I have played the Military variant of Arma. It's like the Civilian variant but with higher fidelity of some vehicles and weapons specific made to train crews of those vehicles. And other maps made for the country edition. We had the local exercise ground in game so we could simulate in game and then practice in real life.
VBS is a really cool system. I watched Bohemia's demonstrations of the product, and I could only dream of having something like that. Maybe we'll see some of VBS' technologies in the next Arma game, but I doubt it.
I too have used the Bohemia Interactive program for digital Stryker gunnery (forgot the table). It also has the same keybinds as ARMA. So after a quick Google search, myself and my driver were able to dismount our vehicle, maneuver on another truck crew in our platoon, gain fire superiority, and neutralize them. All professionally of course, as you'd expect when you give a bunch of infantrymen software that definitely isn't a 1st person shooter (they absolutely sucked and need to get gud). We made the contractor that ran the facility very happy that day lol
Arma 3 has a tutorial on how to use a map and compass. One mission drops you behind enemy lines in Cold War East Germany with a wrist watch and a compass, and you have to make your way back to friendly territory.
Take your buddies into Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and play in the hardcore mode where if you die, your game save deletes itself. See how differently they play when "if you die, you die"
Nothing says realism like having your point of view being a 2.5 metre camera above your head so you can see over walls and around corners without ever exposing your body.
I've been in the Army for 10 years and as a squad leader I've used games like Door Kickers 2 Task Force North and multiple VR games such as Tactical Assault VR to teach CQB. I've also used Arma to teach landnav, call for fires, and using created scenarios to send spot reports, uxo reports, and obstacle reports. My hardest part of showing how video games into training was convincing higher-ups who only see gaming as useless play things to understand just how useful ot is and how new soldiers pick it up instantly vs traditional training methods
Arma developers are the same developers for EST2000 program. I learn and familiarize weapons system in combat scenario in video games like EST2000 program but it doesn't achieve the actual in real life situation. I can see why US military try to implement virtual and reality to train troops. In video games it is very lack of discipline. I play Squad and Arma. They all have pros and cons but its good to have virtual and reality combinations to train.
@@davidb9323I maybe play a few hours of video games a week anymore and it’s mostly rpg games and a lot of it isn’t based around guns anymore. On the other hand I go the range for several hours every weekend and so by comparison my comment holds up. What was your point?
@@Walter_Stroudis point was either you're delusional or you're bullshiting so you somehow can look cool to strangers and a comment section to a video that ain't going to be seen by many. When you said you shoot more in real life than you do in games now a days, that is suggesting you're playing shooter games not role-playing games that don't have shooting involved. Because otherwise why in the hell would you even make the statement? If you play Call of Duty for an hour I don't give a fuk how much of a weekend warrior you are at the flat range you're not shooting more ammunition. He called you out for your bullshiting and his point was valid. Whether you are bullshiting or not, you sure as hell sound like it and don't make sense
If you guys haven't heard of it, "Hotdogs, Horseshoes, and hand grenades" is a great vr gun simulator. You play as and fight virtual hotdogs, so it's not serious in that sense, but the weapons and manipulation are very detailed and as accurate as the dev team can make them. They've actually just implemented NVGs and ir lights/lasers. It's still being worked on, and I think it's well worth the $20 to have a virtual gun simulator.
I was amazed at the weapon manipulation detail in the game. The shape of the hand controllers won't give you equivalent reps on real steel, but man it's fun. There is a unique excitement in facing down a hotdog and having your gun do nothing because the safety is still on.
Insurgency Sandstorm does ammo management really well in my opinion. Hold the reload button to check mag status, tap reload to do a slower admin style reload and maintain the partial mag or double tap reload and preform a speed reload, but you lose that mag and any remaining rounds.
Insurgency Sandstorm feels incredible good when it comes to weapon handling. The night vision is also one of the best i've seen with the lighting. It fails on so many other levels though unfortunately. Like map design, day time lighting, weather, map sizes. All in all it's a pretty sterile and stylized experience. They also failed to update core game mechanics over the years, like ai, commander mode. A true hybrid between inss and arma eould be amazing. games like Squad hll aso. are also to "formularic".
