posted
As a newbie, I may have missed some discussion comparing the two, but the bit on 4/5 about the military stealing ideas from "Ender's Game" to explore the idea of a simulated battlefield made me think of this. I checked some of the other "Battle School" discussions and no direct comparison was made with the FPS of "America's Army." For those that don't know, America's Army is a first person shooter (ala Doom and Quake) that was built by the US Army as a recruiting tool (to the tune of $7 million in development). It can be downloaded for free, picked up at recruiting stations, etc.
What makes this interesting is that this could easily be a first-step in discovering potential military genius at an early age, but the key is first step. The game (I have tried to play it but it is a hog on my computer) first puts a person through basic training of sorts. It teaches basic military doctrine and the "how-to" to be a front line soldier, a sniper, etc. Once these courses are mastered, the person can go online and play with other people from around the US (and globe, I assume). Unlike most online games, breaking doctrine gets one kicked from the game and teamwork is rewarded and, from what I am told and read, the best way to win a scenario.
This creates, at best, good little soldiers who can follow orders and work well as a team. As a comparison to "Battle School" it may prepare kids (and this is geared towards kids, though adults I am sure make up a fair amount of players) to follow orders in a "toon" and maybe lead one, but I don't see it getting people involved in the overall strategy.
But what a great tool to evaluate young folk. Maybe a new layer of the game will be added where people who do well in the game (not kicked for breaknig rules, high scores...tally board, anyone?) will get bumped to the next level of game. This level, commanders can make tactical decisions on where troops go, how to best use them, etc. They don't participate in the ground level game but choose the direction it would go.
If such a system is put together, young Napoleans or Alexanders could be picked from a crop of folks who willingly installed such software and mastered it.
In lieu of "monitors" and such, this is the first attempt to put the military into homes since the television commercial but now, it is interactive and could potentially tell a lot about candidates out there.
Just a thought. If this has been discussed to death, shoot me now. Or burninate me. Whatever works.
posted
A very interesting idea indeed. But I don't really see it being thorough. Look at it this way. I am pretty good at computer games. Not bragging or anything, but if I get a game, in about a week or two I know most of the best strats to win. So if I had good leadership qualities I would make it to the next level of the army game.
But then take my brother for explain; even though he has no leadership capabilities what so ever, he is horrible at computer games. Now if he had all the needed requirements to make it to the next level except for the fact that he can't shoot the guy standing three feet in front of him what then?? He isn't going to be high in the standings because he always dies but he could also be the best "general" that the army has since. However he goes unnoticed.
Then me being really good at games, knows what it takes to win and get high on the ranking board, has no leadership qualities at all but makes it to the next level due to I am better at a game then the real general.
This idea would be great and would also so alot of potential but it also has quite a bit of holes to let good leaders fall through.
posted
Oh, it is a far from perfect model but an interesting way to find some raw talent. After looking at the war room in Iraq, Tommy Franks had a room full of computers and people continually interacting with them. They were fed huge amounts of data and had to make sense of it in a short period of time. Isn't there a saying that Tactics wins a battle but logistics win the war? Same thing with this game. You can master a certain level of it (the FPS portion). It may or may not show how well team work happens but it is an active forum that watchers can directly participate in to see how things are going.
The internet has already taken the "army" concept of battle school and ran with it. Look at the amount of "Clans" all over the net. Many of them are loosely associated members who play together from time to time but others are serious and hold try outs, have practice and work hard at team work. Take those structures, layer in some more responsibilities for the commanders than just saying "shoot those guys" and you have a new tool to evaluate potential commanders.
There is a new game coming out that is doing this. I can't remember the name of it, but it is a multiplayer game and you can play from the strategy level or on the ground. I am curious how that will play out. Supposedly the WW2 Online was supposed to do this but I don't know if that game is even up and running.
posted
Heh, I read the title of this thread and thought of the ethical implications. That'd be close to on target: American Soldiers as of late = Ender. Sorry to but in.
Posts: 1103 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I see what you mean by a decent comp. im dling it now and it say it has about 2and a half hours left with 3% done but i have to say you don't need a decent comp you need a REALLY REALLY GOOD comp. i think im gona have to stop the dl and start it agin when i have nothing better on my comp. *is amazed looks at the 373 mb. dl then at the Starcraft/Broodwar folder thats only 172 and wonders what will happen to his half full 5gb hard drive*
Posts: 397 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
That's an interesting point. Of course, I'm not that bad at PC Games, especially FPS. But if the Army one day knocked on my door and asked me to sign up becuase of my "l33t" skills, I would never say yes. Real life and computer graphics/controls are just too different (physics and feeling-wise). Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your pov) we have only gone to the point of the mini-games in the Battle School arcade room. We have not yet progressed to the point of LIVE simulations technology-wise. Perhaps paintball may be the closest thing, though its concept is also far-fetched. I doubt the army would start looking for future Napoleons and Alexanders in a PC game. As for the specific America's Army game, I've seen it in action, and there's not alot of commanding and teamwork going on. I'd say 70% of the players just Rambo it. Just my two cents.
Posts: 17 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Nick, that is exactly what I have in my comp. But I built my computer myself so I feel special. I might try the game out if I get bored or something
posted
Sounds fun, but I had to unlock all of my comps available memory to run Diablo 2. Only macs make you unlock it.
Posts: 26 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
The download size isn't that huge, actually. Think about it, Starcraft takes up a whole CD, a CD is 650 megs, on average. As far as system specs go, it should scale okay to aging machines.
It won't run on a PII, I don't imagine, but certainly a PIII.
The only reason I never really started playing it was because v1.0 was buggy as all hell and there was poor support for modding/map making.
If the army came to my door and asked me to join because of my mad skill, and I am pretty good af FPS games, I'd tell them to shove off. I like the U.S. army, but I'm afraid that I'd have to go AWOL as soon as I joined because I refuse to work to takeover countries that pose no threat to the United States. Furthermore, my worst nightmare is to actually kill someone. I'm not sure I could ever recover.
Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Actully starcraft isnt 65omegs or w/e it dosent fill a cd they just seal it so it looks full Broodwar CD is 608 but the program on the comp is 100 and w/e so on a 5 gig HD the army game taks hole lota more. plus you don't D/L SC/BW.
posted
Although I see your point, I came across the Planetside semi-public beta test. It weighed in as almost a gig and a half download. Games are constantly getting bigger, but hard drives are getting cheap to the point where it's almost a dollar a gigabyte, so there isn't a lot of reason not to expand.
Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
yeah, it is almost DUMB to complain about not having enough space now. Unless you have a mac. macs suck.
Posts: 197 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
It would be more interesting for the military to recruit leaders from paint-ball battlefields. A key ingredient to leadership is charisma, or how well people will actually follow someone. Hard to judge on a computer. If you are good at battle on a computer, they could use you as an analyst, but the true leader is the person commanding the analysts.
Posts: 37 | Registered: May 2003
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