Semi-serious question about combat video games

[IceBergSLiM]

I was thinking as I was playing Halo 3 online matchmaking and seeing that there are literally millions of US citizens playing on any given day.

How transferable are the combat skills and strategies in a game like Halo 3 to real world combat?

If shit were to hit the fan tommorow, would my virtual skills to seek out cover and sniper zones as well as give and take basic orders be transferable to a real life situation.

I was thinking that anyone who has played halo 3 for any significant amount of time can probably pick up a real gun become pretty effective with it in a matter of minutes.


Are video games an effective way to train the general population in basic combat tactics?

Will one day manipulating my master chief on the screen actually correspond to a robotic soldier in some foreign land?

 

[Modeps]

I'd guess that certain games, like Call of Duty 4, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Full Spectrum Warrior would at least teach tactics... aside from that though, you're not gonna do well with an M-16 in your hands if you've never held one before... and if you get hit, you cant just hide behind a barrier for a few seconds and be OK.

 

[mugs]

It's very transferable. Remember the scene in Saving Private Ryan where they blew up the tank? Old school sticky grenade.

Seriously - no, you can't just pick up a gun and be effective with it after playing a video game. It's a lot harder to hold a gun steady than to refrain from pushing an analog stick, for instance. If you can snipe in CoD 4 without using the hold breath button, you could probably be reasonably effective with a real gun.

 

[MikeyLSU]

no....

but I think certain games if played with a group/clan like a counterstrike game can develop tactical skills. But you won't be able to shoot with accuracy because you can press a button.

 

[Engraver]

I wouldn't count on it.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
I was thinking as I was playing Halo 3 online matchmaking and seeing that there are literally millions of US citizens playing on any given day.

How transferable are the combat skills and strategies in a game like Halo 3 to real world combat?

If shit were to hit the fan tommorow, would my virtual skills to seek out cover and sniper zones as well as give and take basic orders be transferable to a real life situation.

I was thinking that anyone who has played halo 3 for any significant amount of time can probably pick up a real gun become pretty effective with it in a matter of minutes.


Are video games an effective way to train the general population in basic combat tactics?

Will one day manipulating my master chief on the screen actually correspond to a robotic soldier in some foreign land?

maybe tactics, but not actual combat.

 

[Engraver]

Originally posted by: MikeyLSU
no....

but I think certain games if played with a group/clan like a counterstrike game can develop tactical skills. But you won't be able to shoot with accuracy because you can press a button.

The bunny hoppers are the first to die.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
I was thinking that anyone who has played halo 3 for any significant amount of time can probably pick up a real gun become pretty effective with it in a matter of minutes.

No, not at all. Blithely swinging a cursor around on screen with a thumbstick in no way corresponds to picking up a real rifle and trying to fire straight at a target through a set of sights while also dealing with recoil.

Are video games an effective way to train the general population in basic combat tactics?

They can be as video games are used by the military for training now.

Will one day manipulating my master chief on the screen actually correspond to a robotic soldier in some foreign land?

Already happening with UAVs and other robotic devices on the battlefield. There was a picture of soldiers in Iraq using a Xbox 360 controller to control a robot scout on the street of Iraq.

edit: Here is the pic.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

lets say for the sake of argument you opponents have no formal training at all. Video games or otherwise. Just issued a riffle.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
I was thinking that anyone who has played halo 3 for any significant amount of time can probably pick up a real gun become pretty effective with it in a matter of minutes.

No, not at all. Blithely swinging a cursor around on screen with a thumbstick in no way corresponds to picking up a real rifle and trying to fire straight at a target through a set of sights while also dealing with recoil.

Are video games an effective way to train the general population in basic combat tactics?

They can be as video games are used by the military for training now.

Will one day manipulating my master chief on the screen actually correspond to a robotic soldier in some foreign land?

Already happening with UAVs and other robotic devices on the battlefield. There was a picture of soldiers in Iraq using a Xbox 360 controller to control a robot scout on the street of Iraq.

edit: Here is the pic.

I've fired guns before.......its isn't as difficult as you make it sound. You essentially point and shoot. Using a sight isn't difficult either. Whats in your sight is where your bullets will go. Just like what is in your aiming reticle onscreen is where your bullets will go.

That is interesting about the military using xbox controllers.

I'm not suggesting someone who is s sharpshooter with sniper in halo will be able to take out a target at 1200 meters with a real sniper rifle.

 

[skace]

I think tactics and teamworks would transfer over pretty damn good. Real weapon use, how to act in a real gunfight, etc, etc would all be basically new experiences.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
I've fired guns before.......its isn't as difficult as you make it sound. You essentially point and shoot. Using a sight isn't difficult either. Whats in your sight is where your bullets will go. Just like what is in your aiming reticle onscreen is where your bullets will go.

That is interesting about the military using xbox controllers.

