War Play Read online

  [>] Gee claims that we must start thinking: Gee, What Video Games Have to Teach Us, 13.

  [>] “If we compare what individuals do”: Steinkuehler, “Cognition and Learning,” 100–101.

  [>] “a diverse population of soldiers”: Singh and Dyer, “ Computer Backgrounds of Soldiers,” 22.

  [>] “all their lives”: Silberman, “War Room.”

  [>]“want to learn Army digital systems”: Schaab and Dressel, Training the Troops, 4.

  [>] “We have discovered that video game players”: Quoted in Freeman, “Researchers Examine Video Gaming’s Benefits.”

  [>] “focus on relevant visual information”: Ibid.

  [>] “At the core of these action video game-induced improvements”: “Video Gaming Boosts Your Ability.”

  [>] “promote dynamic cognitive activity”: Dawes and Dumbleton, “Computer Games in Education Project: Report.”

  [>] In this way, sophisticated video games: Dipietro et al., “Towards a Framework.”

  [>] “develop the situated understandings”: Jenkins et al., “Confronting the Challenges,” 4.

  [>]“a set of cultural competencies”: Ibid.

  [>] “Play—the capacity to experiment”: Ibid.

  [>] “import skill and drill exercises”: Rice, “Assessing Higher Order Thinking in Video Games.”

  [>] “‘hypothesize, probe the world’”: Gee, What Video Games Have, 216.

  [>] “is often built around the ‘content fetish’”: Gee, “Learning by Design.”

  [>] “Live field training is very expensive”: Quoted in Minton, “Software.”

  [>] “instead of tornadoes, earthquakes, and Godzilla”: Mockenhaupt, “SimCity Baghdad.”

  4. America’s Army: The Game

  [>] “30 percent of all Americans”: Singer, “Meet the Sims.”

  [>] “Our [selling] strategy must be based”: McHugh, “Army Rolls Out Big Guns,” 22.

  [>] “an employer of last resort”: Ibid.

  [>] this approach ignores the facts: Tversky and Kahneman, “Availability,” 207.

  [>] “to build a game-oriented, virtual reality-based”: Keith Hattes e-mail to Michael Zyda et al., “Research Initiative for Army Recruiting,” September 3, 1999.

  [>] “‘moral rot’ that had become symbolically associated”: Bartlett and Lutz, “Disciplining Social Difference,” 122.

  [>] Attributing a quasi-religious role: Edwards, Closed World, 10.

  [>] In addition to Mike Capps: Davis et al., “Making America’s Army.”

  [>] “The game’s training module cost”: Singer, “Meet the Sims.”

  5. All but War Is Simulation

  [>] “the training [positively] impacted”: Ratwani, Orvis, and Knerr, “Game-Based Training Effectiveness Evaluation.”

  [>] “You can’t simulate the dust, dirt”: Martin and Lin, “Keyboards First. Then Grenades.”

  6. WILL Interactive and the Military’s Serious Games

  [>] “These games have an explicit”: Abt, Serious Games, 9.

  [>] “a mental contest, played with a computer”: Zyda, “From Visual Simulation to Virtual Reality to Games,” 26.

  [>] “I was injured in 2006”: Quoted in Dao, “Acting Out War’s Inner Wounds.”

  7. The Aftermath: Medical Virtual Reality and the Treatment of Trauma

  [>] “looks like it has met a boot”: Halpern, “Virtual Iraq.”

  [>] According to the Journal of CyberTherapy and Rehabilitation: Wiederhold and Wiederhold, “Virtual Reality.”

  [>] An issue of Studies in Health Technology: Parsons et al., “Neurocognitive and Psychophysiological Analysis.”

  [>] Most recently, Military Medicine: McLay et al., “Development and Testing of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy.”

  [>] A recent issue of Psychiatric Services: Kramer et al., “Clinician Perceptions.”

  [>]“is tough. It’s tough”: WILL Interactive brochure, n.d.

  [>] A recent Mental Health Advisory Team study: Casey, “Comprehensive Soldier Fitness.”

  [>] “to find any evidence of a well-coordinated”: American Psychological Association, “Psychological Needs.”

  [>] “a structured, long-term assessment and development program”: Comprehensive Soldier Fitness, http://csf2.army.mil/about.html.

  8. Conclusion: America’s Army Invades Our Classrooms

  [>] “promote student interest in the engineering and technical fields”: Welburn, “Upcoming Events.”

  [>] “stimulate, and sustain, dialogue”: Ibid.

