How The U.S. Army Made Video Games To Recruit New Soldiers

[@liquidsnake23]

I think why they didn’t support it, they wanted to make a game that inspired you to join the army NOT to stay home and only play the game. Fun game or not I’m sure the government didn’t want to continue to make or support a game if it isn’t bringing in new recruits.

[@thadex454]

Budget cuts smh

[@actuallynotsteve]

It's one of the most successful marketing things they've ever done, I'd argue it's supported very heavily given what it is/was.

[@killerbee1974]

i dont like propaganda

[@pardolagames8994]

The government doesn't like games Really sad

[@macuarritzimo]

It's kinda cool that the usa government it's trying to lure youglings to the army, and the kids didn't take the bait :3

[@Halfort57]

America's Army was my first experience with a shooter that was actually tactical, where every decision I took could get me killed. I remember clearly its community, one aspect in particular was that if you managed to single-handedly complete the map objective, your team could potentially get angry at you for stopping the carnage early. Good times 😊

[@Del-Blanco-Diablo]

Like ppl who use vtols and nukes on hardpoint shipment.

[@meyers0781]

Reminds me of the ending of Jarhead

[@V-aGa]

SOCOm

[@SoukaDeezNutz]

@@V-aGa Sony killed Socom, and now they are crying about not getting COD for PlayStation.

[@IcelyPuzzles]

what a cool topic to talk about, while I never played this particular shooter as a teenager I did play a lot of other f2p FPS games, very cool

[@Zyyk0]

Did you play crossfire?

[@americasarmynews4274]

I'm very glad that they covered the e-sports side. Wish they would have delved into the AA2 side with the CPL 2007 tournaments and 2008 LAN.

[@Gibbypastrami]

Few years ago I downloaded proving grounds, I mean, it's free, and no microtransactions, it's great, I don't like our government tho

[@glewguns]

Based

[@jac_238]

That’s fine, you can play and enjoy the game while also acknowledging that’s it’s a marketing tool from the government

[@noco7243]

>our government It doesn't have to be. You can be sovereign. But personally, I thought the game was meh.

[@Gibbypastrami]

@@noco7243 now THATS based 🤪

[@CR0WYT]

There weren't any microtransactions since they were hoping to bring in new recruits as the result. Clearly, that didn't work. Any other company would be out of their mind to not include microtransactions for a free game.

[@AwesomeGamingEntertainment]

AA was literally the best fps game ever. Played AA alot up until the end

[@keymot1491]

The american army bombed my house😁 Good to hear that you enjoyed it

[@AmericasArmy]

We appreciate the feature. HOOAH to 20 years of America's Army!

[@r3zaful]

It seems the closest thing to this kantai collection in Japan, since the navy literally use it to recruit sailors.

[@CroatanWolf44]

Awesome video! I've been playing AAPG for 2.5 years. This is one of the best games that shows you how effectively use teamwork, callouts, positioning ect.

[@markhermann209]

'tis a sad day. I've played since 2003 and have been working with the project for the last 15 years. Loved the old videos. It reminded me of a lot of long forgotten memories.

[@akba666]

I couldn't get into it because it was too unrealistic. I can't even drone strike civilians or torture pow.

[@notimeforcreativenamesjust3034]

That'd the air force, and CIA, not the Army.

[@chinesesparrows]

Still miss AA 2.0 in its heyday. Lots of players that all took basic training so werent headless chickens. The bridge map was either smoke&snipe as a team or fail for assaulters, really emphasizing teamwork

[@actuallynotsteve]

The required training for each piece of equipment is actually a really interesting idea, would love to see that in more team-based games.

[@Jestersage]

Because being Army led, they literally forced you to play multi-part tutorial in order to unlock even the basics; you also need to reach 36/40 to even get Marksman (I think this is one of the first game that emphasize you are a Marksman and not a sniper), do the parachute jump to unlock the jump maps, as well as attend a virtual first aid lesson to be medic, and go through a difficult sneaking mission to unlock ranger.

[@actuallynotsteve]

@@Jestersage Good or bad thing in your eyes?

[@Jestersage]

@@actuallynotsteve As both a game or "virtual experience", good thing of course. I play Apex nowadays - I have too many people who don't know even some of the basic stuff, such as using ping, or a Legend's passive, etc. At least the tutorial can filter the most basics.

