The phrase that caught my attention, and my imagination, so many years ago has popped up again. This time in a disturbing article at Salon, about a multiplayer combat video game the army cooked up…where “you can never be the enemy, in America’s Army”.
A game which the Army claims 470,000 people have or are now playing.
“But America’s Army’s real purpose is to be a recruiting tool, which is why the game has been made freely available since July, with new units and missions added on a regular basis. (It’ll be out on CD in recruitment offices soon.) And while its impact on recruitment won’t be evident until December, when July enlistees arrive for basic training, early signs, say Army spokesmen, are promising: 28 percent of Americasarmy.com visitors click through to goarmy.com, the government’s official recruitment site.”
Creepy. And just what we need, after the release of the World Health Organization’s Global report on health and violence.