A few things about America’s Army:
It may (I am 90%, but not 100% sure of this) have been the first PC, online, FPS to feature ragdoll physics for dead players.
It employed a… rather baffling way of doing team conflicts:
You are always on Team America, and the opposing team is always Team Generic Terrorists. (With 80s/90s movie era costumes for the bad guys, dependent on map location)
What this results in is… you have your M4. You are shooting at bad guys with AK74su’s. But… from the opposing team’s POV, its the same.
So, if you kill someone… you can now pick up an AK74su. Even though from their POV they dropped an M4.
And so on, with rough equivalents as an SVD and an M110, an RPK and an M249.
These ‘picked up’ weapons would basically morph into having the ballistics of the Eastern Bloc weapon at the point they were picked up.
Very weird, I’ve never seen another game do that.
The game also had a good number of training courses, many of which were initially bugged as all hell.
I remember the SERE course failing me consistently, showing that I had been detected by guards who are apparently able to see through boulders or 30 feet of a hill (the camera would show you how you were spotted like a ‘deathcam’ and it was quite obvious it was often total bs).
Also, in certain training missions it was possible to shoot your instructor.
This would result in you being sent to the brig: Log in to your account, and for a week, all you get is a view from inside a prison cell, no game menus or options at all, rofl.
Oh, final thing: I am pretty sure this was the first online PC FPS that modelled that M203 projectiles must travel a certain distance before the explosive charge will detonate, so taking out someone with an M203 round to the face, non explosively, became a way to humiliate people, as you either had to be pretty skilled to do it , or your opponent had to have very poor situational awareness.
Also, in certain training missions it was possible to shoot your instructor.
This would result in you being sent to the brig: Log in to your account, and for a week, all you get is a view from inside a prison cell, no game menus or options at all, rofl.
Hilarious! I guess adding permadeath to the game would’nt’ve helped with the recruiting mission, but this feels like it’s in the same spirit.
The game had a whole system of ranks and qualifications based off actual Army ranks and skills.
You had to do pretty comprehensive medical training before you could be a field medic, you had to qualify as a marksman to be able to use a DMR, you had to pass the SERE school before I think night time missions and NVGs could be used, had to complete parachute training before levels you’d paradrop into, etc, and these would become available as you reached a certain number of kills or successful missions or what not.
Basically, it had a persistent progression system, and it was quite in depth…
… And if you did things like tons of team killing, or killing the instructor, not only would you end up in the brig… you’d have basically all of your progress reset.
Its about as close as you can get to permadeath in a round based, pvp shooter.
RoE RoE RoE your boat, gently down the stream
How extensive was the medical training really?
I recall it being fully simulated. You had to walk into a class room and sit down and watch a like 45min (maybe? Idk this was over a decade ago) presentation on an overhead where an instructor went over a combat life saver course. You’d have a test to answer with multiple choice questions that you had to pass at the end lol
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Another fun fact about the game is it has a surprisingly robust audio system built in. I had a clan member who could pinpoint exactly where an enemy was on certain maps (pipeline I think?) just by the sound their footsteps were making and the direction/proximity to his location.
Also, shout-out to all the boys out there that did the precision m203 artillery bombing on bridge! I remember getting good enough to hit each of the individual cover posts. I spent so much time playing this game.
This would result in you being sent to the brig: Log in to your account, and for a week, all you get is a view from inside a prison cell, no game menus or options at all, rofl.
shooting at dead bodies also put you in jail but I think it was only for 15 or 30 minutes or something certainly not a full week
You are always on Team America, and the opposing team is always Team Generic Terrorists. (With 80s/90s movie era costumes for the bad guys, dependent on map location)
The enemy is dumb, they think we’re the enemy but they are the enemy!
Theres a metaphor there somewhere…
Oh, final thing: I am pretty sure this was the first online PC FPS that modelled that M203 projectiles must travel a certain distance before the explosive charge will detonate, so taking out someone with an M203 round to the face, non explosively, became a way to humiliate people, as you either had to be pretty skilled to do it , or your opponent had to have very poor situational awareness.
Oh wow, it is maybe a first. I remember doing that in Modern Warfare 2 quite a bit, but didn’t realize how much this game pre-dates it.
