<
https://progressive.org/latest/peace-video-games-military-recruitment-gallagher-091022/>
"[...] starting in 2018, the military, struggling to meet enlistment goals,
began invading gaming communities as part of a larger, digital-first strategy.
Recruiters who had once stalked school assemblies and shopping malls began
streaming games on social media and competing in tournaments to court new
enlistees online.
Since then, the military’s online recruiting strategy has expanded to the
Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch, which attracts 140 million active users
per month. The Army, Navy, and Air Force churn out hours of Twitch content per
week, including streams of popular first-person-shooter games—a trend detailed
by journalist Jordan Uhl for
The Nation in 2020. The Armed Forces claim their
gamers—who are culled from both regular and reserve forces and compensated
accordingly—aren’t technically recruiters. But anti-war advocates say they
might as well be: Children as young as thirteen, who are too young to legally
enlist, can interact directly with military streamers, receiving answers to any
questions they might have about service.
To counter this, Velazquez became a community developer for Gamers for Peace
(GFP), the first peace organization formed to mirror the military’s online
recruiting practices: While streaming popular games like
Halo and
Rocket
League, its members—many of them veterans—offer career advice and mentorship
to teens, talk politics, and discuss the realities of war. They also share
information about online military recruitment tactics at in-person gaming
conventions such as PAX Unplugged. These initiatives, members say, give
prospective recruits the tools and knowledge to see other options and
reconsider enlisting."
Via Muse.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