It's a tricky balancing act between the two extremes: casual "arcade" franchises like CoD or Battlefield, and the more realistic sandbox simulators like ArmA (or the old and very clunky "America's Army" recruiting software, discs of which were handed out for free c. 2002, and in which you would literally sit through classes with PPT presentations covering a wide range of real world subject matter, in real time). To my delight, I discovered that real world principles of land navigation were applicable in mods/games like DayZ, with the added wrinkle of maps and road signs being in Russian rather than English. Veterans will tell you that most of the military experience is of the "hurry up and wait" variety (or worse), which would be incredibly boring to recreate for the average user. This means careful compromise in game mechanics design is the order of the day, as well as in UX/UI design, as we're filtering fine motor skills through a keyboard/mouse or console controller...that's like duct-taping holiday hams to your fists and trying to pick a bike lock. Extreme granularity of realism always runs the risk of hitting a point of diminishing returns that completely nukes user immersion (player fantasy) and the "fun" factor. Even for most hardcore milsim players (a rather masochistic demographic, if we're being honest), there must be an accomplishment-satisfaction cycle for the experience to endure and be considered successful. And all of this is just addressing base functionality...we haven't even tucked into whether or not said experience represents viable training for real world application. In my experience, the real secret sauce for high fidelity milsim games/simulators is always, always a strong and serious-minded player community. I really love this topic. Great thought exercise potential. To answer your question, my preferred "realism"-focused games/IPs (in no particular order): - Rainbow Six 1-3 - SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs - Ghost Recon - ArmA 3 - DayZ mod / DayZ SA - Squad - Insurgency / Insurgency: Sandstorm (this is borderline arcade, a compromise between extremes) - Hell Let Loose (also borderline arcade) - Escape from Tarkov
There's no games that fully recreate the real experience of soldiering , so they're not "viable training" by themselves. However, they can serve as a valuable part of a training curriculum when it comes to introducing key concepts and techniques. They can also aid in memorizing locations with sufficient fidelity and attentive design. Think of it as a more engaging alternative to reading books and manuals.
I love sandstorm. Best mix of both and the focus on infantry gameplay is fantastic. I remember seeing a teammate walk into a room and immediately get waxed. I realized the enemy was behind the open door. Shot through the open door and the enemy collapsed. Very satisfying and still fast paced enough to be fun
The classic MW COD lobby clip was not something I was ready for. Oh my god, that was out pocket lmfao Tarkov was the one that taught me about weapons and all the different limitations/modifications per weapon, Ready or not taught me actual tactics/critical thinking within that regard and arma/squad taught me the implementation of the other games on a wider scale
I had never thought of the difficulty of maps and not having GPS till I played ARMA. It made me learn a whole new concept that I am so happy to have learned. On a side note I learned to drive a standard transmission from playing Gran Turismo 2 and 3 and I have never ground a gear in the almost dozen normal, HD and HP vehicles I have driven in real life
As ridiculous as it sounds, video game skills can carry over to real life. At a high level, video games teach you how to solve problems (when/how to fight, retreat, manage resources, etc). Of course, the degree to which this knowledge carries over to real life is determined by the authenticity of the game mechanics, and no game thus far is 100% authentic. That being said, I'm confident that someone who has had exposure to these concepts via video games will learn the irl skills faster and potentially become more competent than someone who hasn't.