[@V-aGa]

SOCOm >

[@energydrinklock]

"If you ignore all the parts of the game that tell you it's a US Army game, you would never know it was made by the US Army" And yes, Call of Duty is also military propaganda. The U.S. Air Force sponsoring a CSGO tournament is blatant propaganda.

[@darthelmet1]

Also, not knowing something is propaganda is one of the things that makes it effective propaganda. Aside from other MMFPS, the military has all sorts of consulting relationships with big blockbuster action movies to try to paint the military in a good light. And it's incredible how well it works, look at all the people who keep getting duped into thinking the US military are just the good guys going after the bad guys no matter how many times we've been shown that we were lied to about these wars. It's insane.

[@alext3811]

The difference is realism and official sanctioning.

[@thejoeroganexperienceshorts]

This is literally a prime example of a person that has never played this game

[@MrRudePolite]

It’s the goofiest excuse. According to Daniel k, the technical definition of propaganda is that it’s usually misleading. Based on that, COD and other popular military shooters fall into the propaganda category while AA falls better into the “advertising/marketing” category. IMO you can call it whatever you want but it’s all propaganda. The fact that these players are even arguing against that is fairly smooth brained, and goes to show why people actually don’t want to play AA. And that’s why I go to AA

[@morgadoster7]

Yeah, I'm perfectly okay with calling the game "propaganda". In the same way that the Red Army Choir was Russian propaganda. They're both great quality and enjoyable propaganda, though. But seriously, you don't notice it that much. The Army stuff is exactly where you expect it to be. It's transparent. The loading screens of real soldiers talking about their life in the Army and so on are actually informative and interesting. It's not screaming "JoIn tHe ARmY" to your face. But, of course, if for ideological reasons a player is uncomfortable with having the US Army badge on something and they prefer the name of a triple A company, that's understandable.

[@fredriddles1763]

The military buys stuff for the sake of using up their military budget. If they don't do this their budget gets smaller the next year. Imagine if instead of buying redundant tanks they put that money to funding this game.

[@NightVisionOfficial]

they are doing things with VR simulations for real soldier for what I've known, at least this is what I believe, and hope so... we may be getting AA5 this way.

[@jellycoding]

I played this a lot in 2002-2004. I worked up an Honor of 89 on Pipeline, Weapons Cache, Bridge, Mountain Pass and Hospital. I wish I could play this old version of the game. The newer versions was not the same and I lost interest in it. What a feeling it was when I came home from school, turning on the computer loading up the game. The music from the game when going in to Pipeline. Then it started and I ran in the snow "skirp skirp" around the corner throwing a grenade "FrAg oUt". Oh i miss this... I haven't heard the sounds from the game in over 18 years and I still remember the sound from it. The computer, the snow, when turning the wheels, open/closing the doors and so on.

[@PhilipKerry]

I was a " Border Hoar " :)

[@charlesw7397]

I read a negative article about AA like 10 years ago and never heard of it again. Loved learning about the game and the esports scene!

[@kikihun9726]

I loved AA 2.0 and now 2.5 Hospital and bridge were my favourite maps :)

[@dshim4731]

dang this was nostalgic to watch. AA2 was my main shooting game for a long time (I still remember that small snow stage and that long snow bridge map. that middle spot in that bridge map was so hard to fight against) until my friends peer pressured me to get cs source. I think I tried to get back into AA2 some time later but for some reason it wouldn't work at that time, so after that I forgot about the game until now.

[@perfectenrager]

AAPG is one of the best shooter game ever. I will never forget how much fun I had. Thanks for making such a fun multiplayer experience.

[@BGRUBBIN]

ah this takes me back, my friends brother was super into this game because he wanted to be in the army.

[@Penguinmanereikel]

Well, looks like the propaganda worked to some degree?

[@LethalShadow]

@@Penguinmanereikel It sure did, if you were already inclined. My friend was into army stuff from a young age and we played the heck out of this game. He went on to join, serve, and reach the rank of Major. Meanwhile I had no interest despite playing more than him.

[@StarCitizen_xR2D2x]

2002-2008 Best Times. SF CSAR, SF Oasis, Radio Tower !

[@AussieZeKieL]

Excuse me? Insurgents camp, pipeline and SF Hospital!

