Of all the US Army’s various recruitment methods – and they have many – it appears none are anywhere near as successful as a humble, free video game.
We are of course talking about America’s Army, the free-to-play shooter that’s been drumming up interest in the US armed forces for nigh on seven years now.
According to a statement issued by MIT as part of a 2008 report – which is now being presented to the US Congress by the Army – “30 percent of all Americans age 16 to 24 had a more positive impression of the Army because of the game and, even more amazingly, the game had more impact on recruits than all other forms of Army advertising combined”.
Not a bad investment, then! That is, if you mean “bad” in terms of effectiveness vs money spent. If you mean “bad” in terms of “you shouldn’t recruit soldiers through a video game”, that’s another topic for another day.
America’s Army Extremely Effective Recruitment Tool [GamePolitics]