  [>]“have the opportunity to test”: National Association of State Boards of Education, “Announcement,” August 25, 2008. www.nasbe.org/index.php/upcomingevents/details/29-us-army.

  [>] “reaffirming and strengthening America’s role”: White House, “Educate to Innovate,” www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/k-12/educate-innovate.

  [>] “global competitiveness”: Burke and McNeill, “‘Educate to Innovate.’”

  [>] “a multi-year competition whose goal”: stemchallenge.org.

  [>] The New York Times Magazine reports that a growing number: Corbett, “Learning by Playing.”

  [>] “the big challenge isn’t”: Quoted in Silberman, “War Room.”

  [>] “been driven . . . by the real and pressing needs”: Noble, Classroom Arsenal, 1.

  [>] “the purposes and the ‘products’ of education”: Ibid., 6–7.

  [>] “the particular goals of those parties”: Ibid., 4.

  [>] “politics by other means”: Starr, “Seductions of Sim.”

  [>] “The one thing . . . political simulations”: Herz, Joystick Nation,223.

  [>] “social contract”: Ibid.

  [>] U.S. Special Operations Command recently purchased: Drummond, “Commandos Now Play Digital Brain Games.”

  [>] “from support to civil authorities”: Shanker, “Army Will Reshape Training.”

  [>] The popular DARPA-funded online video game Foldit: Lim, “Agencies Get Down to Business.”

  [>]“would accompany service members”: Beidel, “Avatars Invade Military Training Systems.”

  [>] “high-technology military strategy”: Edwards, Closed World, 7–8, 15.

  [>] “battle-zone persuasion”: Quoted in Peck, “Since When Does Brookings Make Video Games?”

  [>] “appears to be the first time”: Sanger, “Obama Order.”

  [>] “the creation of an advanced map”: Nakashima, “With Plan X.”

  [>] “While cyber may not look or smell”: Quoted in Barnes, “Pentagon Digs In on Cyberwar Front.”

  [>] “We pick a region of the world”: Quoted in Toplikar, “Teaching the Shadowy Art of Cyber War.”

  [>] “The Air Force aggressor acts as a hacker”: Quoted in Barnes, “Pentagon Digs In on Cyberwar Front.”

  [>] “is based on attack, exploit, and defense”: Ibid.

  [>] “the fiery political atmosphere of camp life”: Axe, “Gamers Target U.S. Troops.”

  Bibliogprahy

  Abt, Clark. Serious Games. New York: Viking, 1970.

  American Psychological Association. Presidential Task Force on Military Deployment Services for Youth, Families and Service Members. “The Psychological Needs of U.S. Military Service Members and Their Families: A Preliminary Report.” 2007. www.apa.org/releases. Accessed April 1, 2013.

  Anderson, C. L. “Educating the United States Army.” In Michael D. Stephens, ed., The Educating of Armies, pp. 39–74. New York: St. Martin’s, 1989.

  ———. “Historical Profile of Adult Basic Education Programs in the United States Army.” PhD dissertation, 1986, Teachers College, Columbia University.

  Army Science Board. “Manpower and Personnel for Soldier Systems in the Objective Force.” Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 2001.

  Au, Wayne. Unequal by Design: High-Stakes Testing and the Standardization of Inequality. New York: Routledge, 2008.

  Axe, David. “Gamers Target U.S. Troops in Chinese Military ‘Shooter.’” Danger
Room, May 17, 2011. www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/gamers-target-u-s-troops-in-chinese-military-shooter/.Accessed March 17, 2013.

  Barnes, Julian E. “Pentagon Digs In on Cyberwar Front.” Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2012. http//online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303684004577508850690121634.html. Accessed November 4, 2012.

  Bartlett, Lesley, and Elizabeth Lutz. “Disciplining Social Difference: Some Cultural Politics of Military Training in Public High Schools.” Urban Review 30, no. 2 (1998): 119–36.

  Beidel, Eric. “Avatars Invade Military Training Systems.” National Defense Magazine, February 2012. www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2012/February/Pages /AvatarsInvadeMilitaryTrainingSystems.aspx. Accessed March 13, 2013.

  Binkin, M., M. Eitelberg, A. Schexnider, and M. Smith. Blacks and the Military. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1982.

  Braddock, J., and R. Chatham. “Defense Science Board Task Force on Training for Future Conflicts Final Report.” Washington, DC: Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Training, and Logistics, 2003.

