Framing-Interactivity and Defense

This week I decided to read ahead because I wanted to get a better perspective on everything we were going to discuss in the gaming and entertainment industry. I found the most interesting article the one on military use of gaming and therefore formed my questions around that article!

1. It was interesting to read about the early emergence of video gaming from its use by military and defense operations. My question is: Could video game simulation help with military tactics or does it just portray a false reality that soldiers prepare themselves for if the game does not effectively portray a particular environment?

2. The authors state that the goal for these military video simulations is perfectly simulated human interaction and the current result is a fairly narrow and reductive representation of human behavior, therefore, should the video games include many different types of interfaces to engage the user better? Or is simplicity the best when trying to portray a certain type of environment where content retention is more important?

3. Do many of these military simulation games walk a thin line when it comes to media ethics or does that really matter when trying to prepare soldiers for the worse to come?

Tags: media ethics