I've been writing essays about this topic for years, but I've never published them. I'm glad that it's being discussed now, because I haven't heard anyone bring it up before tbh. People often make the mistake of focusing on the 'hard' skills aspect, and they'll often argue, 'no, a videogame won't help you. You won't learn how to reload, you won't learn how to aim, you won't improve physical stamina, etc. etc.' And it's like, yeah, no duh. Nobody with a brain thinks that, but I've always maintained that these games do indeed help with the 'soft' skill side of things. I learned a lot about tactics from playing games like ArmA, a lot of stuff that I would think is somewhat applicable to real life. For example, not staying in one position for very long during combat, tactical positioning, how to read a map, how artillery works, how to maximize survivability during bombardments, how combined arms works among other things. Now, did these games make me a modern Alexander? Obviously not, but I believe my understanding has grown to be far beyond the average layman and I have these realistic shooter games to thank for that. Soon I will be starting my actual military career, and I suppose I'll just have to wait and see if what I've learned is really applicable, but I think there will be more that's applicable than most people realize. Maybe more so for potential officers though, I don't know.
I'm glad a based channel produces techy and more nerdy content. I'm an FFL and Second Amendment absolutist. But I'm also a gamer, Linux user for all my desktops, laptops and servers and a programmer. Understanding technology, especially open source platforms, is the balancer of the disparity in power between the government and the average citizen.
Hey! While this video is fresh, the footage captioned as Arma Reforger (2022) is actually Arma 3 (2013). (Using CUP or RHS assets in Takistan i believe)
For real tho. Growing up my parents were Fudds. You know like they thought you should only use revolvers because semi auto handguns were “unreliable” much less owning a AR-15. So I learned manual of arms from COD ghost. And it definitely translated
I don't know how your parents could be old enough to argue only using revolvers when reliable semi-auto's have been around since the early 1900's but also young enough that you would learn how to use guns from a bad 2013 game.
"Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier" (2012) has my heart ❤ it introduced me to what today's small arms conflicts would be like today... Drones n AR's
I grew up with nova logics delta force series, Jane’s USAF, and the rainbow six. Jane’s USAF was amazing in its instructional style and detail of capabilities. In early 90’s it explained to a kid how to fly a stealth fighter correctly and use laser munitions and gps munitions.
When I was avidly playing the best combat flight simulator out there, DCS, I knew the Apache completely and knew it well enough to fly semi-realistic custom missions with actual pilots in game. The best part of that was they were able to create a complex combined arms scenario with real people that I had to communicate with via multiple radios across multiple channels. And that was some of the most realistic civilian to professional military/police simulation I've ever experienced because it was seriously difficult and I needed the real officer to assist me. I was trying to juggle comms with first of all my pilot, then I had to communicate with other helos in our flight, and I had to communicate with a different set of helos that were about to do an air assault, and I also had to communicate with multiple jets entering and exiting the battle space, and finally I believe someone was on comms simulating ground forces. And I had to juggle all of this while still doing my "job" of being the co-pilot gunner. Scanning for threats, looking where the pilot needed me to, manipulating the weapon systems etc. It was nearly impossible considering I had no preparation and very little military radio simulation other than basic squad comms and some basic beginner ATC. If you're into military simulation style games, you need to at least once figure out a way in your style of game (infantry, tank, flight etc) to organize a large scale mission where everyone has to utilize proper radio communication. It's wild.
The Metal Gear games are what got me into guns and gear initially. Another thing that seems pretty interesting is meeting gun guys online from other countries besides the US. Most of them are from countries that prohibit ownership of firearms, but a lot of them are into guns because they want a specific gun they've used in whatever tactical shooter they were playing at the time. I've known some of them to get into airsoft in their country, if that isn't prohibited, and train with analogs to their dream gun.
For comms, I like how in Arma Reforger you can take the enemies radio and listen in on them and on some servers you can talk back to them. This future makes people be more mindful of how much detail on what to say about their location and plans on objectives.
Battlefield 1942 and battlefield badcompany/3 introduced me (and the world) the combined warfare. As well as, the idea that you cannot just camp in one spot. Having destructible environments taught a lot of people that cover is sometimes just concealment.
Not many people remember "full spectrum warrior" for xbox, even less knew it was a direct xbox port of an actual us army training game to teach squad leader tactics.
