War Game: U.S. Army hits the PC with America’s Army’

Kirk Baird

Monday, April 7, 2003 | 8:18 a.m.

Since when is life in the Army described as "fun" and "entertaining"? Since the Army released its first computer game.

Designed, created and developed by the Army, "America's Army" gives gamers an opportunity to test their mettle as a soldier.

Available only for the PC (on the Internet at americasarmy.com or on CD-ROM at local Army Recruiting Stations), "America's Army" is essentially two games in one: "Operations," a first-person 3-D action game that focuses on unit operations; and "Soldiers," an adventure game that highlights individual development.

Ultimately, both game variations were designed with authenticity in mind. For example, gamers must first pass a series of basic combat training tests before moving on to virtual combat sequences.

The tests, such as rifle marksmanship and obstacle course, are surprisingly difficult for a computer simulation.

During the marksmanship test, the player's character crouches and lays on his belly, and you have 40 rounds to knock out 23 targets. Just as in real life, simply lining up the sites on the target won't work distance, angles and slopes must be taken into account. Take too long, though, and a virtual sergeant barks: "I don't have all day. I'll be retired by the time you're through."

Even with all the coverage the Army is receiving with the ongoing war in Iraq, "America's Army" provides a more thorough examination of being in the service than a quick video montage of battle mixed with sound bites from soldiers.

"Our point in all of this was to communicate a message about the Army how it operates and the opportunities available in the Army-- and do it in a very fun and entertaining medium," said Maj. Chris Chambers, deputy director for the Army's Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis at West Point in New York.

Development for "America's Army" began in June 2000 after the project first received federal funding.

Initially there were those in the military who balked at the idea of an Army-created and sanctioned game. But the naysayers quickly changed their minds after realizing the public relations potential, Chambers said.

"Any novel idea like this would probably encounter some people who are skeptical. We saw some of that in our first encounter with the decision makers," he said. "But when you analyze the numbers and the market and how games have infiltrated pop culture and the popularity of other military-themed games ... the decision makers saw this as an opportunity that made a lot of sense."

Once the project had the Army's go-ahead, a team of up to 25 military and civilian personnel were assembled to create the game.

Using the core programming of another popular first-person shooter game, "Unreal Tournament," the developers tailored "America's Army" to match the total grunt experience as closely as possible.

Much of that realism involved education of the civilian programmers themselves, who learned to fire weapons, rappel walls and parachute, just as real soldiers do.

"What we've done differently than other game companies is we've exposed (the civilian programmers) to what they're going to model. They fired weapons to see what recoil feels like, what an M-16 sounds like," Chambers said. "They've been out there in the Army and we continue to do that. We've got special operations forces ... working hand in glove with developers."

In addition, real soldiers' movements were recorded to reflect running, jumping, crouching, firing weapons -- even dying.

The estimated cost of all this: about $7 million. But that's still a bargain, said Mark Friedler, CEO of Gigex, a marketing and advertising company for the video game industry that is handling the downloads of "America's Army."

"Seven million ... that's how much the Army would spend on TV advertising for a week," Friedler said. "It's been an earth-shattering success."

While the notion of an Army-sanctioned game might be troubling to some, Chambers said the developers were careful to consider those feelings.

"We're aware of the scrutiny the video game industry has been under for some time," he said. "What we've done is create a responsible game where morals and the norms of appropriate behavior are rewarded and encouraged. That shows up in the rules of engagement and the laws of land warfare, which are adhered to in our game play."

For example, there are consequences for inappropriate behavior on the battlefield. If a player takes aggressive action against a computer-controlled civilian, the player's character will wind up in military prison at Fort Leavenworth.

In addition, "America's Army" is rated "T" for teenagers and older, and features little blood and virtually no gore, unlike many of its "M" for mature-rated shoot-'em-up gaming cousins.

"In the live scenarios, we tried to be very honest about consequences," Chambers said. "We do show death, but we don't glorify or engross kids with any gratuitous violence or gore.

"We've always tried to stay on the very responsible end of the scale" of violence in video games.

Even without the blood and gore, "America's Army" has been a tremendous success with gamers.

Two months after its July 4 release, 2.5 million downloads of the game were recorded. In the same time frame, 1 million downloads would be considered a success.

And since then nearly 1.5 million players have registered to play "America's Army" online. And nearly 1 million have completed the basic training portion of the game. The numbers have remained consistent, even as the U.S. Army is engaged in a real war.

"America's Army" has been so successful, in fact, the Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force have inquired about a possible version for their own branches of the military. And there's talk of making versions for the leading game consoles: Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube.

"There's some discussion going, but nothing definitive yet," Chambers said. "We'd like to bring the product to other consoles and other demographics in the market."

In the meantime an updated version to the game, "Operation Special Forces," focusing on more specialized branches of the Army, will be released this summer.

While both titles could be considered a recruiting tool, Chambers said the primary purpose of the games is as a communication product and an "ice breaker" to young gamers who would not otherwise not have military contact.

"We're at the very front end of the recruiting process. We introduce the Army to people who otherwise would not have a connection to the Army," he said. "We don't expect it to be a primary cause for people to run out and join the Army; although, we do have a few anecdotal cases where that has happened."

If anything, Friedler added, the game serves as a "try-before-you-buy" option for potential Army recruits.

"Someone who's thinking about joining the Army can go through and see what it's like and really see what it's all about so you don't get a mama's boy," he said.