# Military Training, It's Fucking Bloody Video Game **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 16, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-training-its-fucking-bloody-video-game/93669 "2001-11-16T04:14:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rogue1stclass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rogue1stclass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rogue1stclass)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-training-its-fucking-bloody-video-game/93669/21 "2001-11-16T19:00:27Z")
So… Should I have been able to bring a polariod of my Pole Position score to the DMV and gotten my license? Or would a low score keep me from getting my license because I would be desensitized to crashes? And if I played a lot of Spy Hunter, should I have gotten a license to drive my car be remote control from a helicopter flying above it? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-training-its-fucking-bloody-video-game/93669/22 "2001-11-16T19:47:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > Er, um…huccome when the Columbine killers were reported to have been Doom and Quake fanatics, it was, “oh, video games don’t cause people to shoot people”, but now it’s “we’re using Doom to train soldiers”? WTF? I believe the point of the OP was that using **Doom** (or any other FPS game) to train soldiers is stupid – it’s like using slot-car racing sets as Driver’s Ed. There’s no need for the game to desensitize the soldiers to violence because they’re already desensitized in Boot Camp. 😃 And yes, I fully believe that the “video games make people violent” fright-tactic argument is bogus. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-training-its-fucking-bloody-video-game/93669/23 "2001-11-16T19:54:33Z")
I suppose I should be clear that the report did not feature Doom per se but rather some specialized soft-ware (I guess from reactions there really is a Doom+++, I was only being sarcastic). Nonetheless, I still have a hard time shaking the feeling from what I saw in this report that these were big Doom machines and I have a hard time believing these are effective. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-training-its-fucking-bloody-video-game/93669/24 "2001-11-17T01:17:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Collounsbury \* > Nonetheless, I still have a hard time shaking the feeling from what I saw in this report that these were big Doom machines and I have a hard time believing these are effective. There was a news report from several years back that talked about the US Army using a modified version of **Doom** to train squads in assault tactics – how to coordinate attacks, how to rush a room, how to move six guys down an open field while covering each other, that sort of stuff. Some of the video-game magazines even showed the customized graphics and textures they were using, and how the Army had digitized the actual weapon sounds for better parity to the real thing. However, _nobody_ said they were using the game as a substitute for actual experience; all the articles I read said that the use was primarily intended to teach squad tactics, and that they _were_ successful in that regard. You can probably find the article in an old issue of **Next Generation** magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2001, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-training-its-fucking-bloody-video-game/93669/25 "2001-11-17T15:28:15Z")
Computer simulations have been used for years by pilots. They are effective tools, but of course they are no substitute for real experience. I am going to ask my ex-Ranger brother if he used sims or computer “games” but what I remember from his training tales was real humping up a mountain with 60 lbs on his back, really jumping out of airplanes (onto the wrong site, but who’s counting), really shooting at people and being shot at, etc. Don’t believe everything you see on TV! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-training-its-fucking-bloody-video-game/93669.md?page=1)