I have to recommend a deep dive into a PC virtual reality headset with the Valve Index Knuckles. Games like "Contractor$ PMC", "Tactical Assault VR", and soon "Geronimo VR"
Great stuff, Isaac! I remember getting that first real feeling of I feel like I am actually starting to understand what a special ops guy actually does in Ghost Recon. Thanks for the Leroy J, that got an actual LOL.
As a police officer in Brazil, I believe that games (not all, obviously, but some specific ones) can be used as a kind of tool that will assist in training, in a practical, relatively cheap and functional way. Great video and congratulations on the topic!
Great Video, I am slightly dissapointed that the OG Counterstrike did not make it into the list of Videogames and I think Black Hawk Down would have very well fit into the "Hollywood" List.
In my opinion I think leaning into "realism" can offer interesting game play choices. Take ammo for instance. With the magic ammo pool, the only choice is "do I have time to wait 1.3 seconds for a reload?". With more realistic magazine management, the choices increase to not only the time decision, but also "should I drop this mag to reload quicker?" "should I do a fresh reload before going into a new situation?" etc. In my mind as a game creator it has nothing to do with imitating reality, it's all about providing the player with meaningful choices. Because that's all a game is; a series of choices where you try to "solve" situations as best as possible
Escape From Tarkov really tought me about firearms modifications and gear as well as ammo managements and medical utilities. From the tactics perspective older Rainbow six titles and Squad got me into learning communication and decision making, and made me think about that choice that brings a lesser malus to the situation! Great vid!
Fun fact: I grew up learning landnav, starting at 4 or 5 parents had me triangulating my location in the mountains as a form of play for some reason, but orienteering in Operation Flashpoint and Arma series as a teenager was actually a whole new level of difficulty for me. Lack of peripheral vision and the innate human ability to sorta orient oneself in space meant that identifying features (which weren't exactly unique or easily identifiable because large world in a game = copied assets) and using the compass all the time was the only way to really. Lack of the ability to count my steps also introduced a whole new layer of complexity. Great stuff.
MicroProse Falcon 3.0, Falcon 4.0, RedViper, Command and Conquer, and Command and Conquer Generals launched me into a military career spanning over a decade.I remember when American Army came out and there was a news article on how someone used the medical skills in the game (which was literally a virtual Self-Aid Buddy Care course that any military branch would put on) and actually saved someone's life. In addition to the above, Counter Strike (both 1.6 and Source), Rainbow Six:Rouge Spear, and CoD4 really introduced me to firearms. Right now I use a full motion flight simulator at my flight school and MSFS2020 to help me pursue my flight training career.
To me, the most benefit (or lessons) that I get from playing online and competitive games is how important it is for comms discipline and knowhows. What I mean is how we sent messages all the while doing high-adrenaline action is not something people can do everyday. Things like concise messages, practising comm discipline (e.g not spamming/garbage messages) is the basic comms knowledge that can be trained in video games. Bonus for when the games actually has complex gameplay mechanics related to communications; need to acquire in-game radios and/or needs to setup basic radio functionality first. And yes I also agree with you about camos and target identification. Tarkov is one game that teaches me how armbands is NOT sufficient as IFF and how important it is to have good comm practices. I'm willing to bet that if things go well and gaming tech goes better, it won't be a weird thing that military would use video games/video game-like tech to train their forces. Perhaps future civillians could learn more and more 'soft combat skills' thru video games too. Nice video as always, good to see more and more guntubers acknowledging video games can be a basic medium for 'soft combat skills'.
I remember the first time I applied a skill in real life that I learned in a video game. I had been playing Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30. One of the main mechanics of the game was suppressing fire, focusing on one man or team pinning down the enemy while another advanced or flanked them. Then I was playing paintball with some friends in the woods, and the other team set up 360 bunker in the middle of a clearing, and I instinctively told my team to lay down suppressing fire, then sprinted forward, reached over their wall, and mowed 'em down.
