Introduction

There you are sitting playing the most recent Call of Duty. You are completely engrossed
in the smooth gameplay. As you sit there a voice in the back of your head is telling you that this
isn't real, but you dont care. By the time you finish the game you instantly pop in Battlefield 4.
The feeling of being in the middle of combat and being in active duty is too great. You decide to
put down the game and try this out for real. You decide to go and join the military. That voice
keeps telling you that it is nothing like the games and is going to be an experience like no other.
As you finish the paperwork you think to yourself that you made the right decision.
In the year of 1999 the military's recruitment rate was on a drastic decline. The amount of
recruits the military had was just 67,007 and it wasnt going up. It was so bad that the military's
recruitment budget was increased to 2.2 billion dollars. This money did not go to waste however.
In 2002 the military released a game called America's Army. This game was a simulation made
by actual members of the military. The game was a complete success with five hundred thousand
downloads in the first month. By 2006 the military exceeded their goal of 80,000 recruits. More
and more people enlist in the military due to the influence of video games. With each new game
people learn more and more about what the military does and the potential it holds. Throughout
this paper we will discuss how gaming has influenced modern warfare and how games have
influenced people to become interested in the military.
Before continuing to trace this body of literature it is important to know my personal
stance on the topic. I began playing military based games back in 2009 with the release of Call of
Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It was the first military based game I had ever played and it instantly
caught my attention. From that day I have played multiple games having to deal with military

and war. I can see how the games make it easy for young teens and adults to be captivated by the
action and glory of being a hero. From my personal standpoint I have considered multiple times
if I should join the military from playing these games, but quickly came back to my senses.
These games make it easy for us to forget that the military is not a game. There are no second
chances in real life. Joining the military takes a lot of heart and courage. Most people forget
these things while lost in gaming. Even though gaming has had an impact on a great number of
people to join the military, my passion for war games will continue even if I don't personally
join.
Relevant Information
Games depicting war like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Medal of Honor have always
captured the minds of many. Whether the military intentionally did this or not doesnt change the
fact that more and more people join the military due to these games. Most of this success comes
from developers starting to work with actual soldiers and retired veterans to produce better
games. This leads to more realistic games with an actual feel for how real military life is. Before
video games the military had a difficult time just meeting recruitment requirements. Another part
of this success is coming from the army using games as propaganda. There are numerous
commercials connected to one game. There are trailers that use actual actors and stars in them.
Even the games themselves include actors we see in movies as main characters. Now recruitment
expectations are being exceeded with the implementation of newer games and them being
accessible to broader audiences. As games advance the military will see a greater amount of
young recruits ready to join.

Macedonia (2002), Johnston (2010), and Wilson (2014) would all agree to the thought
that war games impact the military in some way. There have been a lot of people who believe
that games act as simulators to train people. The give players a minor taste into what military life
is like. Others think that these games give soldiers a chance to blow off steam before and after
missions. People like Oliver North also state that by playing games the soldiers minds are
sharper, they are more attentive, and their hand-eye coordination is better. Many officers also
believe that by the soldiers playing games that it improves their situational awareness. This
happens because the setting, enemies, guns, and definitely the situations could all happen which
gives them a sort of hyper realism.
Entering the Conversation
Video games have come a long way since they were first introduced in the 1970s. Since
then games have evolved in many ways including visuals, performance, story, and genres. Some
of the most popular games today are those depicting storylines in which war is an underlying
theme. Games like Halo, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, and Battlefield have seen worldwide success
for their amazing campaigns and massive multiplayer game modes. Even though these games
have been very successful they could be leaving an impression on your child. Most games
depicting war were generally used by the military as means of showing people the life of a
soldier in hopes of recruiting more people. This started in the early 2000s with Americas Army,
a game that strictly followed the life of a real US soldier on and off of the battlefield. With
improving technology it makes it easier for the military and game developers to make games that
depict life the life of an active soldier. It makes it easier to impact young teens and adults due to
stunning visuals, but do the games impact the military as well? Do games that follow a storyline
set in the future inspire the military to try and replicate the weaponry and technology in the

game? Do these games inspire thousands of young adults to hurry and join in hopes to do
something great like in the games? With the help of games we are able to see and guess the
direction that our military is going in.
In 2012 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was released. The game was set in the year 2025. It
featured technology that was advanced, like cloaking devices and fully self-functioning robots,
but not too far off from what we see today and what we could see in the very near future. Even
later this year Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will be released. One of the games main features
will be exoskeleton suits that the soldiers wear to go beyond human abilities. Technology has
advanced to a point where there are new versions of tanks, aircraft, and weaponry which includes
laser guns and guns that print the bullets as you shoot. The developers of this game openly state
how they worked very closely with members and scientists of the military to create these
weapons and vehicles based off of things that are already being looked into. Black Ops 2 was
well received by audiences. It changed Call of Duty by choosing to dive into unknown territory
that is the future. Previous Call of Duty games have never done this before and really kind of set
the bar as to what new Call of Dutys could look like from now on. It gave young teens a look
into what could become of the military and what they could accomplish with the right amount of
time and effort. The same thing is happening with Advanced Warfare. Developers are bringing a
futuristic feel to the game but not straying too far from what we see today and could possibly see
in the future. These two games alone have sparked many interests in young adults about the
military and its future.
With technology speeding along and population growth not slowing down anytime soon
the military has no worries about shortages of recruits. The military has amazing support and
ingenious minds working in their favor. It is almost crazy to think that they havent done

