Royal Australian Navy launches live gaming event
The Royal Australian Navy has conscripted media agency UM and branded entertainment firm Ensemble to produce a live gaming event to position the navy as “modern, relevant and cool” among 16-25 year olds.
The event, which was promoted on radio, launched in Sydney last week, drawing 400 gamers to Hoyts Cinema Complex at the Entertainment Quarter. Navy personnel were on site to show gamers how gaming contrasts with the real thing. Radio station Nova broadcast live from the event.
“The primary focus for this event was to position the Navy as modern, relevant and cool for our target audience of 16-25 year olds; to demonstrate the core value of Navy, which is teamwork, and to engage potential recruits to find out more about a Navy career,” said Katherine Humphries, client service manager at UM.
That’s quite game / optimistic after the Skype episode!
this is disturbing on so many levels.
a) gamer nerds are the last social group that would join the navy and whip into shape to fight hard so terrible targeting. you dont want guys and girls that lock themselves up in a dark room to play endlessly. You want fit healthy happy teens who enjoy the outdoors with strong work ethic
b) the navy isnt about obliterating the living daylights out of the enemy. games have a lot to answer for this but joining the navy is a serious decision not a game. It requires more skills than holding a weapon and having a quick firing index finger.
I would hate to think that they would entice 16 year olds on the promise that the navy is anything like the thrills of a playstation game.
@CC – do you know a cheat code to jump up to disturbing level 10?
@CC: The whole point is that the neavy needs techy nerds who dont mind sitting in the dark for hours on end. Navy people dont actually fight. They use navigation and weapons systems as well as traditional machinery.
CC,
First off, most gamers these days aren’t your typical overweight, light-sensitive social recluses. Their average age is somewhere around 28 (IIRC) and gaming has become such a mainstream entertainment genre it’s eclipsed movies in terms of turnover and has done for a couple of years. So their targeting is probably better than you think.
And this pattern the Navy has used is not dissimilar to methods employed by armed forces around the world using video games to give potential recruits a taste of what military life is all about (ie the game ‘America’s Army’ created for/by the US military). It was created entirely as a recruitment tool. And you know what? It works.
All that said, I’m not defending all this work. From the case study posted, it’s all a bit pants. And the gameplay seems like a team on team death-match arena, which has little to do with teaching people about actual squad tactics, for example, which the other military recruitment games do.
But I wouldn’t for a moment think that using video games as a recruitment tool would be ineffective. Unethical, perhaps, but it’s a model that has been proven to work elsewhere.
CC You know in this life it is possible to have a variety of interests and being a fan of gaming does not necessarily make you a nerd or someone who doesn’t love the great outdoors and being active… you may want to ask the Navy guys who participated in the event… fit, intelligent, responsible for serious roles in the Navy and guess what… don’t mind a spot of gaming. Just because you can’t see yourself in that picture or see people as one dimensional… it doesn’t mean this is the case.. open your eyes a little wider!
@CC Way to show your incredible ignorance by stereotyping gamers…
Did you know that the average age of an Aussie gamer is 30? And exactly what do games have to answer for? Not every game is about invading a country and shooting it up. In fact the majority of games released fit into the G and PG category….
I’m a gamer and I’ve got a good job, active social life, and I exercise regularly. Oh and should I mention that when I applied to join the reserves that I was asked to apply to become an officer? But I guess you’d know better than the Australian Defence Force about my eligibility for the military…
@ Random. Crikey you gamers are a chippy lot.
hey “gamers” can apply for the real ADF just like everybody else, they just better come up with some more interests and life experiences than “playing computer games” when they sit their interview or they will not get far. Believe me!
hey “random” they ask anybody who scores officer on their aptitude test (which is pretty damn easy) if they would like to apply for it. There’s still many things you have to do to actually be accepted as an officer in the ADF. Don’t flatter yourself mate
Nerds in the Navy eh; that’d mean it’d be more than just skype set up for the next time a woman gets filmed without her knowledge right?
What was the game they were playing? Looked sweet!