I'm not suggesting someone who is s sharpshooter with sniper in halo will be able to take out a target at 1200 meters with a real sniper rifle.

The kick from firing a gun is something nobody can anticipate properly on their first shot. The sound is also pretty jarring.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: skace
I think tactics and teamworks would transfer over pretty damn good. Real weapon use, how to act in a real gunfight, etc, etc would all be basically new experiences.

well yeah knowing you wont respawn in 10 seconds if you get hit will definitely iimpact things a bit.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
I've fired guns before.......its isn't as difficult as you make it sound. You essentially point and shoot. Using a sight isn't difficult either. Whats in your sight is where your bullets will go. Just like what is in your aiming reticle onscreen is where your bullets will go.

That is interesting about the military using xbox controllers.

I'm not suggesting someone who is s sharpshooter with sniper in halo will be able to take out a target at 1200 meters with a real sniper rifle.

The kick from firing a gun is something nobody can anticipate properly on their first shot. The sound is also pretty jarring.

Agreeed. I said within a few minutes though. Someone could figure the how to part of it out pretty easily.

 

[Skunkwourk]

assuming you can get past picking a team leader...

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
I was thinking that anyone who has played halo 3 for any significant amount of time can probably pick up a real gun become pretty effective with it in a matter of minutes.

No, not at all. Blithely swinging a cursor around on screen with a thumbstick in no way corresponds to picking up a real rifle and trying to fire straight at a target through a set of sights while also dealing with recoil.

Are video games an effective way to train the general population in basic combat tactics?

They can be as video games are used by the military for training now.

Will one day manipulating my master chief on the screen actually correspond to a robotic soldier in some foreign land?

Already happening with UAVs and other robotic devices on the battlefield. There was a picture of soldiers in Iraq using a Xbox 360 controller to control a robot scout on the street of Iraq.

edit: Here is the pic.

I've fired guns before.......its isn't as difficult as you make it sound. You essentially point and shoot. Using a sight isn't difficult either. Whats in your sight is where your bullets will go. Just like what is in your aiming reticle onscreen is where your bullets will go.

Yes, that's why I said "firing straight". I've fired guns too but I would not expect anyone who spent hours playing FPSs to suddenly pick up a rifle for the first time and hit the target on a standard firing range. Like anything, it takes practice. They may have the basic concepts down but that doesn't mean they'll be proficient with handling it properly.

That is interesting about the military using xbox controllers.

Yeah, that's just for the small battlefield robots. The UAVs actually have a full cockpit mock-ups based at different military bases inside the USA controlling the UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Consoles are actually pretty popular with the troops stationed overseas though. There was a recent story by Michael Yon about Kiowa Warrior pilots playing Guitar Hero to pass the time. In the story, the pilots went from playing Guitar Hero to taking out a group of terrorists planting a bomb in approximately 12 minutes.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
I was thinking that anyone who has played halo 3 for any significant amount of time can probably pick up a real gun become pretty effective with it in a matter of minutes.

No, not at all. Blithely swinging a cursor around on screen with a thumbstick in no way corresponds to picking up a real rifle and trying to fire straight at a target through a set of sights while also dealing with recoil.

Are video games an effective way to train the general population in basic combat tactics?

They can be as video games are used by the military for training now.

Will one day manipulating my master chief on the screen actually correspond to a robotic soldier in some foreign land?

Already happening with UAVs and other robotic devices on the battlefield. There was a picture of soldiers in Iraq using a Xbox 360 controller to control a robot scout on the street of Iraq.

edit: Here is the pic.

I've fired guns before.......its isn't as difficult as you make it sound. You essentially point and shoot. Using a sight isn't difficult either. Whats in your sight is where your bullets will go. Just like what is in your aiming reticle onscreen is where your bullets will go.

Yes, that's why I said "firing straight". I've fired guns too but I would not expect anyone who spent hours playing FPSs to suddenly pick up a rifle for the first time and hit the target on a standard firing range. Like anything, it takes practice. They may have the basic concepts down but that doesn't mean they'll be proficient with handling it properly.

Humans can adapt amazingly fast in life or death scenarios though. Anyways I was just thinking how dangerous it would be to invade the United states. WE have a shit load of guns and even the fat ass nerds have some basic combat skills.

edit: im not accusing anyone of being a fatass nerd.

 

[Skunkwourk]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
I was thinking that anyone who has played halo 3 for any significant amount of time can probably pick up a real gun become pretty effective with it in a matter of minutes.

No, not at all. Blithely swinging a cursor around on screen with a thumbstick in no way corresponds to picking up a real rifle and trying to fire straight at a target through a set of sights while also dealing with recoil.

Are video games an effective way to train the general population in basic combat tactics?

They can be as video games are used by the military for training now.

Will one day manipulating my master chief on the screen actually correspond to a robotic soldier in some foreign land?

Already happening with UAVs and other robotic devices on the battlefield. There was a picture of soldiers in Iraq using a Xbox 360 controller to control a robot scout on the street of Iraq.

edit: Here is the pic.

