Gamertell

Just when we thought the dust has settled, I browse through the web to find Jack Thompson setting his sights on the Department of Defense on GamePolitics.

Thompson had sent a press release to GamePolitics that seems to blame the Department of Defense for “the increasing number of commando-style assaults by young video gamers” and cites the December 5, 2007 in Omaha, NE, mall massacre as an example. Later in the article he blames the Virginia Tech massacre on an “obsessive high school player of the military-themed CounterStrike.”

I’m not really sure how this would have anything to do with the government using or inspiring the gaming industry since the only game ever produced by the government for the public is a recruiting tool called America’s Army and, as I continued to read the article, I had to laugh when I read this part of Thompson’s press release:

“What is increasingly clear is that the unholy alliance between the game industry and the DOD is teaching an an entire generation of kids that war is glamorous, cool, desirable and consequence-free.”

Personally, I played that game and nothing is glamorized in the game. If anything, it shows how much hard work a person would have to go through and how hard you have to work as a team to accomplish a mission. Working with the military personally, I know it’s not a glamorous life. They go through a lot just to get ready for a deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. What the game can teach you is life saving skills, which is something every soldier is taught throughout his career and the hard work you have to endure just to move on to the next level or earn a promotion. Which is why I never joined the Army, I like not having someone barking orders at me all day. I just shoot them (photographically), get their names and go back to my office to write a story.

If the Department of Defense is working with a gaming company for anything, it’s probably more virtual training tools for the soldiers. With the budget almost stretched to its limits, the VR trainers will save the cost of bullets and medical supplies used for training and use them downrange if anything. And having to be escorted off an actual training site because a weapon malfunctioned or someone has been accidentally injured. I would rather they trained in a video game style virtual simulator than hurt themselves on a range.

These guys are risking their lives here and abroad, if they want to use a video game to train on, by all means, let them.

Read [GamePolitics]