Like the "things on the shelf" metaphor. Please look at Gad Saad and his distinction between affective & cognitive engagement. Digging deeper check out the differences between system 1 vs system 2 (fast vs slow) learning pathways
The one-take KING! I’d like to also bring up a controversial point that being a good shot in modern first person shooters in my opinion has a tiiiiiny bit of translation into the real world of firearms. I feel like it was much easier for me to pick up the basic skills of “put aiming reference point on target and time trigger pull to be when said target is where I desire in my crosshairs/reticle/sights etc.” I’ve seen first hand how someone who has never even held a real firearm can quickly learn the basics and excel on their first outing with no other experience other than some competitive Call of Duty under their belt. ESPECIALLY when you introduce them to red dots and holographic sights as that is what most modern fps games expose the player to the most.
Despite not looking realistic, the Reciever games offer a great simulation of firearms handing and can even be used to teach people who have never fired a gun how to operate one.
When I served in Ranger Battalion, I had a VR headset and the game Onward. Whenever I brought other Rangers over and showed them the game, almost all of them said it would be a good training tool. This was before Tactical Assault VR came out, in the early days of VR. Also, with the right modifications to Arma 3, you can create a very realistic experience and practice operations planning and skills like land navigation, radio communications, battle drills, and more. In my experience, there are a lot of former and active military members in the milsim community.
OIF 68W vet here. Arma/Day Z has a lot of good medical because not only do the medical items work in game as they do in reality but you can improvise really well. You can make an improvised splints and bandages.
Very interesting video, Video games played a big role in me developing an interest in firearms and associated skills for certain, I enjoyed the First Rainbow Six game with my father back when it came out even though I struggled to understand it (I was around 6 years old at the time) with it's emphasis on planning operations, but it did kinda set a tone for how I'd come to see firearms and by extension violence. I think even without the super modern graphics and features that make training with video games viable the idea of combat being about planning and coordination with high stakes and consequences are valuable lessons they taught. I still play games like ARMA, Insurgency and recently Gray Zone Warfare with a lot of real life friends and my brothers. It's oddly something that has encouraged me to try to stay fit despite having a sedentary job just seeing what would be physically required to survive real life dangerous situations.
Battle field 3 taught me to turn on the semi auto function and treat every assault rifle like a DMR unless I'm up close or providing suppressive fire. Rainbow six siege taught me that cover is just a suggestion and to shoot the wall they ran behind. Ready or not taught me doors are terrifying. Ground Branch taught me more ammo is more gooder and night vision is a superpower.
I played America's Army, from back in the 90s/early 00s, many milsims and realistic FPS games were modeled from it. It was developed and funded by the US Army specifically as a recruitment tool, and it was quite successful.
Mentions blackthorn but not Raven Shield - one of the very first games that introduced magazine management, you could cycle through 5 or so mags and it tracked ammunition expended per each. Or you could equip a big drum mag and only have 2 or 3 mags, but your total count was way up and need to reload was reduced.
I've learned so many tactics from games over the years, such as: -Muzzle flash is the easiest way to spot where shots are coming from, hide your muzzle flash at all costs. -Stick to shadows -After taking shots from a position, move to a new position -If you are about to enter a room through a doorway that you know an enemy is on the other side of waiting for you, ditch the BS cool guy room slicing and clearing, and toss as many frags as you have into that room before you enter. There's many more to list.
Kinda random but my favorite thing that is being implemented in games are the bullet penetration physics . Lighting up a house with an LMG knowing the bullets are zipping through is an amazing feeling.
Tom Clancy splinter cell games were great spy/stealth games on the original xbox. I know a lot of friends enjoyed ghost recon back in the day. I never fell in love with his books and have preferred Brad Thor's books personally. It is interesting that his books inspired so many games and when I did try reading his books they were based very heavily on realism with sometimes page long descriptions of weapons haha. Great talk and keep working hard Issac!
“Battlefield 3” for realizing that you can turn cover into concealment, “Warzone” for small unit tactics, “Ready or Not” for understanding that not everyone will survive CQB, “Squad” for understanding that full auto is not always the answer, communication with multiple channels / squads as well as high level thinking of the overall mission, “Insurgency: Sandstorm” for understanding surprise and violence of action, and the original “Call of Duty 4” was the first game I’m aware of that allowed you to shoot through concealment like sheet metal fencing and who could forget that switching to your pistol is always faster than reloading!
