America's Army Information

America's Army (also known as AA or Army Game Project) is a series of video games and other media developed by the United States Army and released as a global public relations initiative to help with recruitment. America's Army was conceived by Colonel Casey Wardynski and was managed by the U.S. Army's Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis at the United States Military Academy.^[2] Wardynski envisioned "using computer game technology to provide the public a virtual Soldier experience that was engaging, informative and entertaining."^[3]

The PC version 1.0, subtitled Recon,^[4] was first released on July 4, 2002. Since then there have been over 26 versions released with the most recent being America's Army 3. All versions have been developed on the Unreal Engine and use PunkBuster to try to prevent cheating. The game is financed by the U.S. government and distributed by free download.

America's Army has "grown in ways its originators couldn't have imagined".^[3] Dozens of government training and simulation applications using the America's Army platform have been developed to train and educate U.S. Army Soldiers.^[5] America's Army has also been used to deliver Virtual Soldiering experiences to participants at events such as air shows, amusement parks and sporting events around the country. The America's Army series has also been expanded to include versions for Xbox and Xbox 360, arcade, and mobile applications published through licensing arrangements.^[6][7]

The game was developed by Wardynski, who recognized that a video game might be helpful to the U.S. Army in the strategic communication efforts by providing more information to prospective soldiers and to help reduce the number of recruits who wash out during the nine weeks of basic training.^[2] The effort proved successful with "more than 8 million registrations and 3 billion player rounds" as of March 2007.^[8] One teenager was quoted saying the game "provides great information. This would probably spark an interest. I don't know how I would have found out so much some other way."^[9]

Other versions

America's Army: Rise of a Soldier

America's Army: Rise of a Soldier was released for the Xbox in October 2005. According to the press release, the game features "all the action-packed realism that players have come to expect from the America's Army game brand" and "offers the most true-to-life Army experience, allowing players to create a soldier and lead him through the excitement of an Army career".^[10]

Mobile game

In February 2007, Gameloft and the U.S. Army released America's Army: Special Operations for mobile phones. The game features three types of gameplay. Players can pilot a combat helicopter, man an armored vehicle or serve as an infantryman. According to Mobicritic.com, "Gameloft does a great job with this game and the only fault one could find is that the game is too short. It isn't, really: you just won't realize how fast the hours of play have passed, as this game really gives the term 'action packed' a new meaning."^[11][12]

Arcade game

The arcade version of America's Army was developed by Global VR and released in July 2007.^[13] It is billed as a "realistic and engaging game centered on exciting training exercises and includes a significant amount of authentic Army videos".

Real Heroes

The Real Heroes program, launched in September 2006, focuses on specific soldiers who have been recognized for various acts. Described in an article from U.S. News and World Report, the idea of the Real Heroes program "is to tout ordinary people who, when thrust into danger, showed extraordinary courage".^[14]

The Real Heroes program uses videos, photo albums and blogs on the Real Heroes website to depict the lives of those featured in the program. Soldiers' likenesses and biographies are incorporated into America's Army and used to create action figures sold at retail and distributed at Army events.^{[citation needed]} Additionally, those featured in the Real Heroes program make media appearances at America's Army events across the country such as the VAE, gaming competitions and Technology Education programs. On January 23, 2007, Real Hero SGT Tommy Rieman was recognized by President George W. Bush during his State of the Union address. Bush affirmed "... and like so many other Americans who have volunteered to defend us, he has earned the respect and the gratitude of our country."^[15] Currently, there are nine Real Heroes in the program.

Government applications

In 2005, the America's Army developers partnered with the Software Engineering Directorate and the Army's Aviation and Missile Research Development Engineering Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to manage the commercial game development process and use the America's Army platform to create government training and simulations. "America's Army has pushed to reuse the same elements for many purposes," said Wardynski, originator of the game, "We can build one soldier avatar and use it again and again. When we build something in America's Army, the U.S. government owns it completely ... and [it] can therefore be used for any application or use of the game. So costs keep going down. " After AA went live, requests started coming in to use the game for purposes other than recruiting, such as training.^[16]

The partnership with SED, an Army software lifecycle management center, allowed the development team to repurpose the commercial software to meet the needs of Soldiers preparing for deployment. SED engineers developed customized applications used by many different Army and government organizations including the JFK Special Forces School and the Army's Chemical School. They are used to provide training in use of rare equipment such as PackBot robots, CROWS, and Nuclear Biological Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicles.^{[citation needed]}