  Brand, Stewart. “Spacewar: Fanatic Life and Symbolic Death Among the Computer Bums.” Rolling Stone, December 1972. www.wheels.org/spacewar/store/rolling-stone.html. Accessed March 16, 2013.

  Brandt, Deborah. “Drafting U.S. Literacy.” College English 66, no. 5 (2004): 485–502.

  Bryant, B. “Friends and Colleagues.” Letter to members of the National Association of State Boards of Education, n.d. www.susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=510.

  Burke, Lindsey, and Jena Baker McNeill. “‘Educate to Innovate’: How the Obama Plan for STEM Education Falls Short.” Heritage Foundation, January 5, 2011. www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/01/educate-to-innovate-how-the-obama-plan-for-stem-education-falls-short. Accessed April 1, 2013.

  Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. New York: Starscape, 1985.

  Casey, George W., Jr. “Comprehensive Soldier Fitness: A Vision for Psychological Resilience in the U.S. Army.” American Psychologist66, no. 1 (January 2011): 1–3.

  Chaplin, Heather, and Aaron Ruby. Smartbomb. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin, 2005.

  Clark, Harold F., and Harold S. Sloan. Classrooms in the Military: An Account of Education in the Armed Forces of the United States. New York: Teachers College Press, 1964.

  Corbett, Sara. “Learning by Playing: Video Games in the Classroom.” New York Times Magazine, September 15, 2010. www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html?pagewanted=all$_r=0.Accessed March 17, 2013.

  Dao, James. “Acting Out War’s Inner Wounds.” New York Times, January 2, 2012, A1.

  Davis, Margaret, ed. America’s Army PC Game Vision and Realization. San Francisco: U.S. Army/MOVES Institute, 2004.

  Dawes, L., and T. Dumbleton. “Computer Games in Education Project: Report.” Coventry, Eng.: Becta, 2001. http://tna.europarchive.org/20080509164701/partners.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=rh&rid=13595. Accessed March 29, 2013.

  Defense Intelligence Agency. “Informational Brief: Virtual Worlds—Exploration and Application to Undersea Warfare.” www.public.navy.mil/subfor/underseawarfare magazine/issues/archives/issue_45/virtual_worlds.html. Accessed May 26, 2013.

  Dipietro, Meredith, Richard Ferdig, Jeff Boyer, and Erik Black. “Towards a Framework for Understanding Electronic Educational Gaming.” Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia 16, no. 3 (2007): 225–48.

  Driskell, James E., and Beckett Olmstead. “Psychology and the Military: Research Applications and Trends.” American Psychologist 44, no. 1 (1989): 43–54.

  Drummond, Katie. “Commandos Now Play Digital Brain Games as War Prep.” Danger Room, May 8, 2012. www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/socom-neurotracker/.Accessed March 29, 2013.

  Duffy, Thomas. “Literacy Instruction in the Military.” Armed Forces & Society 11, no. 3 (1985): 437–67.

  Edwards, Paul. The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996.

  Egardner, Zacheus Tom. “Adult Education in the Army.” School Review 30, no. 4 (1922): 255–67.

  Eitelberg, M., J. Laurence, B. Waters, and L. Perelman. Screening for Service: Aptitude and Education Criteria for Military Entry. Washington, DC: Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense, Human Resources Research Organization, 1984.

  Fletcher, J. D. “Education and Training Technology in the Military.” Science 323 (2009): 72–75.

  Freeman, Bob. “Researchers Examine Video Gaming’s Benefits.” www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=57695. Accessed July 1, 2012.

  Gee, James Paul. “Good Video Games and Good Learning.” www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/Good_Learning.pdf. Accessed March 16, 2013.

  ———. Good Video Games and Good Learning: Collected Essays on Video Games, Learning, and Literacy. New York: Peter Lang, 2007.

  ———. “Learning by Design: Good Video Games as Learning Machines.” E-Learning and Digital Media 2, no. 1 (2005).

  ———. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

  Ghamari-Tabrizi, Sharon. “The Convergence of the Pentagon and Hollywood.” In Lauren Rabinovitz and Abraham Geil, eds., Memory Bytes, pp. 150–74. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004.

  Ginzberg, Eli, and Douglas W. Bray. The Uneducated. New York: Columbia University Press, 1953.

  Goldberg, Samuel. Army Training of Illiterates in World War II. New York: Teachers College Press, 1951.

  Gould, Stephen J. The Mismeasure of Man. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.

