British Government on the Hunt for Gamers

British Government on the Hunt for Gamers

uk.pc.ign.com

Ministry of Defence recruiting for top-secret work on Government projects.

by Rob Burman, IGN UK
UK, October 23, 2007 - Fancy taking on James Bond and working on top-secret missions for the Ministry of Defense? The British Government is eyeing up games players as the potential special agents of tomorrow.

That's right, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory - an arm of the MoD - is targeting gamers with a new print advertising campaign in UK games magazines.

(visit the link for the full news article)



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[edit on 24-10-2007 by markjaxson]

Just found this whilst browsing IGN.

What i find strange about this is the advertising method...

"The ad shows a city under siege from UFOs and the caption: "You're already a dab hand at analysing scenarios in the gaming world. But how would you fare in real life, with real lives at stake?"

I dont know about you but is this hinting at some sort out UFO invasion?

It seems to me some sort of real life Men In Black.

I would love to know what type of weapons this special agents would be training with. I just find this article so interesting and unbelievable, and would love to know what other people think about this.

Does the Government know somethings going to happen and are preparing for it, or is it just a well thought out ad to entice gamers with them ending up doing something entirely different.

uk.pc.ign.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Good thread, it is interesting is it not. They do i believe have weapons that they have just have made to deal with et's etc... But never use against people on earth just because they do not have to. Aliens would i assume be able to manipulate reality so it may be very hard for us at the mo, to fight some race, depending on how far advanced they are.

One thing i would say, that just to see what weapons we have behind the scenes would want me to hope that there would be some sort of conflict or something in our lifes, but i assume that it will not happen for a while yet.

Just remember they could probably control our reality so how would we battle them, if they know us better than ourselves. Just look at mind control, we as a species probably have no clue how to understand anothers mind yet, so the fact we are not spiritually aware yet for that sort of technolgy, do we really want to face a group of aliens that would understand those things. Trust me humans do not understand anothers thoughts, and minds, so fighting aliens would be a very hard task depending on how adavcned they are.

[edit on 10/24/2007 by andy1033]

That's great , Brits will have geeks as the james bond role, don't be suprised if there is a third world war soon people.

On one hand, the British government has decided to put millions of dollars into a new research report to determine if violent video games have an effect on players after Manhunt 2 was banned in the UK (Waste of millions of dollars since the study has already been done dozens of times.) Now they want to recruit gamers to work for the government... mixed messages?


[edit on 10/24/2007 by Yarcofin]

Originally posted by Yarcofin
On one hand, the British government has decided to put millions of dollars into a new research report to determine if violent video games have an effect on players after Manhunt 2 was banned in the UK (Waste of millions of dollars since the study has already been done dozens of times.) Now they want to recruit gamers to work for the government... mixed messages?

erm...not really

violent video games is a completely different subject altogether.

Does anyone know if a particular game genre is being targeted? And besides online poker what game genre isn't based on some sort of combat?

I'm not surprised by this at all...

I suspect that the kind of games they are looking into are puzzlers, RTS, and other games that require thought over reflexes. Gamers in general tend to be a rather smart crowd. Don't forget, Chess is a game. "Games and Theory" has been another term of intelligence for a long time.

I wonder if I should put "I finished Portal in a couple hours" on my resume now?

The new Men in Black ... gaming geeks, some young, some older ... some older and with great memories ... in positions of real power for the security of a nation ... get to make lists of terrorist organizations ... let's start with all those bible-thumping ratfinks who tried to ban D&D and M:TG all those years ago.

You wanna see Satanic? I'll show you Satanic!

or

What goes around comes around!

I should mention that even violent first person shooters, especially on-line ones, do teach you a good deal about tactics and communication. I played a lot of Battlefield 2142 and became quite apt at being able to change the course of games by out-thinking the enemy and getting my squad to function as an effective unit.

An example: This is a vid I made of a particularly nasty furball of a round. While things got fairly chaotic, it does show some of the skills I mentioned. Further, by hitting the tactical point that we did, we were able to take the round despite the enemy team being "stacked" with all the top scoring players.

Google Video Link

(hope ya like TOOL)

Originally posted by infinite

erm...not really

violent video games is a completely different subject altogether.

The article was on IGN, a gaming website. "Gamers" in this sense refers soley to video games, not board games or anything like that.

lmao, i loved BF 2142 till my bro. stole the CD.

It seems that gamers are finally getting some recognition for the fact that the majority of us have spent more time on a battlefield (although virtual) than most jarheads.

Let's just hope that they don't send us to war with each other.

reply to post by danwild6


I think the Intel folks will be buying advertising space,on the virtual billboards of the latest "splinter cell" game.
Thats a secret agent type game,where you have to sneak around in the shadows and kill baddies for the US gov.I think the main character is meant to be NSA.
I don't think many will get jobs from this though.
The interviews would be funny to watch I bet.

I also think that the type of gamers targeted are FPS players (First Person Shooters) to play these type of games well you need quick reflexes excellent hand to eye coordination and in the case of BattleField and Team based games like Team Fortress, Capture the flag etc you need great tactical play and teamwork to win.

Will these secret agents be running around with a ps2 controller shooting aliens? I dont think so but im guessing the combination of hand to eye,quick reflexes, team work and tactics are perfect for either robots of the future or currently but not disclosed by our government or just special soldiers of the future or something.

I would love to know more about all the secrets the governments keep from us.

reply to post by markjaxson

The FPS genre is used to train military in some areas,and a good FPS player may well turn out to be a very competent UAV controller or ground robot operator.
Sure its very different,but the same skill set is needed.

As i said, even though it sounds great and all that, it's VERY likely that some gamers may end up being recruited by the bad guys of reality (terrorists, cults, etc.), and i for one would not like to find myself pitted against someone who can aim and shoot and get a headshot in a split-second (which is the extent of which my capabilities went to... on a good day and provided the mouse was sensitive enough).


Gamers, the new weapons of the 21st century.

it sounds like a news headline.

All the more reason to train to fight alone against impossible odds, rly...

[edit on 25-10-2007 by Throbber]