BLOG #1

When I read the title to this class blog post, I immediately knew what it was referring to. I played the first version of America's Army in 2002. My dad, who is in the Army, first showed me the game. He has never been one to push me into anything, and I just thought it was a really cool video game. Looking back at the website, I was just reminded how the game effectively portrays warfare and draws in a younger crowd. It is obvious it is a very creative recruitment tool, in fact I know one or two who are in the Army now because of this game. The first things I noticed as rhetoric were the shots of "Our Newest Real Hero" above an advertisement for the game that says "the Next Mission Could Be Yours." This basically poses that I, myself, could be a hero too. I can read about different squad roles, potentially even finding one I'd fit into (in my opinion). I suppose, however, that the biggest draw in is the fact that it is a free video game download, and compared to the usual fifty dollars we spend per video game, why not download it? I think most gamers are in their teens, give or take a few years, and that is the intended audience for this game. You can join the military when you are 18, so it makes perfect sense to introduce this possibility to those 13 and up, who might find the video game interesting enough to pursue for a career. I think video games can be very persuasive tools in recruitment, because gamers, many times live in a fantasy world that they wish could be come a reality. This gives them the opportunity to turn fun into a job and into reality.

I do agree with Navy veteran, that this will instill the ideology of warfare in gamers. Although the game is entertaining and is useful as a recruitment tool, the game itself might show that war itself is alright and reduce killing people down to just "doing a job." Warfare shouldn't be accepted and although these days it is almost unavoidable, I think teach younger teens this isn't a good idea. These potential recruits might also be future leaders in politics that have a deciding vote in declaring war or not. A potential improvement to the recruiting technique is changing the age from 13 to 17, that way older, more mature teens can take a tour in the world of a soldier. I think the media portrays the Iraq War just like "another thing" these days, and when soldiers are killed everyday, it's only the more numerous killings that we hear about. We grow used to it. We accept war, when we should be hearing reports about how gruesome war is for both sides and how the war is effecting us and many other countries, so that we realize how war can be avoided.

My dad was overseas for a year, and worked hard to help the war effort to maintain Iraqi freedom. War is very costly but sometimes necessary, but I think when I was 13 I wouldn't have understood as well as I do now all the things that have been going on over in Iraq.
My hope is that the video game won't promote violence as much as interest in the wars and foreign matters that are being handled militarily, and it has because I even asked the questions when I played this game, where is this fighting and why are we fighting this group. Hopefully the game will recruit those who understand how serious a decision like joining the Army is and that it is not just a game but an informative tool to show how a soldier's life can really be.