Demonize the hype, not video games

The latest example of hype? "United States Teaches Spies How to Think Using Videogames," featured on this site is a classic example. While certainly sensational for an article headline, it is not entirely accurate.

I’ve served 16 years in the Marine Corps and am currently a Master Sergeant. I’ve also played videogames since the Magnavox Odyssey 2 was released in 1978. But since I’ve been in the Corps, it never ceases to amaze me how the media, small and large, demonizes video games in general, let alone automatically labels modern military training tools such as simulators and educational software "videogames".

The Marine Corps has had simulators since I’ve been in 1991, and long before that. I’ve used simulators for everything from firing a TOW, Dragon, M16, and simulating situations similar to those described above before I went to Embassy Duty and served with the DoS, Secret Service, and FBI.

For Embassy Duty we used the Firearms Training Simulator, or FATS, with a .38 snubnose and hollowpoint nyclad rounds. We would walk into a van with display screens simulating an Embassy or Consulate environment situation. Pass or Fail was determined by whether or not you used the right or wrong level of force.

While the "human factor" is often a concern, it is not ignored as you are closely monitored during the simulation. If you kill civilians indiscriminately or act carelessly, you will quickly lose credibility and any chances of getting the position you were competing for. This is one of the key differences here, the simulation is not treated like a game, it is treated like a real life scenario.

Marine Doom was the last "video game" I heard the Marine Corps officially sanction sometime over a decade ago. Looking it up on Wikipedia I found:

"In the game, a fireteam, comprising four Marines, is supposed to accomplish a specific mission, the default being the destruction of an enemy bunker, although other scenarios such as a hostage rescue in a foreign embassy can be designed. In order to allow coordination of their movements, these soldiers play on separated computers in the same room. The fireteam consists of a Team Leader, two riflemen and one machine-gunner.

History

In 1996, General Charles C. Krulak, Commandant of the US Marine Corps issued a directive to use wargames for improving "Military Thinking and Decision Making Exercises".

Moreover, he entrusted the Marine Combat Development Command with the task to develop, exploit and approve computer-based wargames to train U.S. Marines for "decision making skills, particularly when live training time and opportunities were limited."

A group of U.S. Marine simulations experts, including Lieutenant Scott Barnett as the project officer, in Quantico, Virginia of the Marine Corps Modeling and Simulation Management Office (MCMSMO) obtained a copy of the commercial Doom, released in 1993 by id Software, and started altering to develop a fireteam simulation, which focused on mutual fire team support, protection of the automatic rifleman, proper sequencing of an attack, ammunition discipline and succession of command."

Call of Duty 4 (usually on XBox 360) is unofficially the current "game" we use in the barracks and sometimes on ship or in the field to practice or just have a good time. Again, when we practice, we set it on the level where a shot will behave as accurately as it would in real life, i.e. one or two shots and you die, depending on the weapon and size of the round.

Recently I’ve read the XBox 360 achievement system is being cloned for civilian workplaces, and I can easily imagine something similar for the future in the military.

"Games" such as "Word Coach" on DS are current examples of applications that have been and will continue to be refined and expanded upon for useful military/government knowledge such as: language skills training (Rosetta Stone is a good example, although they don’t have the Iraqi Arabic down quite yet), weapons systems specifications, orders, regulations, history, geography (like Seterra geography), culture, etc.

The key with these "games", simulators, or education software, is that they heighten chances of actual learning taking place if done right. This is because they can not only (potentially) utilize all of the senses simultaneously, but also track statistics and space repetitions for optimal learning (like Super Memo).

Military simulations and software applications as those described above can potentially save lives in the field because you have a more fully trained individual putting more rounds on target and making the right decisions.

Though no training scenario can fully simulate live combat or real life situations, these apps do a better job than pen and paper. Simulators save fuel, ammo, manpower, time, resources and life in the future because they are treated as if they real when they are used.

By MSgt C. E. Borrowman

• United States teaches spies how to think using video games
• Experts: violent video games can be good for youths and parents
• Dreamworks: video games are killing movie sales
• MSNBC says “Blame yourselves, not video games.”
• Do violent PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii video games turn kids into killers? The UK Government thinks so!