I've fired guns before.......its isn't as difficult as you make it sound. You essentially point and shoot. Using a sight isn't difficult either. Whats in your sight is where your bullets will go. Just like what is in your aiming reticle onscreen is where your bullets will go.

Yes, that's why I said "firing straight". I've fired guns too but I would not expect anyone who spent hours playing FPSs to suddenly pick up a rifle for the first time and hit the target on a standard firing range. Like anything, it takes practice. They may have the basic concepts down but that doesn't mean they'll be proficient with handling it properly.

Humans can adapt amazingly fast in life or death scenarios though. Anyways I was just thinking how dangerous it would be to invade the United states. WE have a shit load of guns and even the fat ass nerds have some basic combat skills.

edit: im not accusing anyone of being a fatass nerd.

You just saved yourself, I had already grabbed my gun and started shifting myself into my scooter!!!

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
Humans can adapt amazingly fast in life or death scenarios though. Anyways I was just thinking how dangerous it would be to invade the United states. WE have a shit load of guns and even the fat ass nerds have some basic combat skills.

edit: im not accusing anyone of being a fatass nerd.

Invader: I kill you!
Nerd: WTF man! I totally shot you. F'king lag!

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
Humans can adapt amazingly fast in life or death scenarios though. Anyways I was just thinking how dangerous it would be to invade the United states. WE have a shit load of guns and even the fat ass nerds have some basic combat skills.

edit: im not accusing anyone of being a fatass nerd.

Invader: I kill you!
Nerd: WTF man! I totally shot you. F'king lag!

Lol.

 

[CKDragon]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
Humans can adapt amazingly fast in life or death scenarios though. Anyways I was just thinking how dangerous it would be to invade the United states. WE have a shit load of guns and even the fat ass nerds have some basic combat skills.

edit: im not accusing anyone of being a fatass nerd.

On some level you've got a point, but I think most of us here have seen the internet videos of children and teenagers training with REAL guns in the Middle East.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Originally posted by: CKDragon

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
Humans can adapt amazingly fast in life or death scenarios though. Anyways I was just thinking how dangerous it would be to invade the United states. WE have a shit load of guns and even the fat ass nerds have some basic combat skills.

edit: im not accusing anyone of being a fatass nerd.

On some level you've got a point, but I think most of us here have seen the internet videos of children and teenagers training with REAL guns in the Middle East.

They may have better aim initially and faster reload time. But I've got over 15k ranked murders in halo 3. over 100 hours of combat simulation.

 

[Queasy]

Coincidentally, I just ran across this.

Today, a handful of soldiers with advanced gear can see a few digital maps, through helmet-mounted monocles. Some pilots can get data about their world, on heads-up displays. But one day, troops could see an info-"augmented" reality all around them, with contact lenses that provide "first-person shooter-type video game" environments to those that wear them. At least, that's the idea behind the latest project from DARPA, the Pentagon's blue sky science and technology division.

The agency's Information Processing Techniques Office announced Wednesday that it's looking for information on "the creation of micro- and nano-scale display technologies for the purpose of creating displays that could be worn as transparent contact lenses." And not in some far-off future. But in "three to five years."

A limiting factor to untethered augmented and/or mixed reality applications is the bulkiness, power consumption, cost, limited resolution, and limited field of view of head-mounted displays. DARPA seeks to leap beyond incremental, evolutionary enhancement of head-mounted display technologies to a see-through contact lens on which images can be displayed. This information might be command-and-control information, not unlike information provided to players of first-person, shooter-type video games or synthetic entities and effects in a live training environment.

But all kinds of questions remain - from manufacturing to power to wireless data transfer. Even basics, like which display technologies would be used, remain. Maybe lasers, DARPA suggests. Maybe light-emitting diodes. Or maybe something else entirely will give troops this video game vision.

The materials behind real-life invisibility cloaks could even factor in, sorta. DARPA is talking about spending $3 million next year on "transparent displays" -- and you'd certainly want your Halo 3-esque contacts to be transparent. The key to those displays would be "metamaterials," the strange substances that can bend certain frequencies of light around them.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
lets say for the sake of argument you opponents have no formal training at all. Video games or otherwise. Just issued a riffle.

pushing a button on a controller is in no way anything like using a real gun.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim

Originally posted by: CKDragon

Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
Humans can adapt amazingly fast in life or death scenarios though. Anyways I was just thinking how dangerous it would be to invade the United states. WE have a shit load of guns and even the fat ass nerds have some basic combat skills.

edit: im not accusing anyone of being a fatass nerd.

On some level you've got a point, but I think most of us here have seen the internet videos of children and teenagers training with REAL guns in the Middle East.

They may have better aim initially and faster reload time. But I've got over 15k ranked murders in halo 3. over 100 hours of combat simulation.

lmao...seriously?....no....just, no...