[@v8Buster87]

This game will always hold a special place in my heart man. I have played all versions of it.

[@SkimoStories]

goated channel tbh

[@TempestDacine]

Pretty interesting how the original was created and why it worked and how it led to proving grounds.

[@peled1]

as somone who has played this game for 5 years im so happy I see a gaming essay on this game u don't relaize how happy this made me 😢 especially cause its gone in 2 weeks but it will be back :)

[@spahghettiboi4150]

I used to play Proving Grounds all the time. That was one of the best F2P shooters i've ever played.

[@chinesesparrows]

Literally because it wasnt designed around lootboxes or p2w

[@spahghettiboi4150]

@@chinesesparrows facts

[@basty_gaming5750]

Technically no, but whatever

[@NightVisionOfficial]

@@basty_gaming5750 Well, now if a game is not free to play, doesn't have a game pass or dlc/loot boxes you can buy, it's not a game for the industry (you know how they think, just money money money)

[@basty_gaming5750]

@@NightVisionOfficial What I mean by that is if you are an American citizen, you are technically paying because of tax dollar bills you have to pay

[@Saucy840-]

I played AA since about 2003. Was invited to the alpha for pg. Great times. So many years.

[@egyptiandoge]

I love America's Army and the real-life US Army. AA3 was my entry into the series and I found the Boot Camp tutorials very engaging, that's the best part of the virtual experiences since it effectively being informative on what the Army's boot camp would be like. And the value system that improves or decreases base on your actions is another interesting aspect of gameplay. I think if AA3 had sever its connection with GameSpy and let the community host dedicated servers then it would have been better. And maybe expand the content to include elements from AA2, since AA3 didn't have Rangers or Special Forces training after you're done with the 11-Bravo training. AAPG didn't feel like it was offering me that unique experience like AA3 and it was way more like COD or Battlefield with the bunny hops and design. So I hope that they'll look back take some lessons from AA2 and AA3 for their full-fledged AA4 at some point in the future.

[@AlphaLovesU]

I used to be a player on aapg on console. I moved away after like 2 years and it’s a shame to see it shut down.

[@kr4ftt]

I played the bjesus out of this game, and i'm Brazilian... Used to play hours on end into that bridge, knew how to spawn kill people with granade launchers... I had to search the answers for the medical questions online because i didn't knew english back then... so, freaking, good... Miss it allot

[@LitlTrooper]

My dad introduced me to this game back in 2017 and he had first played it in 2004 it's so sad to see it come to an end 😢

[@danielskrivan6921]

AA2 was an expansion, not a sequel. If you weren't on the new maps or using the new roles, it was essentially the same game. For example, playing on Pipeline (which I believe was more popular than Pipeline SF), you would still have 2D sights on your M16, instead of an M4A1 with 3D sights. If you were in a grenadier role on a Ranger map, you would still have the AA1 version of the M16 with the M203 grenade launcher, complete with the 2D "paper sights" as well, even though your teammates have 3D sights on their M4s.

[@viteks.100]

A.A2 was my first one and a long one ! Over 2000 hours on bridge and so many great memories. Can't even count how many times I have been called cheater or suspended only for doing my part that was good times !lots of fun.

[@armorbearer9702]

It sounds like America's Army lost sight of its goal(3:24). They should have improved the boot camp section in the sequels.

[@broman1449]

I played this for sure. I was kicking ass. They probably almost tried recruiting my ass.

[@atchingpplinorfail3721]

I remember when this game first came out. I had to go to the recruiting office to get it. Took the asvab test before they gave it out. Still have the game.

[@BootheelsBestEats]

I been enjoying the game for 5 years and played nothing but Proving Grounds. I have built my channel around the game and it is leaving us. Sad to see it go but I am still holding onto Hope.

[@darthnightstrike1808]

Me and you both geezer, me an you both...

[@dialectiks]

Why take money to produce propaganda when COD does it for free?

[@basileus-pr6jh]

In CoD everything is either caused by CIA plotting (MW series and BO series) or just American social justice army kicking ass because diversity (WWII, Vanguard etc.)

[@Shokoden]

I remember back in the day it was always a competition between Combat Arms, Crossfire, AVA, or AA as the best f2p fps.