  Grubb, W. Norton, and Marvin Lazerson. The Education Gospel: The Economic Power of Schooling. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004.

  Halpern, Sue. “Virtual Iraq.” The New Yorker, May 19, 2008. www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/19/080519fa_fact_halpern. Accessed March 17, 2013.

  Halter, Ed. From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games. New York: Thunder’s Mouth, 2006.

  Hapgood, Fred. “Simnet.” Wired, May 2004. www.wired.com/wired/archives/5.04/ff_simnet.html. Accessed March 17, 2013.

  Harmon, Amy. “U.S. Military Embraces Video Games.” Taipei Times, April 6, 2003, 11.

  Herz, J. C. Joystick Nation: How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds. New York: Little, Brown, 1997.

  Herz, J. C., and Michael Macedonia. “Computer Games and the Military: Two Views.” Defense Horizons 11 (2002): 1–8.

  Jenkins, Henry, et al. “Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century.” Occasional Paper. Chicago: MacArthur Foundation, 2006.

  Kime, Steve F., and Clinton L. Anderson. “Contributions of the Military to Adult and Continuing Education.” In Arthur L. Wilson and Elisabeth R. Hayes, eds., Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education, pp. 464–79. San Francisco: Jossey, 2000.

  Kline, Stephen, Nick Dyer-Witheford, and Greig de Peuter. Digital Play. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003.

  Kramer, Teresa, et al. “Clinician Perceptions of Virtual Reality to Assess and Treat Returning Veterans.” Psychiatric Services 61, no. 11 (November 2010): 1153–56.

  Lemann, Nicholas. The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1999.

  Lenoir, Tim, and Henry Lowood. “Theaters of War: The Military-Entertainment Complex.” In Jan Lazardzig, Helmar Schramm, and Ludger Schwarte, eds., Kunstkammer, Laboratorium, Bühne—Schauplätze des Wissens im 17. Jahrhundert, pp. 432–64. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2003. Citations from www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/TimLenoir/Publications/Lenoir-Lowood_TheatersOfWar.pdf.

  Lenoir, Timothy. “All but War Is Simulation: The Military-Entertainment Complex.” Configurations 8 (2000): 238–335.

  Li, Zhan. “The Potential of America’s Army the Video Game as Civilian-Military Public Sphere.” Master’s thesis, 2004, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/39162. Accessed February 12, 2013.

  Lim, Dawn. “Agencies Get Down to Business with Computer
Games.” Nextgov.com, April 2, 2012. www.nextgov.com/defense/2012/04/agencies-get-down-to-business-with-computer-games/50942/. Accessed March 17, 2013.

  Macedonia, Michael. “Games, Simulation, and the Military Education Dilemma.” 2001. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffpiu018.pdf. Accessed April 1, 2013.

  Martin, Andrew, and Thomas Lin, “Keyboards First. Then Grenades.” New York Times, May 1, 2011. wwwnytimes.com/2011/05/02/technology/02wargames.html?pagewant ed=all$_4=0. Accessed March 13, 2013.

  McHugh, Jane. “Army Rolls Out Big Guns to Boost Recruiting.” Army Times, August 30, 1999.

  McLay, Robert, et al. “Development and Testing of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Active Duty Service Members Who Served in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Military Medicine 177, no. 6 (2012): 635–42.

  Mead, Corey. “America’s Army Invades Our Classrooms.” Rethinking Schools 23, no. 4 (2009): 48–49.

  Minton, Eric. “Software.” Today’s Officer Magazine, Summer 2005. www.moaa.org/Todays Officer/Magazine/Summer 2005/software.asp. Accessed July 18, 2005.

  Mockenhaupt, Brian. “SimCity Baghdad.” The Atlantic, January/February 2010. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/01/simcity_baghdad/307830. Accessed April 1, 2013.

  Nakashima, Ellen. “With Plan X, Pentagon Seeks to Spread U.S. Military Might to Cyberspace.” Washington Post, May 30, 2012. articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-05-30 /world/35458424_1_cyberwarfare-cyberspace-pentagon-agency. Accessed November 4, 2012.

  National Association of State Boards of Education. “State Education Leaders Join with U.S. Army.” Press release, September 16, 2008.

  National Research Council. Committee on Modeling and Simulation. “Modeling and Simulation: Linking Entertainment and Defense.” Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 1997.

  National Training and Simulation Association. “Training 2015.” www.trainingsystems.org/publications/AirForce.pdf. Accessed June 11, 2012.