# So am I the only Doper who plays America's Army? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 10, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120 "2005-01-10T23:25:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/1 "2005-01-10T23:25:37Z")
You know, the _free_ tactical FPS put out as a promotional tool by the US Army? [www.americasarmy.com](http://www.americasarmy.com) Good game. Any other Dopers play…perhaps among those devotees of Counterstrike or Rainbow Six? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/2 "2005-01-11T00:39:45Z")
Hmmm…it appears that I am. Did I mention that it’s really quite a top-notch game, and that it’s FREE? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/3 "2005-01-11T00:42:18Z")
I’ve been curious, but until just a couple weeks ago, my video card couldn’t handle it. I think I’ll try now… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/4 "2005-01-11T00:44:42Z")
You better never come under the sights of the man known as Bryan514, you opfor commie bastard. Though I’ve actually cut back my playing time a lot lately. I lost patience with that damn “escape and evasion” training simulation. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/5 "2005-01-11T01:48:15Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > I’ve been curious, but until just a couple weeks ago, my video card couldn’t handle it. I think I’ll try now… Some folks were put off by the first release of the game, which was quite sub-par and buggy as all hell. They have most of those issues worked out. There are still one or two irksome little bugs in there still, but on the whole, I enjoy the hell out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/6 "2005-01-11T01:51:40Z")
I interviewed the design team twice over the last few years at E3. Great bunch of guys. The Army can produce some mondo tech-geeks when they want to. I got to handle all the actual gear used in the scenarios and sit in the vehicles and everything. Gotta admit…it’s cool. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/7 "2005-01-11T01:51:13Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > You better never come under the sights of the man known as Bryan514, you opfor commie bastard. > Though I’ve actually cut back my playing time a lot lately. I lost patience with that damn “escape and evasion” training simulation. Oh yeah. The E&E training was pretty difficult, but it is possible, and the SF weapons make it all worthwhile. 🙂 I’m a pretty low-honor n00b, but I enjoy it. Tremble before the wrath of {PANDA}FaiwyPwincess! PANDA is not a real clan. It’s just me and a buddy who has a similarly stupid sense of humor. The rest of the moniker, by the way, was inspired by a former member here. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/8 "2005-01-11T04:07:03Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > I interviewed the design team twice over the last few years at E3. Great bunch of guys. The Army can produce some mondo tech-geeks when they want to. > > I got to handle all the actual gear used in the scenarios and sit in the vehicles and everything. Gotta admit…it’s cool. That’s pretty damn cool. The military always gets the big toys. I guess that applies to software too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/9 "2005-01-11T04:33:12Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > That’s pretty damn cool. The military always gets the big toys. I guess that applies to software too. 🙂 I think the US military is the first to actually use a video game as a recruiting tool. For some reason, I was pondering a Russian version of the game, but it went no further then. “In America, You play game about the Army. In Soviet Russia, Army conscripts you for wargames” Okay, it’s not great. Anyone have a better version of that joke? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@The\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/10 "2005-01-11T05:30:07Z")
I tried the game and I enjoyed it. I don’t play it anymore. I thought the target practice part of basic training was a little rediculously hard if you wanted sniper certification. Its a good game, a great game for the price. I’m just not big on simulation style FPS’s, I prefer games like UT where everybody gets to kill. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/11 "2005-01-11T07:44:38Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > You know, the _free_ tactical FPS put out as a promotional tool by the US Army? > > [www.americasarmy.com](http://www.americasarmy.com) > > Good game. Any other Dopers play…perhaps among those devotees of Counterstrike or Rainbow Six? Dude , HALO2 , nuff said Err, by the way is AA out for the XBOX yet, the last time I tried to load it , my video card did a danger will robinson , on me Declan ---
**Author:** ![Necro\_Romancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Necro\_Romancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necro_Romancer)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/12 "2005-01-11T07:57:01Z")
I was banned for cheating/modding a while back, but it was fun until it lasted. I wish there was an option to pick stat free servers though, it would make it easier to get into. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-am-i-the-only-doper-who-plays-americas-army/284120/13 "2005-01-11T17:00:56Z")
I played it regularly from the beginning (starting from v1.0), but lost interest. The game is great, but my tolerance for playing with juveniles is low. Getting vote-kicked from servers for trying to play smart (i.e., not rushing forward into kill zones, but instead trying to deploy as a unit). And I was banned once for cheating, which of course I never did. I complained and was reinstated (did they _really_ think someone playing two hours a week with a kill ratio as low as mine was cheating?). So, frustration and City of Heroes convinced me to delete it from the harddrive.