[@PhilipKerry]

I played the game from AA2 onwards and even though I'm in England I played mostly on US Servers , I was in a few Clans but ended up in the NOLB Clan ( No One Left Behind ) . Some here may remember me as [NOLB] Driver56 :) , I was also an official US Army Beta tester for Proving Grounds and I remember having to sign the US equivalent of the official secrets act as we were testing for the US Army version as well as the public game version - Happy memories :)

[@sakurai143]

Clearly the US Army is just unbelievably blind how this game would commercially benefit them

[@thadex454]

Imagine if they tried to do a Twitch marketing campaign. What could possibly go wrong…

[@nahometesfay1112]

It was an effective marketing tool when it was first released. They literally got millions of people to engage in a boot camp simulator. Nowadays it's much easier to get an idea of what the military is like, so I get why they aren't as interested in it anymore

[@NightVisionOfficial]

UE5 now? Can you imagine that?

[@apple-de8tx]

Spreading propaganda and glorifying us military, idk

[@yokitikun]

@Akshon Esports, could you do a video about "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online" plz?

[@varsityreviews707]

There were two Xbox games of this franchise as well, Americas Army Rise of a Soldier for the Original Xbox in 2005, developed by Ubisoft, and Americas Army True Soldiers for the Xbox 360 in 2007, also developed by Ubisoft. In addition there are a few mobile phone ports. The 2005 game is actually pretty cool, and while I haven't beaten it yet, it does have some interesting and more "simulation" like moments in the gameplay, as well as a dedicated story mode. It had online, but no system link, so I can't really say what it was like back in the day. The 360 one I don't personally own, but I believe it was more so multi-player centric with only a minimal single player "training" mode. This one I think does have system link so it's possible able to still be played today. Also, I read it has split screen, but I can't confirm that. I don't know anything about the mobile ports.

[@PetrichorB]

America's Army Proving Grounds on Ps4 was the best. My introduction to tactical shooters in 2015

[@helo4447]

I like the training theme and the jamming and shooting you colonel

[@v8Buster87]

2.5 was so much fun. AAPG is fun because of the community! yes we all know eachother and have fun!

[@merzarino]

I had no idea that this was made by the US. army years ago when i played it, i just learnt this today :O

[@JoelElRican]

Me and my younger brother played this game growing up. My brother is currently in the Army.

[@jac_238]

Never played much America’s Army, but I did play a ton of Moonbase Alpha which was made by the same devs

[@lester4532]

US Army made Moonbase Alpha?

[@chloewebb5526]

Remember. Before this game came out, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and Swat 3 were a thing. Hell, Rainbow Six Rogue Spear came out in 1999 and was one "action game of the year". The military licensed Rogue Spear's engine for use in military simulation software. I know the devs want to act like they started "realistic and not Quake or Unreal" FPS, but that honor belongs to Red Storm's team and Tom Clancy himself (Clancy and the head of Red Storm would brainstorm together). After rogue spear, Ubisoft bought Red Storm though... And we all know the direction they would take things in... Even so, there was a short period were even ubisoft was innovative and leading in design.

[@sinfinite7516]

Wow can’t believe its going away

[@marcusanark2541]

Very interesting video.

[@iP3RFEKTIONoO]

Imagine after every match if you were the highest scorer you get a recruitment email to your nation’s military lmfao wtf

[@nopurposeposting1548]

ooh i remembered played this game

[@danielskrivan6921]

AA3 was a decent idea for a sequel that was plagued with horrible technical issues. It doesn't matter how good the gameplay ideas are if the back end can't support them.

[@FTChomp9980]

I saw it in the PS4 Store,I never actually got into it because I'm not really into FPSs.

[@AiRPasternak]

If they want to bring in new recruits just do a military march while blasting Sublimation by Neo fresco in the background.

[@exart8409]

What? Of course it's propaganda. Propaganda doesn't need to be biased or misleading, although it usually is, propaganda just means it's pushing for a political message/cause. The game is meant to recruit, that is inherently political messaging. Don't get me wrong, other military shooters are propaganda too, but who cares, if it's fun and it receives dev support, people will play it.

[@tg3zagsyt]

I loved Americas army 4 i played it so much i became level 50 and had been playing it since 2015 today i went to go back and play it and realized the servers had been shut down i am so sad i now i have no objective based games now i only have onward on vr

[@CelticAugur]

I’m glad I got a chance to play this game.

