By Jon Newton p2pnet.net

Want to join the US Army and, "Become a member of the world's premier land force; trained and equipped to achieve decisive victory - anywhere"?

You do? No prob. You can Be All You Can Be in one simple step. And it's all online.

Go here and, "Earn the right to call yourself a Soldier, letting the enemies of freedom know that America's Army has arrived ... neutralizing threats wherever they arise." Because on January 15, the US Army announced, "with great pride," that it was bringing, "yet another first from the United States Army in enhancing the community and their gaming experience."

We're referring to a US-government authorised site from which no matter where in the world you are, you'll get to join, "Americas [sic] Army: Operations being heralded as one of the largest and best first person shooter games, is proud to bring to the gaming community the ability to rent their own servers running on state of art high performance computing technology through www.goamericasarmy.com."

"Let me hear a HOOAH."

And if that doesn't do it for you, "Honor and integrity will forge your character; bravery and firepower will prove your readiness in any situation."

There you go ; )

But just because this is a US Army "largest and best first person shooter game", don't get the idea that violence is encouraged.

Au contraire.

A FAQ asks, "How have you designed the game so that violence is discouraged?" Colonel Casey Wardynski, Project Originator and Project Director of America's Army Game, Director of the Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis at West Point and, "Father of three children," answers, "if they fail to operate as a member of a team that is operating towards achievement of a U.S. Army objective, then they will not advance in the game."

That's OK then.

... "virtual experiences for vicarious insights"

And is this just a subtle (subtle?) ploy to indoctrinate kids? No WAY! - says the US Army. It's definitely not a recruiting tool. Rather, "The game is designed to provide young adults and their influencers with virtual insights into entry level Soldier training, training in units and Army operations so as to provide insights into what the Army is like.

"As in the past, the Army's success in attracting high-potential young adults is essential to building the world's premier land force. With the passage of time, elimination of the draft and reductions in the size of the Army have resulted in a marked decrease in the number of Americans who have served in the Army and from whom young adults can gain vicarious insights into the challenges and rewards of Soldiering and national service.

"Therefore, the game is designed to substitute virtual experiences for vicarious insights. It does this in an engaging format that takes advantage of young adults' broad use of the Internet for research and communication and their interest in games for entertainment and exploration."

At the bottom of the site is the legend: "America's Army has been rated 'Teen (T)' by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) due to depictions of blood and scenes involving aggressive conflict. Titles rating 'Teen (T)' have content that may be suitable for persons ages 13 and older."

And to make sure no pre-teens get involved, "The game CD will only be distributed to those individuals that can prove that they are over 13."

That's good news.

Next question - will a recruiter get players' personal data? Emphatically not, says the web site which promises:

"Recruiters will not have any information about the players unless players purposefully identify themselves and request information ... This veil of anonymity is only raised at such time that a player may wish to provide their name for the purpose of obtaining more information about the Army or Army career opportunities."

Good enough.

But wait a minute ...

If the game CD is only going to be available to, "those individuals that can prove that they are over 13," how do they, or their parents, prove it? By telepathy? And where's the CD sent to - special government centres across the US where players (and/or their parents and/or their guardians) drop in to pick the game disks up?

OK, OK. I know. This is just carping. America's Army is a purely educational shoot 'em and kill 'em game developed with absolutely no impure motives. And for those among you who think it's just a load of old Hooah, blame Toyota.

"Given the popularity of computer games and the ability of the Internet to deliver great content, a game was the perfect venue for highlighting different aspects of the Army," says Colonel Wardynski. "Firms such as Toyota have used games for this educational purpose with considerable success."

Funny, but again this is another topic which doesn't look like it has anything to do with Boycotting the RIAA.

2nd! Yup AZ, not really...

Who the hell cares whether or not is it specific to the riaa. Things are discussed around here all the time that aren't, and why would it matter anyway.

It's a good story, about corruption. Get off your high-horses for christ sake.

*Steps off his high horse* Oh man! I was just getting a hang of this too!

Just jog my memory . . . which branch of the military is court-martialing soldiers for having downloaded music files on their computers, in a naked following of RIAA orders?

The naval acadamy, and they wern't full soldiers. I think it was a publicity stunt from the RIAA intended to scare every educational establishment in the country and show they noone was safe from their pack of angry lawyers. I think it worked too.

I think you need to click on the links there to get at what the story is talking about.

hi my son was told to bring a writable cd to school by his band teacher so she can burn him a cd of music she downloaded off kazza,from her school computer nonetheless....oh yeah while i am here...i wrote to my senator to telling him this is a new civil war and to tell his fellow congresspersons to tell the riaa to stand down,i'll post his response when and if i get one.. oh and something else, has anyone noticed the riaa is all white ! i think its time we wrote to the n.a.a.c.p and get the riaa for once having to defend its hitler like attitude.diverionary fire so to speak. also about verizon , there spokesperson is james earl jones perhaps verizon needs a celebrity to go public in verizons and every americans defense. may be we should find mr jones email address and bombard him with request to go public defending file sharing,also,while i am teetering on this soap box, can anyone with anytype of interent savy tell me how did this riaa group discover a file sharer was on verizon ? how can this be done ? anyone know ? i have had people tell me who have downloaded off kazaa and limewire that they have downloaded material only to discover it disappear,now i think i recall hearing riaa was deleting peoples files out of computers,is this true,and if it is,what about he opposite ? planting files...someone with internet savy needs to address this..thanks...(gets off soap box)

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Too bad this games been out for OVER 6 months and it took this long for someone to report on it... Nice "discovery"...

Someone like you?

I've submitted a couple of times LONG time ago for someone to check out stuff and it's never been done. I don't bother anymore. And for no compensation? Ya right...

You guys sounds like a bunch on titty babies. I think the whole idea is cool. Nice article.

Titty babies? And we're supposed to be the ones who sounds immature. Interesting...

I'm not going to fight in a war I don't believe in.