Virtual Army Experience

The Virtual Army Experience (VAE) was launched in February 2007. It is a mobile U.S. Army simulator that allows participants to virtually experience certain aspects of soldiering. The core of VAE is America's Army reworked to provide a variety of scenarios. The VAE can be deployed in a full scale rendition or broken down into two smaller versions enabling it to appear at two separate events simultaneously. Since its launch, VAE has hosted over 130,000 participants at more than 100 events.^[17]

Army Experience Center

On August 29, 2008, the U.S. Army opened the Army Experience Center, a facility where visitors can virtually experience many aspects of Army life. Located inside the Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia, the 14,500-square-foot (1,350 m²) facility features a number of interactive simulations and online learning programs to inform visitors about Army careers, training and educational opportunities.^[18]

Pete Geren, Secretary of the Army, says "Potential recruits are afforded a unique opportunity through the Army Experience Center to learn what it means to be the best-led, best-trained and best-equipped Army in the world by allowing them to virtually experience multiple aspects of the Army."^[19] The head of Army Recruiting Command, Major General Thomas Bostick, calls the AEC "a learning laboratory" — but not just for those who are thinking of joining. "It's incumbent upon the American public to know about their Army," Bostick said.^[20]

Technology Education Program

Launched in 2007, the Technology Education Program provides real world applications of classroom learning that augment the curriculum in academic areas including math, physical science, physics, chemistry, technology, computer science, art, animation, graphic design, social studies, anatomy, physiology and psychology. Army experts and Soldiers work with students to teach them about robotics; optics; missiles; video games; and intellectual, emotional and physical development.^[21][22]

In April 2008, Discovery Education featured America's Army in a live webinar in which over 1000 students and educators participated with AA game developers and software engineers.

Reception

America's Army has been positively received, up until 2.8. GameSpot states "nothing beats going in and seeing what the Army really does...without actually having to do it"^[2] It has a rating of 82 on Metacritic.^[23] In addition, it has been covered in thousands of media outlet stories around the world and has received many awards.

Academic references

America's Army has gained the interest of numerous professionals in the fields of business, economics, and social science. A partial list of published analyses includes:

• "Changing the Game: How Video games are Transforming the Future of Business October, 2008." David Edery, Microsoft Xbox executive and research affiliate of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program, and Ethan Mollick, researcher at the MIT Sloan School of Management, investigate the future of video games. They cite the combat medic training received by Paxton Galvanek to save a life as "tangible evidence of the power of games to educate". (p. 97) Furthermore, the book praises America's Army by saying "far-sighted companies are using games to recruit, train, motivate, and make employees more productive" (p. 97) and includes research that supports this point: "30% of all Americans age 16 to 24 had a more positive impression of the Army because of the game and, even more amazingly, the game had more impact on recruits than all other forms of Army advertising combined." (p. 141)
• "Watch This, Listen Up, Click Here: Inside the 300 Billion Dollar Business Behind the Media You Constantly Consume April, 2007." David Verklin, CEO of Carat, and Bernice Kanner, marketing expert, test the stability of old, traditional media and find they're collapsing under pressure from online services. Highlights the U.S. Army video game as the 21st century's recruitment poster. "America's Army has proven to be such powerful weaponry that an official game store does brisk business selling collectible action figures, clothes, coffee mugs, and other doodads emblazoned with the logo." (p. 90)
• "Experience the Message: How Experiential Marketing Is Changing the Brand World by Max Lendermann, creative director of GMR Marketing, December, 2005." Cites AA advergaming success and rollout to an experiential marketing campaign. "The America's Army experience is an advergaming juggernaut, an empire that is looked to enviably by the rest of the advergaming nations." (p. 218) "Not only do players get a fun and exciting experience, they also get as close to the real thing of being in the army as possible, without actually getting a buzz cut and general-issue fatigues." (p. 222)
• "Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II, co-founders of Strategic Horizons LLP, September 2007." ^[24] Published by Harvard Business School Press, this book cites America's Army as one of the most innovative and successful examples of virtual placemaking and Wardynski's efforts in establishing new and better metric analyses. "According to the director of the program, Colonel Casey Wardynski, 20 percent of those matriculating at West Point in 2005 had played America's Army, along with 20 to 40 percent of enlisted soldiers recruited that year." (p. 168)

"America's Army director Colonel Wardynski uses the metric 'cost per person hour', estimating in 2005 that the $2.5 million the Army puts into the program each year results in 'a cost per person hour of 10 cents, versus $5 to $8 for TV'." (p. 173)

