One Reason We'll Win The Long War
Got one of my kids an X-Box 360 for Christmas this year; he was always going over to a friend's house to play "Halo 2", so we figured we'd keep him at home some. As I was picking the game system up, I was wondering why the game system came with a headset. I soon found out why...
Over X-Box Live, it seems like a good percentage of our teenage boys are practicing small-unit combat while playing these "first-person shooter" video games. They talk back-and-forth with their team members over the headsets, coordinating their attacks. For the select few that go into the Army or Marines, they'll have been practicing squad-level tactics for most of their teenage years. I don't think it's a conspiracy by Bill Gates or anything to militarize our children, but I don't think the Pentagon could have planned it any better if they'd wanted to. Now, if we can only put export controls on the games so teenage wannabe jihadis don't start doing the same...
posted by Bubblehead at 10:36 PM
5 Comments:
I remember President Reagan saying something to his effect as well when the first video games were just comming online. I play Halo 2 as well. It's not just the tactics devloped amoungst close freinds. But ad hoc tactics needed as well, you know someone only by their voice for 5 min's and now you need to get a flag gaurded by 8+ men with everything from a SMG, to a double barreled rocket launcher, to a plasma sword... makes me wish I wasn't on duty today.. damn.
1/07/2007 6:38 AM
On the latest Rainbow 6 game, with the XBox webcam, if you take a front and profile pic of your face, it'll merge it onto your character. It looks pretty cool.
When my wife heard about this, she didn't like it one bit, and told my sons she didn't like them playing a game where they were killing people with characters with their faces. She forbid them to play in that mode.
A few days later, I asked them if they were the good guys, to which they replied in the affirmative. I then asked them if they were killing terrorists, to which they again responded in the affirmative.
I told them to go ahead and put their faces on their characters - this game is training. Kill 'em all, I said, because you may have to do it for real.
And that's exactly what I'll tell my wife (just in case anybody's wondering).
1/07/2007 10:00 PM
I thought about this a few years ago when I read that Palastinians give their children mock suicide vests to play with. The author of the article wondered how we will meet such a threat. I also read last year that the ground forces in Iraq are deploying some remote controlled machine guns mounted on top of hummers and that the youngest soldiers and marines love the thing because they are already accustomed picking targets and firing on a video screen.
RM1/SS
1/08/2007 6:42 AM
Best news I've heard all day. Where do I get one?
1/08/2007 7:50 AM
The Army has a great first-person game online that has approx 20 million players. "America's Army" has been around for a few years now, and it's amazing to see these kids coordinate tactics on offensive and defensive missions.
1/11/2007 1:59 PM
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