[@alex_oiman]

its weird they fund e-sports gaming teams and twitch channel, but they stopped funding the game

[@NightVisionOfficial]

Are they? Isn't AA League all community funded? They have insert the logo on the site, but I'm not sure they've fund it...

[@zilliq]

I played fps my whole life but never heard of this franchise, pretty telling about the investments in marketing

[@kairu_b]

I didn't know this! Thank you, sir!

[@tysonj1701]

bro we have this on our school computers 😭😭 we just play the driving game lmfaoo

[@sethleoric2598]

Man the U.S should make their own version of Squad and charge a lot less for it (I'd say maybe 10 - 15 USD) with the tactical shooter craze nowadays it would make them mucho bucks! Wouldn't even care if it was U.S propaganda, i mean MW 2019 is propaganda but i still like that game.

[@comradetv6935]

2004 player here.☝️

[@cirro51]

This game was so much fun. I played the original until a little after 2.0 and special forces came out. Was on a few squads but we never were sponsored. My favorite map was called insurgent camp I believe and I loved sniping from either side. Good times for me. You can call it propaganda and it was (it was Supposed to be a recruiting tool) but I just had fun with it and never let that bother me.

[@NightVisionOfficial]

Oh no... I hate that map xD. On one side you have all cover, the other all open, just snipers camping on both sides. Got only couple good match, nothing more.

[@cirro51]

@@NightVisionOfficial that's why I liked it I think. Love to snipe. While you defend the building you only had so much time to peek out of a window to try and catch someone. If you stayed there just one second too long an m203 would blow your ass up. I dunno I guess the franticness of the map and trying to snipe through it all is what I really enjoyed.

[@jakobhammer3038]

You should talk about the competitive team fortress two scene!

[@jasonconnors4897]

LOL been playing since 1.7...no idea who this Caster is :D Don't even remember that name from Comp play in 2, 3 and 4. ... I recognize NoSkill, but that is it. The real competition for this game died with AA3. .. When we asked the Devs to make a more competition oriented game, they did what we asked. We got AA3, but the bugs for so many people just killed it. That is when I pretty much stopped playing along with my clanmates ( m2 - merc two). AA3 was a great competition game and it's what we asked for, it just missed the mark :( ..long live n00bs Inc :D .stryker out :D

[@TrianWolfe]

Played AA from the outset best fps..Trianwolfe lives hooah!

[@fhjunior6183]

Thanks for the vid

[@Swagmite]

The best F2P shooter

[@Meadaa]

such a great game hope they make another

[@nCaine]

nCaine here

[@iamsioth]

Can't tell you how many hours I sunk on AA2...

[@AussieZeKieL]

I played all of high school. No idea how much that was, but maybe 3k hours.

[@SaintZaiya]

I think it's kinda funny how their answer is "well THESE other companies do it, whats wrong with us??" As if all of it isn't essentially trying to force poor kids into getting PTSD? Bonkers. Insane. the pay must be great.

[@morgadoster7]

Force?

[@walkintobrickwallsfordays8756]

These snowflakes these days think you can get past traumatic stress disorder from play call of duty

[@AmusingMusic]

Its not PTSD, you’re not gonna get PTSD from a virtual fps game. It’s the fact that these games are desensitizing kids and teens to war, murder, invading foreign countries, demonizing the enemy, etc... The average gamer might not realize they’re being manipulated by the narrative the game is pushing, because the same narrative is being pushed by comics, movies, books, etc.. gaming might be the most profitable and accessible medium at the moment, but it’s definitely not the only one pushing imperialist propaganda. If we want to complain about propaganda we should start from schools, book clubs, movies, etc... Games are easy to hate on, but if we want to educate people then we shouldn’t hate on their hobby, and instead help them realize how these companies are taking advantage of their money and time.

[@walkintobrickwallsfordays8756]

Don't believe everything the news tells you karen call of duty isn't training kids to invade foreign country's or commit an act of terror just because you can play as a nazi does mean you are one its just a bunch of pixels on a TV screen that's designed to be an enjoyable game for people to play for entertainment it isn't trying to mind control 8 year olds into becoming terroist

[@AmusingMusic]

@@walkintobrickwallsfordays8756 I live in Iraq, I've seen Americans knocking on our doors and assaulting our women since I was a little kid. No need to explain to me the mindset of soldiers from your privileged couch in a first world country. You wont understand the power of propaganda unless the same were to happen to you and a country like china or russia started making games depicting americans as terrorists and the chinese as the heroes shooting american baddies and invadi- sorry i mean "liberating" the united states.

