Slurm
Nightwalker
Wimmy Wam Wam Wazzle!
Posts: 5,065
|
Post by Slurm on Mar 2, 2012 11:30:16 GMT -5
I thought this was a great writeup by a former soldier, now private military contractor, about how unrealistic modern warfare shooters are and how there really are no heroes as portrayed in these games and in media. The one section of the article that got me was this: "Here is a real scenario that should be put into a game: A friend of mine came under fire inside a compound. He followed up the shooter, who disappeared into an escape tunnel. My friend followed standard procedure and threw a grenade into the tunnel entrance before following up. When entering the tunnel, he found only the bodies of a woman and a small child, whom the terrorist had used to cover his escape. When I spoke about it to my friend years later, he recalled how pissed he was at losing the insurgent, and how bad he felt afterwards about it. He’d had his professional pride tarnished. I asked him if he ever thought about the woman and her kid and he just looked at me blankly. He didn’t even remember they were there." then later in the article: "War is the most horrific, sickening thing mankind can inflict upon itself, fought in large by uneducated maniacs that have no other place in the world. Videogames have the attention of the youth and can educate as well as entertain. The real horrors need to be made very public to keep the next generation from turning out like us." Read the whole thing here: www.mediumdifficulty.com/2012/03/01/call-of-apathy-violent-young-men-and-our-place-in-war/
|
|
|
Post by pandalishus on Mar 2, 2012 12:14:13 GMT -5
He makes some fair points about video games (especially that they'll never capture the utter agony-boredom-fatique that is war), but I have to disagree with his perception of infantry, at very least his suggestion that he represents "most." There ARE heroes and there ARE sociopaths, and then there's the majority in-between.
Still, good perspective, though I don't think the "real horrors" could ever be captured in a game. Those have to be experienced, and then those people need to become our future Congressmen/women (I'm a pretty strong believer in a requirement of military service before running for federal office).
|
|
MeesterJamus
Goblin
SWTOR
@FutbolDude21586
Posts: 629
Steam ID: FutbolDude21586
Xbox GamerTag: FutbolDude21586
|
Post by MeesterJamus on Mar 2, 2012 13:27:11 GMT -5
Running for office period, panda...
|
|
|
Post by pandalishus on Mar 2, 2012 20:53:22 GMT -5
Hmmmm. I almost put that, tbh, but I think I only hold strongly to the "prior service" requirement for federal office. I think it would be good across the board, but since war in the U.S. is the result of decisions at the federal level, that's where I think it's most important to have those who know just how nasty war can be. There are too many (on either side of the aisle) right now who don't.
|
|