Oh, final thing: I am pretty sure this was the first online PC FPS that modelled that M203 projectiles must travel a certain distance before the explosive charge will detonate
In SOI this was referred to as the fuck zone, because it was 14-34 meters (this is 15 years ago, memory’s hazy). Crude joke, but effective mnemonoic device. Was related to the number of rotations for the round.
In my civilian life, handled a case before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals related to mortar rounds, and his contracted had been terminated because the paint thickness had an effect on the arming distance.
So, I worked on this. I built their in game support system (irc backed!), wrote a bunch of the web auth code, and accidentally once deleted the production user database from the secondary site (whew, disabled and re-replicated from primary).
It was a lot of fun and got me a trip to E3 back when it was the big thing.
It was an interesting concept because no matter what, you would play the american side and fight the terrorists. (you would look like a terrorist to the other team)
I just want to say, your work on that game absolutely would’ve contributed to making my high-school years better. Me and my social group played this game constantly, spent tons of hours playing SF Refinery 😂 From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much!!
They parked a few vehicles outside the E3 convention center:
Holy shit, I was there that year! I remember that!
Any idea what those pads they are parked on are made out of?
pad
(why does it look like carpeting?!)
I was thinking it looks like cork board
Concrete is too hot in the sun, melts the tracks. Grass is too ticklish, the tanks get all giggly if left on it.
Carpet is a good middle ground.
I recall they lowered guys out of a helicopter on ropes one year, too. It was hilarious to walk around the floor at E3 and see CoD or whatever guys in their fakey-looking booth bro costumes pass real army guys wearing real uniforms passing out enlistment info and ads for America’s Army. Why pay booth bros when you can just assign some soldiers you’re already paying?
The first iteration had a rules of war/ethics type system where as well as K/D ratios etc. it gave you a rank for how well you obeyed the rules of war. I remember I number of articles talking about how abysmally low all the scores were.
The game was such a realistic representation of the US army that players could just war crime to their hearts content with no repercussions.
First match I played after the training I panicked and ended up killing a team mate and ended up at Leavenworth lmao never played again after that.
It was actually pretty good. I remember having to pass an ingame training course to use the medic class. I still vaguely remember how to apply a tourniquet lol
Yeah the game was shockingly good for what it was
That was such a pain in the ass, 10mins in I finally think to myself “wait, this is supposed to be fun, why am I watching class in a game?” dropped the game and nvr came back
I also remember playing the ingame training but not the actual game. I don’t remember intentionally quitting like you did, but I don’t think I finished it either.
I still vaguely remember how to apply a tourniquet lol
Do blood sweep on individual. On the affect limb place tourniquet high and tight into the groin/armpit as possible. Velcro firmly. Twist stick until you think the stick will break (ignore screams of person you’re applying it to). Write the time on the tourniquet so the medics know what to do about it later.
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I remember from my own time in recruit training they taught us to kneel on the affected artery while we were applying the tourniquet
This was in the original training! A step in the original classes that kind of vanished in the later trainings (from my memory at least). I think most people missed the artery when they slammed their knees into people anyway. I dunno, I didn’t ask so I don’t recall why that step kind of vanished. Probably no longer trained because it got in the way of people getting it high enough as well. I bet it would still help if performed correctly though.
The last 2 points seem to be extra important, especially ignoring the screams
I think when it first released in 2002 they would have taught two inches above the wound. High and tight for all purposes came later as the default trained procedure.
It’s slightly above the wound (2 inch) not highest up. Also never on a joint. One tourniquet might not stop the bleed, then you need to place another one higher than the previous one.
It’s slightly above the wound (2 inch) not highest up.
It used to be that… it was revised a few years later. The idea being that you don’t know if that limb has other trauma as well, internal bleeding and such… No point in only stopping the visible bleed if you missed another one that was higher on the limb. In combat, expending the energy to identify the little details isn’t worth it when the real answer is to get the person back to medics and you need to focus on your job of shooting the enemy.
Of course this all depends on how your unit is structured anyway. I got much different training in the pathfinder unit I was in, who are a forward unit that may not have ANY medical personnel available. Our unit had embedded medics who taught us what they specifically expect from us since we would have limited resources when air-dropped in… Much different SOP. But the above is what I remember the last basic tourniquet training to be.
I heard on a podcast a long time ago that the Army considered it one of their most successful recruiting tools. Not because it brought in more recruits, but because fewer recruits dropped out, apparently because playing the game led to fewer surprises after joining.
Til
The special forces test was hard.
