ARMA2 put you off the Army ?

[cartier90 0]

The closest I ever got to any armed services was registering for the RAF. But the fear of boredom (flight planning job) and low pay (£16k) put me off. I wouldnt have the balls for the Army, though I know I would enjoy a great deal of what they get up to, and the thrill of (some) of what they do.

Playing ARMA2 in particular, with the long stretches of time between combat and patrolling could be said to be a closer portrayal of being in the Army than other games. What it shows me is that using proper techniques, working with your (IRL Intelligent) squad and sticking to the ground keep you alive.

However, and pardon the phrase, you can only dodge bullets for so long, the suddenness of injury or getting cut down by machine gun fire is quite visceral and shocking. Has ARMA2 or its predecessors put any of you off or encouraged any of you to join the armed services....

[Cobra Pilot 10]

HELL NO! :D If anything its made want to join even more!

[cadmium77 16]

I want missions where you patrol and the enemy's sole response is IEDs. That is the grittiest of the grunt work.

It was always said of OFP that it was a game about war that inevitably made you anti war.

Being paralyzed or mutilated in your 20's is no way to live. Ultimately, if you're going to risk you're life doing something, you'll have to seriously question whose interests you're risking your life to further. It's doubtful it'll be your own.

[cartier90 0]

well said, a few missions with screaming comrades injured isnt going to be AA3 propaganda.

I spose some people are able to block negative thoughts and fears and join anyway - chances being they serve and survive unscathed. One big crap shoot though as too how you do.....

OFP and ARMA2 personally make me respect the stress and strain that soldiers must go through, course I can just restart.

[randir14 10]

I tried joining the USMC after high school but they wouldn't let me because of asthma, so this is the closest I will get to the real thing.

[Beagle 684]

The closest I ever got to any armed services was registering for the RAF. But the fear of boredom (flight planning job) and low pay (£16k) put me off. I wouldnt have the balls for the Army, though I know I would enjoy a great deal of what they get up to, and the thrill of (some) of what they do.

Playing ARMA2 in particular, with the long stretches of time between combat and patrolling could be said to be a closer portrayal of being in the Army than other games. What it shows me is that using proper techniques, working with your (IRL Intelligent) squad and sticking to the ground keep you alive.

However, and pardon the phrase, you can only dodge bullets for so long, the suddenness of injury or getting cut down by machine gun fire is quite visceral and shocking. Has ARMA2 or its predecessors put any of you off or encouraged any of you to join the armed services....

I found Operation Flashpoint to be very discouraging...thank god there were no such games in my service time back in the early 90's.

[cartier90 0]

It might sound a stretch that a 'game' could actually influence behaviour. But if you think about it, its only our generation that technology has become advanced enough to simulate warfare and the associated emotions from a first person view.

Id imagine a 15, 16 year old playing a arcade war game in the late 80s say would just not experience the fear of 'whats round the corner' when looking at a 2D game....

[Herbal Influence 10]

Very discouraging and always showing what a shit war is in reality:

Imagine what poor creatures go through a town or close to a wood with a Bradley or so.

One hidden rpg man - and that was it.

Same with choppers and AA-men.

Or imagine a soldier in the next building with a G36 and you yourself with a m16.

The military sims show - for me - : It's not the soldier that survives war.

But my grandpa was in WWII and always said: Never again a uniform. You lose your mind with taking on the uniform.

[cartier90 0]

ARMA2 for world peace ;)

[Lauxman 10]

The U.S. Army already has my name on a contract, so it is a little late for me!

[Snøfte 10]

Arma II brings me back to the army days.. A lot of walking, 95% boredom and boom action for 2-3 minutes then back to washing your barracks for the tenth time, because your sergeant are having her period...

[celery 8]

Thanks to the game series I'll be that much readier if I have to go and do my worst in war. Let's hope the world stays sane enough.

[Beagle 684]

Thanks to the game series I'll be that much readier if I have to go and do my worst in war. Let's hope the world stays sane enough.

I doubt that you know what you are talking. Games like ArmA can not even prepare you enought for a single day in a large scale exercise manouver.

Everything is much more complicated in the unforgiving reality.

[mickeyc 10]

id prob be on the side of napa or pro russians insurgants if you catch my drift, though id rather sit wit a pint of black and play the game :)

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

I doubt that you know what you are talking. Games like ArmA can not even prepare you enought for a single day in a large scale exercise manouver.

Everything is much more complicated in the unforgiving reality.

I did two rotations at the Joint Readiness Training Center, and though I was in simulated combat conditions 24 hrs/day for 1 1/2 weeks, each rotation, I've seen more action in OFP/ArmA than I did, there.

If military training can translate into more effective mission performance in-game, why can't it work the other way around?

Or do you think we should send copies of ArmA 1 & 2 to our "friends" in the Taliban and Hezbullah?

[Beagle 684]

I did two rotations at the Joint Readiness Training Center, and though I was in simulated combat conditions 24 hrs/day for 1 1/2 weeks, each rotation, I've seen more action in OFP/ArmA than I did, there.

If military training can translate into more effective mission performance in-game, why can't it work the other way around?

