U.S. Navy: Gamers Are Better Terrorist Fighters
Modern Warfare could be preparing the troops of tomorrow for modern warfare.
Regardless of what the media may paint them with, we all know that video games are a worthwhile pastime. And now, the Office of Naval Research makes one of our favorite hobbies even more valuable with findings that suggest that video games help people become more effective in tasks related to the fight against terrorism.
"We have discovered that video game players perform 10 to 20 percent higher in terms of perceptual and cognitive ability than normal people that are non-game players," said Ray Perez, a program officer at the ONR's warfighter performance department, which is developing training technologies to improve performance on the battlefield.
"We have to train people to be quick on their feet - agile problem solvers, agile thinkers - to be able to counteract and develop counter tactics to terrorists on the battlefield," Perez said. "It's really about human inventiveness and creativeness and being able to match wits with the enemy."
Video gaming experience can help train people to work outside of their present mindsets, solve problems in new and different ways, focus longer and expand field of vision, the ONR found.
“We know that video games can increase perceptual abilities and short-term memory,” Perez added. "We think that these games increase your executive control, or your ability to focus and attend to stimuli in the outside world."
Read the full story from the American Forces Press Service.
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Bin Laden here I come.
I knew I've been improving myself all these years!!!
so if i rank up in COD4 do i automaticly get sargent if i join?
Well I don't play CS or COD much, I'm more into RTS games, so can I get a job as a general or something?
Haha the media would love to discredit this idea...
I'm with LATTEH, can we join as CO?
Too bad we don't get assigned lasers or rail guns
I can bhop and strafe jump irl... can I has rpg?
Lets put all the COD and CS players as Privates and Specialists, HAWX players as Pilots, Silent Hunter guys in the subs, all the C&C and COH guys as Generals and Field Marshals, all the Rail Road Tycoon players as our logistics guys and we will have a hell of a fighting force...
[btw, where shud we put the guys who play Civilisation?? :-s ]
do we get to teabag the terrorist?
I'm pretty good as a medic in TF2... I can has evac chopper?
I'm good in headshot.
Terrorists aren't going to wait 45 seconds for a bomb to blow up though.
Lets put all the COD and CS players as Privates and Specialists, HAWX players as Pilots, Silent Hunter guys in the subs, all the C&C and COH guys as Generals and Field Marshals, all the Rail Road Tycoon players as our logistics guys and we will have a hell of a fighting force...[btw, where shud we put the guys who play Civilisation?? :-s ]
Depends... Did you out-pillage Genghis Khan and nuke Gandhi?
If so, the diplomatic team has a desk for you.
i knew that someday my gaming potential would help me fight terrorist
awesome....
many tests have shown that video games, especially FPS, help eyesight and perceptiveness
I can definitely see this holding a lot of truth. Let's just not get too cocky here
"Haha the media would love to discredit this idea..."
Did you forget about "murder simulators"? I think this is bad news indeed. More fuel for the media against video games.
Video gamers are already in the army
My God! You mean people with the reflexes to react to a tiny flash on a small screen are able to react to a tiny flash in a distant building? Who would've thought...
Studies in the past show that fast-paced gaming improves hand-eye coordination and visual-cognitive reaction times to a certain degree. Now the US Government endorses it. Won't be long now before the DoD actually puts a seal of approval on America's Army (not to mention future CoD and MoH titles).
And to gayan on the HAWX comment, they already do. They're UAV pilots. The vehicles may be unmanned, but there's still someone on the joystick
Well then, we'll see what these "Aimbotters" are really made out of.
I play the free FearCombat game and has an arsenal of pistols, rifles, machineguns and shotties at ur dysposal, also plasma gun, sonicannon, even missile launcher, well that could teach you no to shoot my m8s or blow them apart with the granades in the real battlefield, amunition control, focus but wait ..HELL NO, I CAN´T RESPAWN¡
"Sometimes I think, maybe I wanna join the army, I mean it's basically like FPS, cept' better graphics. But what happens if I get lag out there? I mean, I even heard there's no respawn points in RL."
FPS_Doug said it all back in 2004.
You can't save the world from the evil aliens without being a little more badass in the real life after that!
This just in!
ONR is researching a way to attach a keybaord and mouse to the GI M-16 assault rifle!
Why don't we have robots controlled by gamers yet?
ugh, this whole time ive been wasting my life going to school and 'learning'
i should have been leveling myself up and mastering how to cast spells in WoW....
I played GTA for 300 hours..when do I get to unsurp Obama?
Wake up, Mr. Freeman...
Promote the guy who nails a headshot on Osama bin Towel.
Why don't we have robots controlled by gamers yet?
Probably has something to do with manufacturing costs and the fact that robots arent as quick, agile etc as a human