For the written test. there’s parts where you would be shown a helicopter for 100 milliseconds then have to remember the configuration, number of rotors, ordinance… Or you see a tank for a split second and have to correctly identify the barrel measurements and other little details.
The stealth mission was difficult too. I managed to be a medic and a ranger but not special forces.
The special forces test was nuts, was playing on a friend’s account at the time but it boiled down to just crawling through the lowest point along the entire path. Literally the entire mission you’re in a drainage or small creek just crawling and going stealth. I can’t remember if you eventually fight or do anything, I just remember the two hours of crawling on the ground to go undetected.
After I got the SF certification you could play this map called Hospital where you’re extracting a VIP while an insurgent team is trying to kill him. So much fucking fun. I loved this game. Yvan eht nioj
That’s when I stopped playing. I think I was an hour in before I got spotted and then wasn’t going to spend another 2 hours literally crawling.
LOL. Played that game for years. Did the whole clan thing. It was pretty good fun
Pretty sure I got a copy from the army recruiter at my school. It ran slow as shit on my parents ’ janky ass Gateway, so I never got to really play it.
People were in an uproar over “indoctrination” by the game. If your child can be convinced to join the army by playing that game… maybe it’s for the best.
Ya, idk how this would recruit someone into infantry. I played it for a little bit and it was a getting shot simulator. Idk if I ever even saw someone on the other team.
Every game I play teaches me that I will immediately die in real life if anything bad ever happens.
Every FPS - shot dead immediately. No respawning.
Scary game - heart attack immediately.
Every sword game - maimed horrifically.
Zombie apocalypse - eaten immediately, and I’ll turn into a fat one that explodes later.
Every sword game - maimed horrifically.
I seem to recall Bushido Blade crudely implemented this in the late 90’s, introducing rudimentary disablements on a Fallout-style limb system that would slow you down if you took a slash to the leg, or render your hand ineffective if you were struck there.
The slow march into middle age is making my memories fuzzy.
Bushido Blade was our jam back in the day.
They was also a really cool samurai game called Way of the Samurai (i think) that had complex combat, and like 100 different ending or something.
Way of the Samurai is amazing. 3&4 are on GOG if memory serves. In 4, you can literally get an ending by getting right back on your boat and fucking off to a less murdery town.
Yep those games are also very funny lol, I didn’t get it at first when I played as a teen, but trying it again I see I was just dumb and impatient.
Oh sweet, I had no idea there’s was more than 2. Thanks
To be fair, it was a video game aimed at children to teach them how to be good soldiers during a time when the US was entering a deeply unpopular war under false pretenses.
Around the same time there were all sorts of lawsuits surrounding video games and their effects on children, so maybe it was a double whammy.
Regardless of any claims for or against violent video games, the Army shouldn’t be recruiting like that.
Shit, that game was fun to pass the time, but never once did it inspire me to enlist.
Do you remember when people figured out, on certain maps… stand exactly here (in spawn), fire a grenade launcher at this exact pixel in the skybox, and 80% of the enemy team is now dead?
We had those but nade throws in the original call of duty.
Was a good way to end up getting kicked if you did it in the first 10 seconds on some servers.
Played the Hill capture point map a lot (48east) it was a really simple shot from either side once you saw someone do it. But a server full of regulars could kinda police that shit.
Played this a lot. My favorite map is bridge.
Same.
Something soo satisfying about shooting snipers who thought you should stick the barrel out if the upstairs windows
This game and the OG Planetside both taught me the simple joys of fighting for/on a bridge.
You can have a huge overworld, you can have an intricate map with all the lanes and passageways you want, but, in the end, the (much, much older) children yearn for the bridge.
Yes the map is beautiful but the kill lines here at the bridge are
when_the_light_hits_the_hills.pacha
It had a reporting system. If you reported someone for camping, the vote would be turned against you and if people agreed you were kicked. 😂
AA2 and AA3 were legitimately great games.
Had big vans parked on the UT Campus lawn paid for with Pentagon money, where you could play the game right next to a real live military recruiter.
I like to think about this while I’m looking at videos of Palestinian student protesters getting maced, tackled, and dragged away by campus security.
🎶Yvan eht nioj🎶
I prefer the superliminal messaging, personally.
HEY YOU, JOIN THE NAVY!
Superliminal is why I joined the Navy.
Bush’s War on Peace was a wild time back in the early days.
