During this week’s lecture we discussed among other things the concept of CyberPolitics and eDemocracy. Our lecturer defined eDemocracy as ‘the role of the internet in real world politics that exists predominantly off the internet.’ One instance of eDemocracy that we brushed over during the lecture is a concept started by the US Military back in 2002 called America’s Army. Encyclopædia Britannica states that America’s Army is an online computer game developed by the United States Army and released as a global public relations initiative to help with recruitment. America’s Army was conceived by Colonel Casey Wardynski, who concieved the idea as a way to “provide the public a virtual Soldier experience that was engaging, informative and entertaining.” (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2012)
This concept is interesting as it is the first time a government has used a virtual reality as an educational or promotional tool. And after researching I found that the concept has stirred up quite a bit of controversy as there is an argument that the game desensitises the troops to the enemy, making them more aggressive in a combat situation and therefore more likely to take uncalculated risks. A study by ll-Chul Moon from Carnegie Mellon University in 2006 found that the troops playing America’s Army as part of their training “were becoming more aggressive as they played. Although their winning rate increased, their received damage and inflicted damage also increased. This may reflect a limitation of America’s Army as a training simulation because real-world soldiers will try to survive, rather than be aggressive and thus be more likely to be killed at the same time.” (Moon, 2006, p. 17) While America’s Army may seem a great way to train troops in a safe environment, it may in fact put them in more danger than they’re already in.
-Nickman13
America’s Army 2012. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 27 August, 2012, from http://www.britannica.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/EBchecked/topic/1494960/Americas-Army
Moon, L, Schneider, M & Carley, K 2006, Evolution of player skill in the America’s Army game, Sage Journals, vol. 82, no. 703, p. 15
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