Aussie military using games to attract recruits

by Kyle Orland { May 2nd 2008 at 6:00PM }

Taking a cue from America's army and, er, America's Army, the Australian military is also using online games to pump up flagging recruitment numbers. As the New Zealand Herald reports, Australia's Defence Jobs web site allows visitors to control crude, Flash versions of ARV Tiger Attack Helicopters, F/A-18 Hornets and more.

The games aren't exactly new (JayIsGames discussed one of them back in 2004) but they're getting increased attention now as a way for military recruitment to compete with a fierce job market. "It is critical to the future of the ADF that Generation Y and beyond can access and interact with recruiting information via the technology they are comfortable with," said Defence Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon, who sounds extremely old.

Two of the Air Force games have recorded over 300,000 plays, according to the Herald report, which might not seem like much compare to America's Army's 8+ million users. Remember, though, that America's defense budget exceeds Australia's (and indeed, the rest of the world's) by leaps and bounds. Whoo! We're No. 1! Don't mess with the U.S.! These colors don't run! And so on ...

Tags: air force, AirForce, army, australia, flash, military, navy, new-zealand-herald, recruitment

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

MrShadowSlayer(PSN) @ May 2nd 2008 6:28PM

Wait. Hold up. The Australians have an Army?!

Zoot Suit Jedi @ May 2nd 2008 6:54PM

Man, you totally beat me to it. I was like "I'm sorry, the Aussie what?!?"

TrojanGuy @ May 2nd 2008 6:56PM

http://www.atari-shop.nl/kangaroo.jpg

Linkdead @ May 2nd 2008 6:35PM

You have to fight the kangaroo threat somehow.

Nick the Hero of Canton @ May 2nd 2008 6:43PM

So games that actually recruit you to the army where you can kill actual people are acceptable in this world but games with no realism are not?

343 Guilty Fart @ May 2nd 2008 6:43PM

OMG it's like what Glen Beck said, video games were developed by the military industrial complex to indoctrinate our youth to kill kill kill!!!

Gareth @ May 2nd 2008 6:44PM

These colour's don't run? You do know that Iron Maiden are British?

Neebs @ May 2nd 2008 6:49PM

It's an American thing too.

Foetoid @ May 2nd 2008 7:51PM

It's kinda sad when the rest of the world doesnt know the basic facts about the land-down-under. The fact is, Australia is just as big and beautiful, with the same technologies and infrastructure as the US, but with only 20 million people. Australia is the biggest exporter in the world of:

Coal, Wool, Alumina, Diamonds, Sheep, Lead, Refined zinc ores and Mineral sands.

a lot of which are vital to the rest of the world. It might be worth noting that the 2 main allies to the US-lead forces in Iraq, are England and Australia. It shits me a bit when people think we're a backwater country catching up with everyone else. Our unemployment rate is MUCH lower than the US, our homeless rate is like 1/10th of the US, our tax system works 10x better, and we're a far richer country per capita. The only thing we are a little behind on is high-speed internet. Most people can only access a max of 8mbs, adsl2+ is available to some areas of capital cities with a 24mbs peak speed. Educate yourselves:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia

Nick @ May 2nd 2008 9:36PM

You forgot to mention the Kangaroos.

Grimm @ May 2nd 2008 11:32PM

Amen man I don't know why all these idiots are talking trash on aussie. I love Australia and plan on moving there in the future so my children can have a better life. Australia has so much more to offer then this fat and racist country. It's also worth noting that Australia has it's own special forces team and it's one of the best in the world. Only special forces we have that compare are the SEAL's.

hvnlysoldr @ May 4th 2008 5:57PM

Every country is racist. Others are just more homogeneous than the US. And no I don't forget that Australia was one of the countries right there on D-Day.

Foetoid @ May 2nd 2008 7:53PM

You do know that it's not like we've got kangaroos just roaming the streets. Your best chance of ever seeing one is in a zoo. There are plenty out in the bush, but hardly anyone lives there.

Foetoid @ May 2nd 2008 7:54PM

Stupid reply system. That was meant for Linkdead.

journeyman @ May 3rd 2008 1:31AM

Australian Soldier here.

Just so you know, we've had these little flash games for years - I'm not sure if it was before that full-on "America's Army" thing (which I've never played, but I hear cost quite a bit to make). We're certainly not 'taking a cue' from them.

And yes, we clearly do have an army - we're in the 'green' (defensive) zones in Afghanistan and Iraq (possibly soon to be just Afghanistan) sorting out the shitfight left over by the regime changes, and also in East Timor and the Solomon Islands sorting out the mess from recent Military Coups.

Foetoid @ May 3rd 2008 4:27AM

Hey it's good to see a soldier on here. I've been trying to join the army since mid-06 but i keep getting knocked back because my previous work history doesnt show any commitment and they dont think i can commit to the army (which is fair enough). I'm wanting to join the army as an Information Systems Technitian deployable in a Communications Node (yeah i've dont my reseach). What exactly do you do.