something that will change human life as we know it. Instead of using games as a means of
propaganda to keep people interested in joining they should be using the ideas to make the
impossible possible. Here are just a few suggestions as to what the military can do to not only
improve their technology but give players a true taste of what it is like to lead the life of a
soldier.
There are many games which depict soldiers in exoskeletons or suits that give them
superhuman abilities. In Halo all soldiers, referred to as Spartans, wear a full suit which allows
them to have a higher resistance to damage, a shield which is generated by the suit, and a
personal AI that gives them assistance every step of the way. In Call of Duty: Advanced
Warfare, Sledgehammer Games, the developers of the game, have designed both a laser gun and
a 3D printer gun that prints the bullets as you shoot them. The 3D printer gun prints ammunition
as you shoot the gun, but you cant just hold down the trigger forever. The gun needs time to
print all the ammo so if you hold down the trigger too long the gun will overheat and need 3-5
seconds to cool down. The laser gun is similar to the printer gun much in the since that it
virtually has unlimited ammunition, but it has the same downside as you cant hold down the
trigger too long or it will overheat. This is my first suggestion for the military as we can learn
from this creativeness and develop weapons like this to make our soldiers more efficient on the
battlefield. More efficient weapons coupled with a suit of some sort of armor would make our
soldiers more lethal than ever.
Naturally a huge percentage of people realize that the wars in games and the wars in real
life a very different, but to younger audiences who are more impressionable might not think so
and grow up believing that what happens in the games happens in real life. There should be clear
representation as to what real life is like as a soldier. My second suggestion is to make real life

virtual simulation for people to use to get all the facts about military life. The simulation would
be used inside a classroom like setting where all potential recruits would go and get a taste of
basic training. The simulations would provide an effective way to see who is really cut out for
the rigorous lifestyle while drastically cutting out all the wasted time and effort for someone who
thought they were interested. They would also be helpful to the military so that recruits come in
having some background in basic training and they get through it faster.
Conclusion
Video games are a large part of our community. War games in particular have become
very popular recently. These games leave a lasting impact on not only us as an audience, but the
military as well. To put it simply we explored the impacts that gaming has had on people and the
military. War games are used mostly as a means of propaganda to get people to join the military.
They also effect on how the military designs their weapon and technology due to the
advancements made in the virtual universe. I gave some suggestions on how war games can help
the military improve itself by trying to recreate some of the weapons and technology. They can
also make simulations to accurately represent to younger interested audiences, ages 18-24 is
usually preferred, what military life is truly like to see who is really interested in joining and who
isnt.
Video games and our military are only going to move forward. As developers start
working with the military more to get their games as close as possible to the real thing we will
get great amounts of information. If we keep studying war games and the paths that they take we
will be able to clearly see the direction that our military is going. We will be able to guess and
see what new weapons and tech that the military is developing based off of these new games. We

can also see what new ideas they have for trying to recruit new soldiers. This is why games
should be closely watched because of the possibilities that they present to the military and we as
an audience.
Could we possibly see some of the advanced tech in games in the near future? Is the
possibility of a super soldier becoming more of a reality than fiction? How would even more
advanced technology affect warfare of today and how would it benefit us? In this paper we
talked about a few things like the laser gun and printer gun possibly becoming a reality soon, but
what if we get our hands on even more advanced tech? What if exoskeleton suits became a
reality in half a decade? These concepts and ideas of the perfect soldiers that weve only seen in
fiction wont be just fiction anymore. Technology improves our lives every second and it will
only get better. These questions and thoughts we will soon have answers. As technology speeds
along at an exponential rate and war games impact more and more lives we will soon be in a
time where the super soldiers of tomorrow become the super soldiers of today. Gaming has
changed a lot of lives and changed many peoples minds.

Works Citied
[1] K. Watman. (2003, June 1) "War Gaming and its Role in Examining the Future" pp. 56-61
[2] R. Smith. (2009, April 27) "The Long History of Gaming in Military Training" pp. 1-12
[3] M. Macedonia. (2002, March 2) "Games Soldiers Play" pp. 32-37 [Online] Available:

[4] Randy Nichols, "America's Army and the Video Game Industry" in Joystick Soldiers: The
Politics of play in Military Video Games, 1st ed., Ch. 2, pp. 39-49
[5] W. Johnston, War Games Lure Recruits for Real Thing, July 31, 2010
[6] B. Wilson, Call of Duty Creator Advises on Real Warfare, October 2, 2014
[7] D. Nieborg. (2004, Jan 1) Americas Army: More than a Game?
[8] X. Smith. (2014, September 27) "Assignment One Observation" pp. 1-8