asked veterans of the Korean War what it was like," he said. "They were easy to find. Today, the Army is much smaller. There aren't as many people around today to answer that question."</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">The game project started two years ago, when the economy was bursting at the seams and dot-coms beckoned young people with the promise of riches and freewheeling offices in which they could skateboard. The Army spent $5 million to develop video games to show what life would be like in the Army. Like unscripted television shows, the games show mostly action, leaving out the boring parts.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">"Soldiers," for example, takes gamers from basic training to career development. Spit-shining shoes and peeling potatoes are not among the list of activities. Players going through sniper training in the more action-oriented "Operations" game don't have to camp out for hours waiting for terrorists to show up.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">War may be hell, but that is not the message the Army wants to send. Instead, the games depict an Army that is precise, organized and technically advanced. Tactical missions and advanced weaponry are the focus of the game's missions, not violence.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">In a survey this year by Northwestern University of 1,000 college students, the No. 1 concern about joining the military was danger, said Charles Moskos, professor of sociology at Northwestern and an expert on public attitudes toward the military.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">"It's something recruiters just don't talk about," Moskos said. "But being in the Army is as dangerous as being a taxicab driver, which is considered to be one of the most hazardous occupations."</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Because of such concerns, the armed forces have a difficult time replenishing their ranks. The military spends twice as much recruiting each soldier today--about $10,000--as it did 10 years ago.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Although the Army met its recruitment targets in three of the last five years--about 80,000 a year--those goals are far lower than in the past, Moskos said.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Given the current global climate, America is "likely going to need more people in the armed forces in the coming years," he said. "That's when the recruitment shortfalls will come."</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Although store shelves are bulging with video games that have military themes, some of which are so realistic they are used by the military to train soldiers, commercial games such as "Halo" lack the realism of being in the Army, Zyda said.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Technical realism, in fact, is one of the biggest selling points of the two games.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">To make "Operations," developers rode tanks and Blackhawk helicopters, parachuted from airplanes and shot rifles and machine guns. They brought in soldiers from the Army's Special Forces to critique scenes and levels. They scanned images of 12 weapons and programmed their recoils, accuracies and bullet speeds into the game. For "Soldiers," developers videotaped real soldiers and drill sergeants.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Will that be good enough?</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">"It can't hurt," Moskos said. "But a video game isn't going to be as good as real personal contact."</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Or like doing push-ups in the mud. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times</font></p>
<font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">
<hr noshade>
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<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">For additional information on the US Army and the MOVES Institute's America's Army, please click <a href="http://movesinstitute.org/AApress-release.html">here</a>.</font></p>
<font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">
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<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">For additional information on The MOVES Institute, the publisher of nfoBahn News, see <a href="http://movesinstitute.org">here</a>.</font></p>
<font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">
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<p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This is a posting from nfobahn@attglobal.net To be removed from this occasional announcements-only list, please send a <b>kind</b> request to <a href="mailto:nfobahn@attglobal.net">nfobahn@attglobal.net</a></font></p>
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