Kids start playing Call of Duty and watching war movies then a few years later they are on a plane to Afghanistan.

Don't know who to blame anymore...

They were sending kids to far off places long before video games arrived on the scene.
You could say they see video games as being an opportunity for good PR.

You load the game by labelling anyone who questions the warmongering as traitor and coward.
You then employ sanctions against them like; execution in the field, dishonourable discharge, white feathers with pariah status upon them and their families.

You praise up and reward the compliant with heroic status, medals, names on walls and flag draped caskets.
Little has changed since ancient times. The machine just got slicker and the habits got deeper ingrained.

but hey, just remember kid....
Killing people is bad









unless we tell you to go kill them for us.

Kids have been conscripted to armies since times immemorial, or they went voluntarily... The games have nothing to do with it, maybe just make the war look cool for teenagers. Think about WWII, SS used to recruit soldiers from all countries Nazi germany invaded, those kids who joined had no pc war games.

But media is very powerful machine, that's very true. And on to some, games have powerful influence, I know few guys who were fascinated by army and war stuff, then they went to do their service in Finnish defense forces... After few weeks, their smiles and enthusiasm was all but gone and they just waited to get home from there. Can't remember how many times I've had the chance to say "I told you so" to some of my younger friends... Luckily for them, they didn't see real war, just the giant live-action-role-playing game that is Finnish army.

Oh yea, I did civil service for 13 months to avoid 6 months in the army... No guns for me to shoot anybody in the name of defending any state, no way.

I would totally agree that people have been signing up for armies and killing people for a long time, but this is a new, and I think disturbing, development:

wake_up_bomb wrote:
It's very disturbing. But I don't think it's a new development. I think that the military clicked onto this a longtime ago and have slowly but surely been infiltrating the games industry for many years.
This film from 1992 rubbed it in our faces in fact.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0105629/

I am definiately of the opinion that at some point in the not to distant future, they'll be using the skills of children to assist in warfare. Especially with the introduction of drones and similiar weapons.

Call me crazy but from where I'm sitting, it's the perfect crime.

Kids? lol
They'll use AI, after all, AI doesn't give a shit.

God help us if that kind of AI became self aware though, /points at terminator.

As a kid I would play war with my cousins. It was fun. We would shoot each other then get up and do it again. Then we got video games and I still enjoy command and conquer despite some very non PC and ignorant stuff in the game. I used to enjoy war movies and probably would have joined the army but one day I saw Platoon and things changed. I didn't want to kill humans just bad guys.I think destruction in play is o.k. of course the problem comes when you have just the destruction without education on the realities of war etc. Luckily I was raised seeing my dad watch unpleasant documentaries about death squads and apartheid and nazi Germany etc so by the time I was old enough to join the army I was too well informed.


It is kind of weird that the NRA and Alex Jones are both blaming Hollywood movies for gun violence even though kids see war on TV everyday or recruitment TV ads. It is never shown realistically either but instead it is glossed up.

andyh wrote:
I don't doubt that andy but in the meantime, I do honestly think that they'll find a way of exploiting children, or minors rather, first.

When you were younger, how many times did you hear about kids pouring petrol on someone and setting them alight?
How many times were you aware of kids stabbing each other?
How often did you hear of groups of kids kicking a pensioner to death whilst filming it?

I could go on. Our children have been desensitized on a much larger scale than the rest of the public due to them being more susceptible as their minds are still growing and I don't doubt for a minute that the military industry hasn't jumped on this via the gaming culture. I'd be willing to bet that some of the youth today are WAY better than some trained military when it comes to the types of scenarios shown in the video that WUB linked. It's actually quite genius when you think about. According to the video they have 5 million registered users and 100,000 joining up every month. This will definiately be being monitored and those who stand out will no doubt be on a recruiting list.
With the introduction of drone technology, where you can do the 'deed' from a safe distance as if you were just playing a game, I honestly think that young gamers are currently included in future plans. It's something I've thought about for a long time and I would really like to be very wrong.

Just watched that video again and it was even more disturbing the second time around

Item 1: They've always used whatever means of propaganda was available to them at the time. Ancient frescos, power sculptures, tapestries paintings, religious iconography, publications, etchings, photography, cinema, the list is endless.

The Boys Own tales of daring-do put a young kids imagination right in the middle of the action just as much as a computer game would now.
Neither of course would be preparation for the reality, but it would help getting them onto the battlefield. Once there, they are dependent on the war machine to give them a chance of coming back and they know their comrades chances and their own and completely interwoven.

So best get on with the killing and attempting to survive eh.

AI is coming up fast but the machine is still reliant on young blood to fuel it for now.

andyh wrote: In the foreseeable future it will remain far more cost effective to use humans.

psketti wrote:
This all already happened :p
Its pointless to look at this as being new, americas army was out yonks ago.

Guevarista wrote:
Robots don't need feeding, don't need a salary and are 100% tax deductible.
They're also made by the same guys who run the govt when they leave office before they get to go back in to office again.

andyh wrote:
Yeah but they used to glam it all up and play 'let's pretend' going to war is something fabulous and great. They lied through their teeth.

Very recently, they've stopped lying and gone for all out graphic in your face detail and it's going to work. They WILL recruit more this way, I don't doubt it.

It leaves the question why?

If we've ultimiately raised a generation of kids who have very little or no remorse or emotional attachment to such terrible acts of war, who can then commit these acts from a cosy room thousands of miles away in secure and comfortable surroundings, it's going to open up a whole new side to the game of warfare that will have catastrophic results.

I really do feel strongly about this and it's probably the most 'far out conspriracy' theory I have.

psketti wrote:
As long as it was still a video game that would make sense.
However, take one of those kids and put him in the battlefield and he'll change his opinion in all of about 30 seconds.

aaaaaaaaand you stick a mini-nuke on the thing and y'know .....
managable fallout areas, targeted "ya wanna piece?" displays, yadda, yadda

andyh wrote:
Can't dispute that

However, tell them they need never enter a combat zone, except via technology and drone equipment and you have a whole new set of rules.

psketti wrote: andyh wrote:
Yup

just remember to launch a counter attack after 10pm when their mums make em go to bed. they'll be defenseless.