• "Career Innovation Case Study of the U.S. Army as part of the "Digital Generation Initiative"" Case study analyzed the Army Game Project efforts and concluded the following: First, to reach the Digital Generation, content must be engaging and authentic. Employers will have to adopt a much more open and transparent approach to communicating information and allowing contact with employees than is currently the norm. Second, the Digital Generation will expect to be able to virtually explore and even "test drive" jobs and organizations. The Army's experience shows the potential and importance of virtual tools and capabilities in shaping the brand image of employers. Third, games and simulations can play a role in preparing new hires for the job. And finally, employers should treat investments in games and simulations as a platform to support a wide range of recruiting, learning and performance development activities and goals. Virtual simulators are cheaper than real ones in many instances.
• "The Potential of America's Army as Civilian-Military Public Sphere" extensive February 2004 thesis (149 pages) by graduate student Zhan Li for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - includes ethnographic analysis of Soldiers who play the game during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and interviews with West Point directors of the America's Army project.
• "Social Realism in Gaming academic analysis of AA in terms of "Social realism" by Alexander R. Galloway" a book author and Assistant Professor at New York University. Alexander R. Galloway, an associate professor at New York University notes that, "What is interesting about America's Army, is not the debate over whether it is thinly-veiled propaganda or a legitimate recruitment tool, for it is unabashedly and decisively both, but rather that the central conceit of the game is one of mimetic realism." In his analysis, Galloway concludes that AA, despite being a fairly realistic game, with real-life settings, does not make even the least attempt to achieve narrative realism — that is, accurately representing what serving a tour in the Army would actually be like. Instead, it simply expresses a nationalistic sentiment under the guise of realism, being little more than a "naïve and unmediated or reflective conception of aesthetic construction."
• "Video Games, Manipulation and the U.S. Military: A Comparative Analysis of America's Army and SOCOM II: US Navy SEALs" academic analysis of America's Army and SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs in terms of "Visual Discourse" by Caroline S. Brooks, a PhD candidate at East Carolina University.
• "America's Army PC Game - Vision and Realization," published by the MOVES Institute and the US Army, February 2004, 40 pages.
• Michael Zyda, Alex Mayberry, Jesse McCree, and Margaret Davis “From Viz-Sim to VR to Games: How We Built a Hit Game-Based Simulation,” in W.B. Rouse and K.R. Boff (Eds.) Organizational Simulation: From Modeling & Simulation to Games & Entertainment, New York: Wiley Press, 2005,pp., ISBN 0471681636.
• Margaret Davis, Russell Shilling, Alex Mayberry, Jesse McCree, Phillip Bossant, Scott Dossett, Christian Buhl, Christopher Chang, Evan Champlin, Travis Wiglesworth and Michael Zyda "Researching America’s Army," in Design Research: Methods and Perspectives, edited by Brenda Laurel, MIT Press, 1 October 2003, ISBN 0262122634, 268-275.
• Russ Shilling, Michael Zyda and E. Casey Wardynski, "Introducing Emotion into Military Simulation and Videogame Design: America's Army Operations and VIRTE," in the Proceedings of the GameOn Conference, London, 30 November 2002, pp. 151-154.
• Allen, Robertson. 2009. "The Army Rolls Through Indianapolis: Fieldwork at the Virtual Army Experience." Transformative Works and Cultures 2.

Controversy

America's Army has been described as an extension of the military entertainment complex with criticism that it contributes to a militarization of society.^[25] Because America's Army focuses on the technological aspect of war rather than the moral, it has been referred to as How We Fight, alluding to the U.S. government's series of films named Why We Fight, which supported the war effort for World War II.^[26]

See also

• Close Combat: First to Fight, video game developed with input from U.S. Marines
• Full Spectrum Warrior
• VBS1

