Veteran has an issue with MW3 advertisements:

[SethMode]

I think that one of the first questions a recruiter should ask is "Why do you want to join the military?"

If you were going into law enforcement and to work for the fire department this question is surely asked to make sure that they don't hire people who have no interest in the job besides just shooting things up or working 10 days a month.

It's either an egregious oversight that the military would not ask this question of a potential recruit or a scheme to get to enlist as many new infantrymen as possible.

Like I said before, you complained about the ads on Live about how awesome it made the Marines look. But Microsoft is not paying to run or design those ads, the Marines are.

And if you don't think that they targeted Live with their ad campaign to recruit the very people that you are complaining about, you're pretty darn naive IMO.

Fantastic post. I won't pretend to know the interworkings of the military, but logic and my gut tell me that the latter point in paragraph 3 is probably the case. Particularly with how down enlistment numbers are (or at least, were).

[Rylo]

That is exactly what I just said. That the Marines and Army are taking that advantage for their ads and recruiting campaigns.

"EDIT: Also, if it IS brought up BEFORE signing any paperwork in a recruiters office that a kid is trying join infantry because he "thinks its cool" aka because of video games, he will be shut down as far as going that rout and will likely be put into a desk job."

The point about why you want to join does indeed come up, but it is not a legal matter that has to be asked.

[Realist]

I liked the commercial and it almost made me get MF3 if it wasn't for Battlefield. People are just way too emotionally sensitive with certain topics these days.

[SethMode]

That is exactly what I just said. That the Marines and Army are taking that advantage for their ads and recruiting campaigns.

"EDIT: Also, if it IS brought up BEFORE signing any paperwork in a recruiters office that a kid is trying join infantry because he "thinks its cool" aka because of video games, he will be shut down as far as going that rout and will likely be put into a desk job."

The point about why you want to join does indeed come up, but it is not a legal matter that has to be asked.

So, again, why is this the game or commercial's fault? On any level the one facet that seems WITHOUT fault are the game makers and their advertisers.

[Rylo]

My first comment in this thread was basically telling the non-knowing, that kids are joining these days because of glorification of war games. I have no problem with said games or their ADS, more so I have a problem with the way the Army and Marines are using this shit to their advantages to continue to suck people into joining, especially the "highly sought after" role of infantry.

So once again I don't have a problem with the games, or the game companies ads. The branches take advantage of kids who don't know any better through the games/ad campaigns in which they feel as though they should join. Simply saying how the glorification and such can be PERCEIVED as being a factor.

[hackett]

Just shows that games have evolved tenfold for kids to be joining the service based on a fucking video game. Also shows that parents aren't being parents either. I have gamed just about my entire life of 33yrs and never once did the thought cross my mind to join the Corps because of a video game.
I'm pretty sure my recruiter asked me why I wanted to join the Corps as well and for the entire 8yrs that I served..... That question was asked a fuckton of times by just about every superior that I had the priveledge to work under. I asked that question to my Marines as well when I moved up in rank too. It's a must to know what kind of person you may be fighting next to one day.
I never heard the reply of "I joined because of a video game or movie". I think I would have kicked someone in the fucking dick if I heard that. Those kind of fucksticks get weeded out in bootcamp along with the faggots. Unless shit has changed, I have a hard time believing this.
As far as the veteran having an issue with the MW3 advertisements..... Chill the fuck out. Nobody with even half a fucking brain believes that is what war is like. I thought the commercial was kinda funny myself. Kinda like when the army came out with their recruiting slogan of "Army of One" taking the place of "Be all you can be". That shit is just ridiculous. Fucking army turds anyways.

[SethMode]

My first comment in this thread was basically telling the non-knowing, that kids are joining these days because of glorification of war games. I have no problem with said games or their ADS, more so I have a problem with the way the Army and Marines are using this shit to their advantages to continue to suck people into joining, especially the "highly sought after" role of infantry.

So once again I don't have a problem with the games, or the game companies ads. The branches take advantage of kids who don't know any better through the games/ad campaigns in which they feel as though they should join. Simply saying how the glorification and such can be PERCEIVED as being a factor.

