Tuesday, December 23, 2008
First-Person Shooters Make Soldiers Safer
This could be either awesome or horrible, depending upon your perspective.
In real life, firing a gun is nothing like playing a videogame. Anybody who says differently has probably not done both, or has a political bone to pick. There is simply not enough realism you can pack onto a TV screen and control with a game controller.
That is, until they make military weaponry behave more like videogames. The weaponry has the same limitations as videogames - your world is limited to a screen and a game-like controller - but a new generation of soldiers, who spent their teenaged years playing games like Halo and Unreal Tournament, are very used to thriving under those restrictions. This allows them to fight with much less exposure to enemy fire, according to this article.
It's Alive!
Ender's Game suddenly feels a little less like science fiction.
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 6:24 AM (Permalink)
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Old hat.
We've probably all seen the Iraq war videos of flying gunships with operators firing their turrets and rockets at "little moving people" on their nightvision screens.
If this isn't already a "video game"-like war then I don't know what is.
We've probably all seen the Iraq war videos of flying gunships with operators firing their turrets and rockets at "little moving people" on their nightvision screens.
If this isn't already a "video game"-like war then I don't know what is.
# posted by 
: December 23, 2008 8:47 AM
: December 23, 2008 8:47 AM
A far cry from the early days of the Iraqi occupation where there wasn't enough vehicle armor to go around. The soldiers' only recourse was to weld steel plate onto their Humvees...
@Calibrator: Not so much "old hat". Sure, gunships and planes have had electronic displays for a long while now, but for the infantry on the ground -- I guarantee it's been nothing like a video game!!!
@Calibrator: Not so much "old hat". Sure, gunships and planes have had electronic displays for a long while now, but for the infantry on the ground -- I guarantee it's been nothing like a video game!!!
It's definitely going to enhance the effectiveness of ground troops. I was a bit disappointed to see that it uses a joystick interface for aiming... but with all the people playing FPSs with little X-Box controllers, they will at least be able to manage this shortcoming to some extent.
Yeah, I'd really go for a mouse interface - but if you are in a bouncy, moving vehicle, I can see how the joystick controller would be superior.
I'm sure they had good reasons - a mouse interface would be bulkier, more expensive, and more prone to breakage. Though I'm sure some soldiers would prefer it, given the choice.
They could offset some of the control coarseness by making the movement more sensitive when you're zoomed in.
They could offset some of the control coarseness by making the movement more sensitive when you're zoomed in.
Not so much "old hat". Sure, gunships and planes have had electronic displays for a long while now, but for the infantry on the ground -- I guarantee it's been nothing like a video game!!!
Nobody doubts that.
But for some people sitting in their control vehicles and containers it will become one.
Remember the "riggers" from Shadowrun? Already a reality.
Operating a turret?
I see no big difference between one under the wings of a plane or on top of some armoured vehicle or robot. The principle is the same - the people at the controls will be happy about the reduced risk while killing enemy "soldiers" that aren't even close to them.
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Nobody doubts that.
But for some people sitting in their control vehicles and containers it will become one.
Remember the "riggers" from Shadowrun? Already a reality.
Operating a turret?
I see no big difference between one under the wings of a plane or on top of some armoured vehicle or robot. The principle is the same - the people at the controls will be happy about the reduced risk while killing enemy "soldiers" that aren't even close to them.
# posted by : December 23, 2008 2:45 PM
: December 23, 2008 2:45 PMLinks to this post:
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