References

1. ^ AA Version 2.x will still be updated after launch of AA3.0 America's Army Official Forum
2. ^ ^{a b c} Kennedy, Brian (2002-07-11). "Uncle Sam Wants You (To Play This Game)". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE2DE1330F932A25754C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&&scp=1&sq=wardynski&st=cse. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
3. ^ ^{a b} McLeroy, Carrie (2008-09). "History of Military Gaming" (pdf). Soldiers Magazine: 4–6. http://lists.army.mil/soldiersmagazine/pdfs/sep08full.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
4. ^ http://www.americasarmy.com/aa/intel/versions.php
5. ^ Jean, Grace (2006-02). "Game Branches Out Into Real Combat Training". National Defense Magazine. http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2006/February/Pages/games_brance3042.aspx. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
6. ^ Bramwell, Tom (2007-03-17). "America's Army launches mobile offensive.". gamesindustry.biz. http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/americas-army-launches-mobile-offensive. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
7. ^ Brinkley, C. Mark (2007-03-19). "Expand and conquer". Army Times. http://www.armytimes.com/entertainment/video_games/online_life_americasarmy070226/. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
8. ^ "March 2007 eNewsletter". America's Army Official website. March 2007. doi:March 2007. http://www.americasarmy.com/press/newsletter.php. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
9. ^ Goodale, Gloria (2002-05-31). "Video game offers young recruits a peek at military life". The Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0531/p18s01-algn.html. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
10. ^ "AA: RoS in Stores NOW!". RiseofaSoldier.com. 2005-11-16. http://www.riseofasoldier.com/us/newsItem.php?id=14007. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
11. ^ "America's Army Gameloft". Mobilecritic.com. 2007-04-06. http://mobicritic.com/2007/04/06/americas-army-gameloft/. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
12. ^ "America's Army Mobile Phone Game". ArmyOps Tracker. 2007-01-31. http://aaotracker.com/thread.php?threadid=163814/. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
13. ^ "Global VR to Deploy America's Army at AAMA Gala". Arcade Renaissance. 2007-07-20. http://www.arcade-renaissance.com/2007/07/global-vr-to-deploy-americas-army-at.html. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
14. ^ Barnes, Julian E. (2005-11-13). "The New Action Heroes: In a time of war, the Army finds innovative ways to promote its warriors". U.S. News. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051121/21heroes.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
15. ^ "State of the Union". Whitehouse Website. 2007. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/photoessay/04.html. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
16. ^ Testa, Bridget Mintz (2008-05-26). "'America's Army' provides an enterprise platform for Army training". Defense Systems. http://defensesystems.com/articles/2008/05/much-more-than-a-game.aspx. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
17. ^ Voight, Joan (2007-11-26). "Army Recruiters On a New Mission". AdWeek. http://www.adweek.com/aw/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003676881. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
18. ^ McLeroy, Carrie (2008-09-02). "Army Experience Center opens in Philadelphia". U.S. Army News. http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/09/02/12072-army-experience-center-opens-in-philadelphia/. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
19. ^ "U.S. Army Opens 'Army Experience Center' in Philadelphia: High-Tech Facility Allows Visitors to Experience Many Aspects of Army". MarketWatch.com. 2008-08-29. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/us-army-opens-army-experience/story.aspx?guid=%7B8650D27D-4056-4C42-961F-BB180FB2E1A0%7D&dist=hppr. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
20. ^ Matheson, Kathy (2008-08-30). "Army Experience Center offers simulations at mall". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-08-30-army-experience-center_N.htm?csp=34. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
21. ^ "'America's Army' finds place in classroom". Fort Leavenworth Lamp Online. 2008-09-25. http://www.ftleavenworthlamp.com/articles/2008/09/25/dod_news/dod6.txt. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
22. ^ Buchanan, Doug (2008-09-22). "Do your homework! Wait, no, let me". Business First. http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/09/22/tidbits1.html?b=1222056000%5E1703169&brthrs=1. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
23. ^ America's Army: Operations (pc: 2002): Reviews
24. ^ http://authenticitybook.com/
25. ^ Li, Zhan (2003). "The Potential of America's Army the Video Game as Civilian-Military Public Sphere" (pdf). http://www.gamasutra.com/education/theses/20040725/ZLITHESIS.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
26. ^ Huntemann, Nina (2003). "Militarism & Video Games". Media Education Foundation. Archived from the original on October 2, 2003. http://web.archive.org/web/20031002152720/http://www.mediaed.org/news/articles/militarism.

External links

• Official website
• America's Army Platform for government applications
• The MOVES Institute (former developers)
• "War games in a time of war", MSNBC article (July 18, 2004)
• "The Army Game Project" article for the Army Magazine by Chris Chambers (deputy director of AA), Thomas Sherlock (teacher of political science) and Paul Kucik (economic analyst in the Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis), 2002
• Enjoy the video game? Then join the army. by the Christian Science Monitor
• Official PunkBuster site
• America's Army at GameSpot

Categories: 2002 video games | Advergames | Cancelled PlayStation 2 games | First-person shooters | Multiplayer online games | Propaganda video games | Tactical shooter video games | Xbox games | Windows games | Mac OS X games | Linux games | Unreal Engine games | America's Army

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