Mods, Nay! Tournaments, Yay! - The Appropriation of Contemporary Game Culture by the U.S. Military

Abstract

This paper analyses the official U.S. Army PC-game, America's Army, against the backdrop of the ongoing war on terror and the military-entertainment complex. It considers the dual role of the game as a recruiting tool and a propaganda instrument. The expansion of the military-entertainment complex has significant consequences for the militarisation of the domestic sphere and youth popular culture. Whereas commercial game developers and publishers are eager to tap into First Person Shooter mod communities in order to institutionalise both cultural and economic value-exchanges, it is impossible to modify the official U.S. Army Game in any way. Yet, a closer look at America' s Army and its community shows the appropriation of various other elements of contemporary game culture: for instance, clan culture, LAN-parties and various forms of fan production. The analysis of America's Army and its community demonstrates that the appropriation of game culture has serious political-ideological implications

Keywords

• computer games
• game networks
• military uses of computers games