So apparently, if you can play video games, you can play war games... but actually kill people. Raytheon, a high-tech defense contractor, exhibited a system recently at an air show in Britain. They dub this the "universal control system," and it is one of many new advents in drone warfare. With the push for more drone pilots to go into combat in times of war, it becomes evident that the military wants to diminish risk to pilots, but also use the best technology to accomplish the task of killing people.
Here is the scary part. The technology that is currently used to pilot drone planes is not reliable and the planes tend to crash, or miss the target. This is attributed in large part to the fact that the systems are not user friendly. Slate.com explains in the article entitled "War is Halo," that Raytheon looked at this mess and realized that civilian gamers had better equipment. So... they hired game developers from playstation and xbox to redesign drone operation, to suit military needs. Raytheon has also realized that young people who are used to these controls are better candidates to operate them. they have better hand eye cordination, and understand the process of virtual war games like Halo and America's Army.
So to paint the picture more clearly, essentially we could see adolescents sitting in an air conditioned rooms in front of 360 degree screens with a joystick or a game controller. They are playing a game where they are tasked to fly into enemy territory, bomb a certain area, and safely land the aircraft at a specified location. The only problem is that they see it as a new high score in a virtual environment, but the potential is that they might actually be killing real people.
There are some serious implications to this tech., both positive and negative. On one hand, we need to realize that war will exist no matter what we do, at least in the current state of world affairs. So with this in mind, it is preferable to use drones over actual pilots to avoid casualties. On the other hand, we might be training young people to be completely desensitized to the death of actual people. This lack of sensitivity to people of other cultures in no way leads to better global relations, and further reinforces one nations power and dominance over another.
This may be innovation for the sake of keeping American's safe, but it may also be innovation for the sake of forcing xenophobia down the throats of young people. Say what you want about how violence in video games effects children's development, but we need to consider what violence in video games might mean for the development of the global community.
-Roger
2 comments:
Very scary...
-Raul.
Disturbing, indeed. The disconnect between a young person's actions, as entertainment, and his or her involvement with real actions of war and death says much about our culture's distorted perspectives.
The prospect that innocent young people and children in another country would be killed, indirectly, by young people and children here in the U.S. is a horrific irony.
Where are the parents? Where are the counterbalancing values in these young people's lives? Don't get me wrong -- videogames can be cool. I mean, how many kids would pass up on the fun of them? But everything in balance.
Evidently, a huge chunk of the videogame industry prefers game addiction over balance and common sense, and is playing fast and loose with basic human morality in the name of profit.
But, geez, it doesn't have to be this way. Business can still make a buck and sleep with a clear conscience.
Perhaps it's time we send in an "army" of our own to rescue our young people from their deadly virtual-reality illusions...
- Misako M.
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