What if the military is training kids in combat with video games?

So I went to my local internet cafe thingy and it was unusually crowded. A marine was walking through the door as I was passing, and he just had this "I'm proud and strong!" look on his face. And then surrounding him were hundreds of kids shooting, killing, flanking, reloading, nading, dive bombing, destroying, and maiming each other (halo, BF, CS, C&C3).

So I thought, soon graphics are going to be so realistic it's like real life... what if our government makes a game with future weapons that actually will be real in 10 years, and maps that are actually full scale replicas of real world countries? And then when the next big war comes, we will have legions of trained kids with knowledge far and beyond a normal person.

Now I know shooting an e-gun is a lot different that real life, but still, playing a realistic game like the one I mentioned above would help train you for real world battles if the weaponry, movement and maps were all painstakingly crafted to mimic real life.

Or maybe I was thinking about this cuz I read 'Ender's Game' a little bit ago...

You do know that the military already uses "simulations" for some training excersises right?Def_Jef88

yes I do.

I dont think games would work for training, because they drop the psychological element of combat. You would need some kind of virtual reality to do any kind of training.lobodob

Sure, it's a lot different than fighting for your life, but think about it. All day, everyday gamers are gaming. Now if the military took the time and made a game so realistic, so acurate to real life, and then made it really fun and people started playing it. All day long, millions of kids would be fighting and strategizing, pretty much practicing for a future war.

And my original post said the weaponry would be based on stuff the public doesn't know about yet because it is kept underwraps, but when a new war breaks out a few years down the road, bam, you have a million 20 year olds trained in using those new weapons.

I see you point, but real life military/war is nothing like any video game!!!

Well, Brothers in arms was very realistic, but its not like your actually holding a gun.

Theres alot more to the military than just killing you know....

It's not realistic to train for hand-to-hand combat with a video game, but as far as controlling long range devices, like drones, it makes sense. Also, there's a lot to be said for just learning about strategy and tactics, and how to make the right decisions about acceptable losses or collateral damage.CheddarLimbo

Exactly. I'm not saying the fighting would prepare kids on what to expect in a real battlefield. I'm talking about weaponry, vehicles, maps, strategies..

I think it is for the best interest of this country to have well-trained soldiers. yian

Ya, if ww3 actually does happen and we need to fight for our lives, then we would be better off.

I've thought through this a million times and it bores me. We probably will get to the virtual reality stage eventually, but maybe only late in the lifetimes of everyone in this forum. In any case, if it happens it would likely prove an ideal training ground since it could replicate different situations incombat.deepdreamer256

Well sorry Mr. Creative. But ya, I don't think it needs to be VR. In a few years video games will look like real life, and who cares if it's done withe a mouse and keyboard, it's the knowledge you gain.

[QUOTE="deepdreamer256"]I've thought through this a million times and it bores me. We probably will get to the virtual reality stage eventually, but maybe only late in the lifetimes of everyone in this forum. In any case, if it happens it would likely prove an ideal training ground since it could replicate different situations incombat.MinorThreat8

Well sorry Mr. Creative. But ya, I don't think it needs to be VR. In a few years video games will look like real life, and who cares if it's done withe a mouse and keyboard, it's the knowledge you gain.

[QUOTE="MinorThreat8"]

[QUOTE="deepdreamer256"]I've thought through this a million times and it bores me. We probably will get to the virtual reality stage eventually, but maybe only late in the lifetimes of everyone in this forum. In any case, if it happens it would likely prove an ideal training ground since it could replicate different situations incombat.deepdreamer256

Well sorry Mr. Creative. But ya, I don't think it needs to be VR. In a few years video games will look like real life, and who cares if it's done withe a mouse and keyboard, it's the knowledge you gain.

The mouse and keyboard have nothing to do with it, they're not training to shoot weapons or anything like that.

They're trying to gain as much experience as possible.. a video game might seem like the worst way to do that but you do gain experience in movement, tactics, recon, explosives, and hostage situations.

So I went to my local internet cafe thingy and it was unusually crowded. A marine was walking through the door as I was passing, and he just had this "I'm proud and strong!" look on his face. And then surrounding him were hundreds of kids shooting, killing, flanking, reloading, nading, dive bombing, destroying, and maiming each other (halo, BF, CS, C&C3).

So I thought, soon graphics are going to be so realistic it's like real life... what if our government makes a game with future weapons that actually will be real in 10 years, and maps that are actually full scale replicas of real world countries? And then when the next big war comes, we will have legions of trained kids with knowledge far and beyond a normal person.

Now I know shooting an e-gun is a lot different that real life, but still, playing a realistic game like the one I mentioned above would help train you for real world battles if the weaponry, movement and maps were all painstakingly crafted to mimic real life.

Or maybe I was thinking about this cuz I read 'Ender's Game' a little bit ago...

MinorThreat8

BUT WHAT IF I GET LAG IN RL????!!!!!! MAN IM SCREWED!!!!1111

[QUOTE="deepdreamer256"][QUOTE="MinorThreat8"]

[QUOTE="deepdreamer256"]I've thought through this a million times and it bores me. We probably will get to the virtual reality stage eventually, but maybe only late in the lifetimes of everyone in this forum. In any case, if it happens it would likely prove an ideal training ground since it could replicate different situations incombat.DeeJayInphinity

Well sorry Mr. Creative. But ya, I don't think it needs to be VR. In a few years video games will look like real life, and who cares if it's done withe a mouse and keyboard, it's the knowledge you gain.

The mouse and keyboard have nothing to do with it, they're not training to shoot weapons or anything like that.

They're trying to gain as much experience as possible.. a video game might seem like the worst way to do that but you do gain experience in movement, tactics, recon, explosives, and hostage situations.

You're never going to get a real feeling for warfare behind a keyboard and mouse mate.deepdreamer256

They're not going for warfare experience, they're trying to go for combat training.

[QUOTE="deepdreamer256"]You're never going to get a real feeling for warfare behind a keyboard and mouse mate.DeeJayInphinity

They're not going for warfare experience, they're trying to go for combat training.

[QUOTE="DeeJayInphinity"]

[QUOTE="deepdreamer256"]You're never going to get a real feeling for warfare behind a keyboard and mouse mate.deepdreamer256

They're not going for warfare experience, they're trying to go for combat training.

They do that, too, but video games are used to supplement that. Any environments that can't be replicated in real life are replicated in video games and used to train the soldiers even further.