From the Green Berets to America’s Army

Reading Summary

The article first introduces the video games “Special Force” by Hezbollah and “America’s Army” designed by the U.S. Army. The purpose of both of these first-person shooter games is to attract new recruits. Both organizations claim that their video games are educational entertainment. It then goes in to explain what propaganda is and how it is closely related to ideology. The article then goes to talk about what immersion is and the ideas of identification, interaction, and intense engagement. All 4 of these are characteristics of the central gaming experience.

Outside Example

When talking about the 4 characteristics of the central gaming experience, I first thought of the VR game Beat Saber. I don’t own it, but one of my friends has a VR headset and such and let me play it a while back. The goal is to hit boxes with 2 different lightsabers that are coming at you in such a way that they line up with the beat. You can pick a bunch of different popular songs to do it to and it’s super satisfying to watch people do in on instagram or youtube, too.

Reading Connection

Regarding the 4 characteristics, the game seems to hit every one of those. It is immersive in the way that it physically tricks your brain into thinking you’re there. It is intensely engaging because it provokes “states of intense concentration” due to the general difficulty of the game. The identification part is kinda weird because you don’t have to identify with the character because you are the character, but in that way, you could intensify yourself as the character in the game. And finally, it is obviously interactive, as most VR games are.