[@goodyear7012]

This is beautiful. I loved this game.

[@Mexican00b]

Rush N guys! gogogogogogogogogogo!

[@lambchu6459]

One of my favorite games growing up and in a lot of ways, gave me more of the military experence than anything the actual military gave me.

[@wiggi0620]

America's Army was my first experience playing online multiplayer games ever(I was only 12-13 at the time). It was also the only game I was ever accused of using an aimbot. I specifically remember typing back asking what that meant and the guy on the other team was a dick about it. It's crazy that was 20 years ago at this point lol

[@weavvek]

I played the game from the first week it started up until proving grounds.

[@KD23Tutorials]

The AA3 was the best. Proving grounds is kinda ok though

[@mickeybat5816]

Rainbow 6 games were the first games I played that had that level of realness. I was never good at them but still. A lot of people are arguing about whether or not it was Propaganda and honestly I don't see the problem if it was. There isn't anything wrong with a government wanting more people to want to join it's military. These games were even made to show the realism of being in the military lol. I swear some people don't realize that people don't play a video game and then go "LETS GO BABY IMMA TRY TO REPLICATE IT" lol

[@IBonePokemon4Fun]

if the army uses funds to promote the game is it considered recruiting?

[@DarkZerol]

It is, ever since the first game development which was funded by the US Army and was use as a requirement tool to get potential people to enlist thus the heavy debate among many whatever it's a straight up propaganda tool by depicting the Army in a good light.

[@lezoomer7324]

@@DarkZerol The Army needs recruits so recruiting is justified, it’s been all volunteer since 1973

[@tharealcalig7416]

Plz Bring back AAPG asking for our friends 😂😂

[@ProjSHiNKiROU]

Propaganda aside, I'm most impressed by the fact that the game is government-made and it's money well-spent for the objective of making a decent game.

[@NightVisionOfficial]

Well, seeing most games today, it's not decent, it's actually good xD. How many games have an editor you can make maps with, and how many have actual servers that plays those maps... if you know some, where it's not that difficult to make a map, I'm more than interested xD. But yes, i think they should have spent more money on it right now more than ever. The thing is they are doing things with VR for real soldier for what I've known.

[@kitsune.u4ea]

Bro even if they just advertised it to its own soldiers they could have got so many players. The army has a esports teams and the game isn’t even featured on the official discord. 17000 people could have been instantly exposed to the game but they let it die :(.

[@ivantuite9931]

You should do one on tom clancy's ghost recon future soldier and advance warfighter had esports potential and could have rivaled America's army

[@PainfullySoberAndUnhinged]

This was interesting

[@realtalk13]

Wild how these guys can see that this is trying to advertise the US army to get recruits...yet don't see it as propaganda. Like...what do you think a government sponsored ad is???

[@jjnoti]

I have 13000 hours on this version I will keep my servers going GMaster

[@dragonator5061]

Imagine knowing you are the game engine the US army uses

[@Jekyll_Jackal]

This actually reminded me of Six Days in Fallujah and how im still waiting for that to come out.

[@ared18t]

The caster sounds like a younger Alex Jones haha.

[@GBlunted]

I played this heavy through I think 2008

[@GeardoGaming]

GTG seems to not understand military budgets or economics to think it has buckets of cash for this. I am amazed they even spent money on it at all. Proving Grounds lowered the game quality like when they changed medical from using different procedures on different injuries to 'just put gauze on anything.' I know why they changed it but it dumbed down the game as one example of something done wrong.

[@JacobLoehne]

Well I been played since beta and upload videos a lot on proving grounds sad that there shutting down official servers and not supporting the game any more.

[@KuroShiiiiro]

Proving Grounds was lowkey good & fun. but im not joining the military lol

[@baileygregory9192]

Imagine if russia did this, id be considered propoganda.

[@godominus9222]

I have never heard of GTG....

[@Hydroponik514]

AA 2.8.5 was the best !