Using video games to recruit soldiers isn’t new in concept, but this project is new in scale: I read in this morning’s New York Times that the military has replaced its five Philadelphia-area recruiting offices with a 14,500 square foot video arcade located in a retail shopping mall. The arcade, dubbed The Army Experience, features lots of shoot ‘em up games along with three full-sized Army simulators, an AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter, an armed Humvee and a Black Hawk copter with M4 carbine assault rifles.

In recent years the Army has tried a number of ways to increase enlistment, including home video games, direct marketing promotions, a stronger online presence and recruitment-themed music videos. In 2007 it added bonuses of up to $2,000 for Army reservists who signed up new recruits. Civil liberties groups have criticized the Pentagon for its efforts to reach high school students.

But while recruitment remains strong in rural areas where there are military bases, it is weak in cities like Philadelphia, Major Dillard said. “The question is, how can we get our stories out to urban centers where most of the population lives, but where we don’t have a big presence?” he said.

Okay, I get that. And sources interviewed for the article go on to say that the center is as much about educating urban folk about the military as getting them to sign up. Not sure I buy that given the facility’s 22 onsite recruiters and the fact that recruiters generally work on quotas.

As a military veteran, I wonder if portraying military service as a chance to bring video games to life isn’t ethically questionable. I also wonder if it doesn’t appeal to the wrong motives for serving one’s country.

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