Chris Ryan thinks us nerds would make good soldiers...

[ImprovizoR]

I'm not really a fan of killing in real life. In multiplayer games it's fun to kill because you can brag about it to people that you killed. That doesn't work if you actually kill people. In single player mode it's fun because of the story and because everyone likes to be a hero weather that hero is a modern soldier, a WW2 soldier, a knight, wizard, assassin or whatever.

But I can see his point. Gamers could maneuver those drones more easily than a real soldier.

Well...no

Because when I 'kill' someone on, say, TF2, I find it hilarious, as he dies with a funny scream and a hilarious animation. If he has voicechat, the guy curses. I laugh at my 'getting one over' this stranger, and I know he's still alive and compeltley unharmed

With a drone, I'd drop the payload, fly away and then spend every waking moment thereafter torturing myself over the fact that human beings with souls and lives and families and names DIED at my hand. And I didn't even give them any sort of warning or 'honour'. I didn't even look them in the face...give them a chance...give them anything at all except the painful oblivion of hot, sharp shrapnel

No thanks

You completely get it man.

 

[Doomsday11]

Either way, who says that they would spend all their time finding and killing people? There are plenty of people who simply run reconnaissance and whose sole job is to identify threats and ultimately keep more of our people alive.

Personally, if there's a way I can help serve my country without picking up a gun, I'm all over it.

Let's just say one thing. I don't support the current war effort. That is ultimately my reasoning, regardless of the position my skills could potentially offer.

so when your entire school/workplace get flattened by a homemade bomb by a religious fanatic who has no right to be angry at anything your just gonna sit back on principles and let these sorts of things continue get over your self of course the war being fought now isn't being done for either the right reasons morally or ethically still doesn't stop the Taliban from taking pot shots at UN convoys and innocent civilians.
OT: Yes something we've all known hand eye coordination skill improving devices would benefit the military greatly.

Sorry if this sounded unreasonable or out of proportion just in a bad mood

 

[Private Custard]

It's all fun and games until someone sends in a human shaped robot to teabag the corpses.

Fuck, could you imagine if the Daily Mail got hold of that story!!

 

[Section Crow]

give me a unlimited supply of lucozade to keep me twitchy and we have a deal

as for the guilt factor, i am pretty heartless so i think id do fine

 

[Slythernite]

I'm actually okay with this. Gamers would make good drone pilots. Period. Just not as good as a professional air force personnel. If the worst came to worse, I would consider being a drone pilot as long as there is absolutely no risk to myself; because I'm a wussy.

 

[jpoon]

Where do I sign up?

 

[Neuromaster]

Definitely not. Not only do I not want someone else's death on my conscience (even a bad guy), but let me paint you a picture:

You're a drone pilot. You've dropped your payload, no more missiles. Your drone is repurposed to provide nighttime IR surveillance for a nearby marine squad.

Said marines are ambushed by bad guys. You have to watch and listen, helplessly, as two or three of them are shot. Their life slips away before your eyes.

Half an hour later you're relieved and you drive home for pasta with the family, and that evening you lie down in bed next to your partner. Did you enjoy dinner? Will you sleep well that night?

I wouldn't. Maybe some would, but I wouldn't. I'd be very, very careful before equating real war to a video game. Maybe the mechanical skillsets of drone piloting & gaming are similar, but being a real soldier involves much more than being able to shoot straight.

 

[L-J-F]

Either way, who says that they would spend all their time finding and killing people? There are plenty of people who simply run reconnaissance and whose sole job is to identify threats and ultimately keep more of our people alive.

Personally, if there's a way I can help serve my country without picking up a gun, I'm all over it.

Let's just say one thing. I don't support the current war effort. That is ultimately my reasoning, regardless of the position my skills could potentially offer.

I wouldn't want to live under the Taliban that's for sure.

 

[ImprovizoR]

There is something you might want to take into consideration. Realism is totally unbalanced.

 

[zehydra]

Well, it'd be like playing a game on the hardest mode possible with one life.

So no.

You get a drone, it's not you fighting...

And as for all the guys going on about how you don't want to do it because you'd feel bad, what about the casualties of war? It could be their ticket back into things.

