War play : video games and the future of armed conflict / Corey Mead.
Publisher: Boston, Massachusetts : Houghton Mifflin Company, 2013Description: 1 volumeContent type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volume001: 26911ISBN: 0544031563 (hbk.) :; 9780544031562 (hbk.) :Subject(s): War games -- data processing | Military art and science -- Computer simulation | Combat -- simulation techniques | Video games -- Social aspects -- United StatesDDC classification: 355.48Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
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Book | MAIN LIBRARY Book | 355.48 MEA (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 099817 | |||
Book | MAIN LIBRARY Book | 355.48 MEA (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 2 | Available | 112296 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A behind-the-scenes look at how the military uses video game technology to train soldiers, treat veterans, and entice new recruits
How does the U.S. military train its soldiers for new forms of armed conflict, all within the constraints of diminished defense budgets? Increasingly, the answer is cutting-edge video game technology. Corey Mead shows us training sessions where soldiers undertake multiplayer "missions" that test combat skills, develop unit cohesion, and teach cultural awareness. He immerses himself in 3-D battle simulations so convincing that they leave his heart racing. And he shows how the military, which has shaped American education more than any other force over the last century, fuels the adoption of games as learning tools--and recruitment come-ons. Mead also details how the military uses games to prepare soldiers for their return to the home front and to treat PTSD.
Military-funded researchers were closely involved with the computing advances that led to the invention of the Internet. Now, as Mead proves, we are poised at the brink of a similar explosion in game technology. War Play reveals that many of tomorrow's teaching tools, therapies, and entertainments can be found in today's military.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Introduction (p. 1)
- 1 The Rise of the Military-Entertainment Complex (p. 11)
- 2 Building the Classroom Arsenal: The Military's Influence on American Education (p. 34)
- 3 "Everybody Must Think": The Military's Post-9/11 Turn to Video Games (p. 50)
- 4 America's Army: The Game (p. 72)
- 5 All but War Is Simulation (p. 103)
- 6 WILL Interactive and the Military's Serious Games (p. 115)
- 7 The Aftermath: Medical Virtual Reality and the Treatment of Trauma (p. 129)
- 8 Conclusion: AmericaÆs Army Invades Our Classrooms (p. 154)
- Notes (p. 171)
- Bibliography (p. 179)
- Acknowledgments (p. 185)
- Index (p. 187)
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
Mead (English, Baruch Coll.) covers the past and present of video games in the military far more than the "the future of armed conflict." He begins with a look at how the military has innovated in technology and education and then contrasts that history with the military's relatively slow adoption of video games-which Mead defines as "a variety of interactive digital and virtual applications"-as tools. He discusses key figures such as Lt. Col. Casey Wardynski, developer of America's Army, "the world's first military-developed video game," and Sharon Sloane, creator of a series of live--action, interactive movies that help soldiers deal with traumas such as sexual harassment and suicidal thinking. While Mead focuses most on combat games such as Virtual Battlespace 2, he also addresses therapeutic games that include Virtual Iraq and Virtual Afghanistan, deemed effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Most compelling are his accounts of veterans achieving real gains because of these games. While his book lacks a consistent critical approach, especially with respect to video games as recruiting tools, Mead's primary goal is to explain and illustrate, not to debate and provoke. VERDICT Recommended for all readers interested in the training and healing of soldiers.-Paul Stenis, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
"War sucks," says one researcher in War Play, "but it does drive innovation." As one of the largest and highest-stakes educators in the United States, the military has led the way in developing new instructive tools, like the first standardized tests. It was also one of the earliest adopters of video games for training purposes, specifically warfare simulation. The tactic proved very effective: General Schwarzkopf recalled that during the first Gulf War, "the movements of Iraq's real-world... forces" were so like the simulated scenarios that military communications centers were impelled to explicitly label dispatches concerning the latter as "Exercise Only" in order to avoid confusion. And the line between real and virtual isn't the only line being blurred-as the "military-entertainment complex" has grown and cross-fertilized, military-produced games like America's Army make it increasingly difficult to differentiate between recruiting propaganda, ideological indoctrination, and commercial entertainment. (More altruistically, "cybertherapy" simulations have been used to help soldiers cope with PTSD and develop combat stress resilience.) Mead's account is insightful, and though he's hopeful that military innovations will continue to benefit more humanitarian fields (such as medicine), he also recognizes its potential repercussions, as evidenced by a prescient closing image: the Chinese military's combat simulator, where the only opponent is the United States. Agent: E.J. McCarthy, E.J. McCarthy Agency. (Sept. 17) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.Kirkus Book Review
A surprisingly profound little book about the rise of the "military-entertainment complex" in the wake of America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Always on the lookout for capable recruits from diverse backgrounds, the military has long exerted a strong influence on the way the United States educates its young people and even on the way it measures that education: Standardized tests like the SAT and GED are just two major examples of metrics the military developed first to assess the capabilities of, respectively, officer material and recruits lacking a high school diploma. But with the rise of the all-volunteer Army since Vietnam, the military suddenly found itself on the outside of many school districts, looking in. In the late 1990s, the Army hit upon the idea of using relatively inexpensive-to-produce video games, resulting in the hugely popular multiplayer online simulation "America's Army," to reach talented high schoolers where they lived (literally as well as virtually). The benefit of this approach was that it could both attract good candidates for the Army's high-tech style of combat using realistic and exciting graphics and simultaneously train these young recruits in core Army values. Paradoxically, perhaps, the military now also uses video games to deal with the myriad mental and social problems--PTSD, suicidal tendencies, marital and family difficulties, etc.--that combat-tested veterans face when they return from war. In fact, Mead (English/Baruch College, CUNY) argues, "[t]he most important video gamerelated legacy of these wars may have nothing to do with preparing for war at all but be concerned with treating its aftermath." An English professor may seem an odd fit for this material, but in other hands, the subject might have been treated more dryly. Mead's approach, while remaining interesting throughout, is straightforward and no-nonsense. Readers will learn something they didn't realize it was important to know.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.There are no comments on this title.