Blog #1 response: Military games are good for recruiting

Blog #1 responses:

1.) On the military gaming websites there is a constant theme, accompanied by a certain type of rhetoric. On all the websites, the army is glorified. Terms such as patriotic, civic duty, defending your country, etc are common words/phrases present. The videos on the site promote joining the army or playing their realistic video games, many of the games are designed to be as realistic as possible while still being fun to play.

2.) The intended Audience of these websites is young people who have grown up playing video games and/or who are avid video game fans. This websites rhetoric is very appealing to the intended audience. Today many video games include violent fighting and ever more realistic graphics. Therefore when a game deals with the U.S. army, and it is very realistic as far as the "fun" parts of military life go, meaning game play for fighting training, etc is fun and enjoyable. It will be very appealing to young people in general who like violent video games and things dealing with the military.

3.) I would strongly disagree that this website/game indoctrinates the ideology of war. This website promotes a military like game that is very realistic. It is a fun way for gamers to play a game that represents aspects of military life. Also many young gamers have no intentions of joining the military for many reasons, many just like playing violent/realistic military games. These websites do promote serving your country and defending your country from enemy threats. This is different from promoting warfare and fighting. It also promotes civic duty and developing life long skills, that a person would acquire in the military. It is of course different than the media's portrayal of the war, largely because most of the mainstream media is against the war and therefore they intentionally portray it in a negative way.

4.) Overall, I feel this game does not promote violence or teens to become more aggressive, there are many more violent video games out there than the ones on the website. Violence in video games, movies etc. is growing at an alarming rate, the youth of America for the most part have developed a tolerance for "fake" and "simulated" violence and killing. Most youth view violent games as ok because after all, "they are just games". It is true that most people and youth don't take games seriously and just play them for fun, it becomes a problem when a person starts to take a game too seriously and who may want to act out, in real life a violent video game. This can have severe consequences for them and others. However, people like that are not common enough for violent games in general to be considered a cause of real life violence, by teens or anyone else.