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Designers of "America's Army" go through a boot camp meant to acquaint them better with the soldier's world.
The New York Times
Images: Robots that do a soldier's work Images: "America's Army" plays for real
The story "Training with the Army's game development team" published February 17, 2005 at 6:33 AM is no longer available on CNET News.
Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.
I was involved, ever so distantly, to be sure, in the launch of Americas Army, providing support in that first shift (supposed to start at midnight EST that night and instead firing off 3 hours early and lasting until 5 in the morning on July 4 when HomeLAN's management forced us to stop supporting users and properly close for the night) and for nearly a year thereafter. Honestly, I have to say this is probably one of the most effective marketing campaigns the Army has ever mounted.
Players logged on from all over the world and while the direct recruiting effect may never been entirely measurable, the public relations and positive exposure aspect of this game can never be denied. I had a moment at E3 2003 to meet the colonel and pose with the project gabriel team for pictures and I will never regret supporting this project.
Americas Army is an execellent approach to today's younger adults and I am more than willing to contribute my tax dollars to such a worthy cause. THe army is making increasingly effective inroads to today's youth through NASCAR, video games, drag racing, arena football, and other channels and I am proud to have had the chance to play a tiny role in getting this particular project off the ground.
This project will always have my full support.