I am not looking to beat a dead horse here, but in your earlier posts you absolutely blamed the games for this nonsense. Further, I still don't think you can even say that the "glorification" in these games (still not sure I agree with the concept in general) can be perceived as a factor. In the situation you described, recruiters are openly targeting people they think would be "easy sells". Games have nothing to do with this, perceived or otherwise. It's a shame that the military is using certain dimwitted individual's affinity for games as a means with which to recruit them, but hey, that's on them.

[Rylo]

Just wondering, but when did you get out?

The Corps today (and army in general) is going down hill, in which a lot of kids have their reasons as they want to go to combat (just like newer combat related games).

EDIT: And seth you are for certain beating a dead horse. I said in 1 post "Games fault completely as I was just trying to get my point across. I then reiterated why I said it and explained my view on the entire situation.

Nowhere did I say RECRUITERS are targeting these types of kids. It comes from HIGHER UP Marine Corps and HIGHER UP Army about those campaigns. Recruiters are people who sit in an office and do paperwork for people who are joining. I also stated that when the question DOES come up about why they want to join, ESPECIALLY INFANTRY, and their reasons are basically because of wanting to go to combat (after they saw/played WHATEVER games/movies).

Maybe you should read my posts better so I don't have to say the same things?

[hackett]

Got out in 05, not really that long ago.... but I know what you're saying with shit changing. Glad I got to do my time when I did.

[MrBill]

As far as the veteran having an issue with the MW3 advertisements..... Chill the fuck out. Nobody with even half a fucking brain believes that is what war is like. I thought the commercial was kinda funny myself. Kinda like when the army came out with their recruiting slogan of "Army of One" taking the place of "Be all you can be". That shit is just ridiculous. Fucking army turds anyways.

You had me until that last blast. I'm an Army vet and I think the offended veteran is being overly sensitive about a game. I don't think I ever met a single soldier that said anything about wanting to go to combat because of a stupid video game. I only met a handful that wanted to go to combat, most went into combat because it was their duty and they took it very seriously. They sure as hell weren't signing their name to the line because of some stupid video game.

[hackett]

You had me until that last blast. I'm an Army vet and I think the offended veteran is being overly sensitive about a game. I don't think I ever met a single soldier that said anything about wanting to go to combat because of a stupid video game. I only met a handful that wanted to go to combat, most went into combat because it was their duty and they took it very seriously. They sure as hell weren't signing their name to the line because of some stupid video game.

Just busting balls on calling your Army a turd Bill haha. You know how it is. Would have fully expected you to comeback with a jarhead comment of some type. Yea, I'm not understanding how shit has become with what Rylo has been saying. I just got out in 05, was in the middle of Iraq in 04 and like you said..... never heard anyone say they wanted to go to combat because of a video game.

[NAHSTE]

Interesting discussion. Thanks for the input, guys. As for the military's new ad strategy I definitely think it is geared to the young gamer generation. It's only one bit of anecdotal evidence I know, but I took a 1-credit ROTC class for basic rifle shooting my senior year, and we got to watch the new recruiting video which was basically a Three Doors Down music video packaged and stylized like a video game commercial. I remember thinking "wow the Army is really trying hard to be cool in this one" ... Anyway, that's my .02. I think there is something to what Rylo is saying, they definitely are trying to make their recruiting advertisements "cooler" and more Gen-Y friendly. That's perfectly understandable and I don't think there's anything malicious intended, but I do see the possible side effect to that in what Rylo is suggesting.

[MvP]

I don't see how the Marines advertising towards gamers can be a bad thing. I'm sure the they would like to recruit as many kids as possible, so using these popular games to spark an interest in them isn't doing any harm. Sure there will be kids that go into it with the wrong mindset, but there's certainly just as many kids who end up being a good fit for the Marines.

The kids that join just because they didn't get into college is a much worse situation IMO.

[Garrett67]

Have they forgotten about this?

http://www.americasarmy.com/

[hackett]

I don't see how the Marines advertising towards gamers can be a bad thing. I'm sure the they would like to recruit as many kids as possible, so using these popular games to spark an interest in them isn't doing any harm. Sure there will be kids that go into it with the wrong mindset, but there's certainly just as many kids who end up being a good fit for the Marines.

The kids that join just because they didn't get into college is a much worse situation IMO.

Would rather see that than kids doing nothing at all. I personally picked the military over college because I was sick of school and thought joining was the right thing to do for many reasons.