Although I must admit, I can't get images of City 17 out of my head...

but if you mess up with the drone, the consequences are much more grave than say, just losing a life in a game.

 

[Xanadu84]

An average gamer? No, not such a good idea.

But, a small percentage of those gamers, who are able to think beyond the game, acknowledge the differences, and learn the new, "Game" with the same sort of dedication and practical detachment of a game, might have a significant advantage. It would be kind of like going from Footbal to Baseball: Sure, its a completely different game, but there are similar skills, similar mindsets, and if you can adapt, it might not be a terrible start.

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

Whatever happened to that ethics argument about civilians piloting drones (and thus making them accessible targets via the Geneva Convention or whatnot)?

 

[Paksenarrion]

Well, except for griefers of course

Multiple friendly fire incidents followed by juvenile laughing? "Why are these drones hitting our tanks!?"

XD BILLIONS OF DOLLARS DOWN THE DRAIN DUE TO GRIEFERS: "WE DID IT FOR THE LULZ"

 

[13lackfriday]

No, I still don't find killing Muslims with a remote drone in Afghanistan from an armchair to be any bit "entertaining", thank you.

When people, especially gamers like us, start to lose the ability to distinguish between virtual killing and real-life murder, society at large will be pretty fucked.

That said, having the skills to do something is quite different from having the stomach for it.

 

[Naheal]

Well there was some study recently that said gamers have the hand-eye coordination of fighter pilots. But if thats all we've got going for us then we're pretty much screwed. Still, I volunteer all those high pitched 12 year olds on X-box live. They could use the experience.

We've also got a level of determination that's not often found outside.

 

[Lullabye]

Well, except for griefers of course

Multiple friendly fire incidents followed by juvenile laughing? "Why are these drones hitting our tanks!?"

XD BILLIONS OF DOLLARS DOWN THE DRAIN DUE TO GRIEFERS: "WE DID IT FOR THE LULZ"

We can't forget Rage Quitters now.

"FUCK! I MISSED HIM AGAIN! FUCK THIS!"
*afk*

Plus, what if we get gamers from other countries fighting gamers of our countries?
It would be like playing XBL all over again.
And inevitably, you would end up applying gamer terms to the combat and strategies

 

[Paksenarrion]

Well, except for griefers of course

Multiple friendly fire incidents followed by juvenile laughing? "Why are these drones hitting our tanks!?"

XD BILLIONS OF DOLLARS DOWN THE DRAIN DUE TO GRIEFERS: "WE DID IT FOR THE LULZ"

We can't forget Rage Quitters now.

"FUCK! I MISSED HIM AGAIN! FUCK THIS!"
*afk*

Plus, what if we get gamers from other countries fighting gamers of our countries?
It would be like playing XBL all over again.
And inevitably, you would end up applying gamer terms to the combat and strategies

"...did that drone just teabag that other drone as it plummeted down to its death?"

 

[ShadowsofHope]

so when your entire school/workplace get flattened by a homemade bomb by a religious fanatic who has no right to be angry at anything your just gonna sit back on principles and let these sorts of things continue get over your self of course the war being fought now isn't being done for either the right reasons morally or ethically still doesn't stop the Taliban from taking pot shots at UN convoys and innocent civilians.

Sorry if this sounded unreasonable or out of proportion just in a bad mood

Then come back with a little bit better mood later, and I'll speak with you reasonably.

I have no issue with the troops defending the common citizen from the Taliban, or Al Queda. It is the Iraqi War (Occupation/Invasion) I was opposed to mainly, Afghanistan is a murky matter I more for positively than negatively. So don't give me the rant about my principals. As long as the Western powers are in the Middle East, they will always be under threat. Whether or not I support it changes nothing of that fact.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

Either way, who says that they would spend all their time finding and killing people? There are plenty of people who simply run reconnaissance and whose sole job is to identify threats and ultimately keep more of our people alive.

Personally, if there's a way I can help serve my country without picking up a gun, I'm all over it.

Let's just say one thing. I don't support the current war effort. That is ultimately my reasoning, regardless of the position my skills could potentially offer.

I wouldn't want to live under the Taliban that's for sure.

I don't know anyone whom would, no less.