The United States Army is making another foray into gaming. This time they didn't make a game, though. Instead, they built an entire arcade.
The New York Times reports that the Army opened an arcade, dubbed the "Army Experience Center," in the Franklin Mills mall in Philadelphia back in August. The $13 million facility, stocked with "mostly shoot-’em-up video games and three full-scale simulators, including an AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter, an armed Humvee and a Black Hawk copter with M4 carbine assault rifles" costs about the same amount to run as the five smaller recruitment areas it replaced (not counting initial building expenses).
The intent of the center is to boost the Army's visibility in urban centers. Recruitment is much stronger in rural areas, where most military bases are located, despite the fact that the bulk of the nation's population is located in urban areas. "We want to put people in the Army, but that’s about our third priority," said First Sgt. Randy Jennings, one of the officers who supervises the Army Experience Center. “Most people think joining the Army means being a grunt, and that Iraq equals death. We try to show them that there’s more to the Army than carrying a gun. If people come in here and they learn that but they don’t join, that’s O.K.”
Even if recruitment isn't their number one priority, enlistment numbers probably the only quantifiable way to determine the effectiveness of the Center. It's tougher to measure, say, how informed local youths are about the Army because they visited the Center and played Ghost Recon. The Center's ability to attract recruits is what will determine whether additional arcades are opened in other cities across the country. So how have they done with recruiting? According to the NY Times article, 35 visitors to the Center have enlisted in the Army since it opened in August, "slightly below the previous recruitment rate at the five smaller stations."
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The United States Army is making another foray into gaming. This time they didn't make a game, though. Instead, they built an entire arcade.