Or do you think we should send copies of ArmA 1 & 2 to our "friends" in the Taliban and Hezbullah?

You can't translate your gamig experience into real experience. You also wont become a better hunter by playing hunting games on your PC.

[jakerod 254]

You can't translate your gamig experience into real experience. You also wont become a better hunter by playing hunting games on your PC.

Well glad to see the U.S. Army and Marine Corps wasted tons of money on VBS1 and 2 then.

[Beagle 684]

Well glad to see the U.S. Army and Marine Corps wasted tons of money on VBS1 and 2 then.

I assume they use it in quite another way. Just for example...a full Leopoard II Simulator ist not comparable to ArmA2. Real Field experience is not comparable to ArmA 2.

But if you use VBS for special purposem training in combination with field exercises ...this might make sense.

I myself tend to do "stupid" and "unrealistic" things in ArmA why? because it's a game and you can trick it by exploiting it artificial worlds weaknesses.

I hab a similar discussion with a buddy on a camping tour a few weeeks ago.

After a while I just made hin show me how long he can can do the typical ArmA multiplayer moves...running, hit the dirt, kneeling, running...with his fully loades backpack...well...he did it not very long.

It's a game after all.

Or take the other approach... I can drive a 7,5 ton truck without problems in reality...but I cant keep it on the road in the game for long.

[jakerod 254]

Or take the other approach... I can drive a 7,5 ton truck without problems in reality...but I cant keep it on the road in the game for long.

Haha me either.

If nothing else I would think you can learn minor things that may not come into play in a large part but may help you a little bit. I honestly can't be sure since I am not in the Army and I can't ask my brother because he never really played OFP, ArmA or ArmA II but im sure it has its small values.

It could help if you play with former military members in leagues in mulitplayer too I would think. Im sure there are certain things they don't train you to do that you may learn from experience.

[Pyrodox 0]

I think VBS/ArmA/ArmA2/etc is used mainly for training communication on an element level by the military... You won't become a better marksman, you won't learn any useful muscle memory and you won't learn how to deal with life-or-death stress by playing ArmA. It might also be used for situational evaulation, I.E. someone watches soldiers play the game and takes notes like "a squad walked into an area with a hill to this side, they reacted this way, this was the outcome."

And on the sentiment of games "putting you off" the idea of joining... I'd say no, they didn't for me. And I don't think they would for anyone who is a soldier at heart. If you're signing up for the money or any other reason, I don't think you're really cut out for the role of a solider. A soldier knows war is hell, a soldier knows they have to sign away their life in order to take part in something that could take it from them and a soldier knows it's going to suck donkey balls... But they choose to do it. Why? So someone else doesn't have to stand and face war. You don't do it for yourself, you do it for those you care for, and once you're in you do it for your brothers.

[TangoRomeo 10]

Software like VBS/ArmA can be used to complement actual training, not replace it. I.e. procedures/ decision making.

I´ll have to say that games like Arma, no matter how realistic, probably would not have had much of an impact on my decision, as the main reason was rather trivial at that time; money and additional civ. grades. I didn't think that much about politics, possible consequences to my, or other peoples lives. Rarely anyone at that age does.

I just hope noone feels motivated to join because of a piece of entertainment software, a movie, or some pathetic fantasies one might hold about military service. A game can not simulate, or possibly prepare, for the psychological impact of being physically and mentally exposed to a level of violence and misery as it occurs in any armed conflict. For someone operating an UAV, F-16 ... war certainly has a different perspective. But that is not where the bulk of people joining will end up.

[Mcpl-Ripcord 0]

I am currently in the Army and have been for quite awhile.

If this game (1 shot and you die) had been around when I joined It would have not changed my decision, I was young and gave no thought to the consequences. I have been in 5 war zones 2 of them were "Peacekeeping" but the threat was still there.

OFP/Arma and Arma 2 while being as "realistic" as you can get by sitting behind a computer can never match the sites,smells and the sheer terrifying sounds of war, but it does do a good job in letting you know the abruptness of war..your alive 1 second then BOOM you cease to exist, and most times you don't see it coming.

[rocksy 11]

I'd be worried about being in a unit full of dudes who shoot like an automatic tennis ball machine, while shouting "ENEMY MAN IN LK8761542!" then standing up and copping a grenade.

:)

[Dallas 9]

In my experience the Army puts you of the Army.

[r3volution 0]

Well, I'd already decided a good 5 years before I bought my copy of Arma that I wouldn't be joining the army. But that being said, everything I've experienced in Arma and Arma2 has done nothing except reinforce the incredibly random nature of violence in war, just to reinforce the point that you can be perfectly trained, do everything right, and still cop a slug in the pan or an IED up the ass. Just a matter of being in the wrong place (i.e a warzone) at the wrong time (i.e when there's a war on) can be enough to get you killed, elite training or no.

Now I wouldn't say I was perfectly trained or do everything right in Arma2, far from it, most of my missions I have the average lifespan of a soldier going over the top in WWI. Average, maybe 5 minutes till I get the chop.

Army? Thanks but no thanks.