Call of Duty - video games preparing children for war?

Boom! Headshot! Use the claymores! Call in an airstrike! Any of this stuff familiar to Call of Duty fans?

Call of Duty and Battlefield video games seem to be even more popular than every these days. We've got 10 year olds flying helicopters leading a team into battle talking about weapons I've never even heard of. And they go crazy for this shit.

Does anyone else wonder though whether it is a simple game or whether there is an overall objective of making war seem normal, even fun in the hope that some people will join the forces and serve their country on the front line?

Back in the day you had adverts like this:

But times have changed and a simple poster? Nah that's not good enough to recruit the next generation of killing machines. How about creating a game based on killing and becoming a hero so when they do finally join they'll fit in nicely.

In fact, how about making the controls for a Challenger 2 Battle Tank very similar to a Playstation controller?

Yep, check the similarities between a real tank controller and a Playstation controller.

Obviously playing a game isn't going to prepare a kid for war but surely it will feed a kid with enough of a buzz to think how exciting it could be to really be out there, the same way kids get a good feeling associated with eating a Mc Donalds happy meal (because they get a 'free' toy).

My opinion is that most definitely - yes this is a way to recruit youngsters to be future soldiers, after all, if you throw enough mud at a wall some will stick.

What do you think?

~C