Ghosts Of Tabor is a realistic veteran made VR game that is absolutely amazing for training in real life with firearms. You have to reload yourself, actually grabbing the mags and putting them inside the magwell. You have to use a mag loader or hand load bullet by bullet. It has all the real gun names and they all shoot true to life. Its made by combat vets so they really did a good job at adding a realistic damage system. With bleeding and bandaging aswell. Its the Tarkov of VR. You die, you lose your stuff. Really helps aiming in real life, because in VR your ACTUALLY aiming! 😅 Nice video I hope anyone seeing this comment can check out Ghosts Of Tabor & show them your support. 😊
My first exposure to guns in games started (somewhat realistically) with Halo. But for sure got more realistic with Rainbow 6 Vegas and COD4 and MW2, then into Battlefield 4. BF4's destructible environment paired with actual bullet drop was a huge thing to me at the time for realism. In all cases they really helped me understand manual of arms in real firearms. Now I don't play much anymore, more real life shooting, but from what I've seen the bar has been raised for realism with Ready or Not and Tarkov type games.
I’ve played several CoD and Battlefield games in my younger years, but a specific game called Project Reality was probably one of the first games I played that truly managed to crank that realism factor to 11
Bf1942 taught me the importance of radio etiquette and how much of a difference it makes to establish effective commss and leadership structure. Man I miss that combined arms stuff..
Battlefield bad comiany 2 was amazing, one of the best games ever, it's no arms or squad, but where it blows most games away is the damage to all the structures, like every structure in the game can be leveled with a tank or explosives etc, if squad had structure damage like that it would be unreal
Arma 3 has a MOD called "KAT - Advanced Medical", i don't remember seeing a more complex and realistic depiction of medical treatment in other games. Arma with mod is insane, ballistics, radio communication, land navigation, it's crazy!
I've owned an AR for a year. I've known the details of how they work for a decade, and the knowledge did, in fact, carry over. Visualization is a thing, and I've visualized most of the relevant interactions with the gun about a million times lol
I remember noticing on BF4 that if you have 30 rounds spawning with a rifle, you’d send the bolt forward and then reload again to have 31 rounds (including in the chamber)
ready or not is probably one of the best tactical shooters on the market. resource management, weapon handling, handling friendly and hostile variables
VR games really are something else when it comes to this situation though. While flatscreen games are really nice, and quite advanced nowadays, the VR games are even MORE advanced. No longer is it "press square to look at the number to go from 0 to 30 bullets", its "check the chamber, drop/take out the magazine, take the other magazine out of your belt/pouch, get it into the magwell, and rack your slide." Or perhaps aiming, its no longer "press Right mouse button and wait till the red dot is on the enemy, or maybe wait till enemy is within the floating crosshair." Its trying to aim your weapon, like you would in real life. Games like Hotdogs, Horseshoes and Handgrenades (H3VR) are REALLY great games, simulating guns, and a lot of other stuff realistically.
The most overlooked game from your list is Battlefield. As it's far more realistic then others in weapon usage and over all tactics. A sniper rifle in COD is not used as a sniper rifle a majority of the time for example.
Treating a decked out and suppressed rifle as an almost mythical item in DayZ was a big thing back in the day. Anything with a cope that gave good range and a suppressor was such an enormous advantage the only thing that I was scared of after having one was someone with a thermal equipped weapon.
Something that Escape From Tarkov has taught me is how to call out possible targets. The amount of people that I've played with that just say "He's by the tree" when we're in the woods, it's really hard to understand where that person is. Adding in "Left of the big rock, he's close" on it's own adds a LOT of information. Same thing with a callout like "To the right of the yellow SUV", instead of just saying "He's by the car"
I learned to track targets and compensate for bullet drop by playing Arma. When I shot a gun for the first time, I had no problem with aiming as I already knew what to account for.
for me the most remarkable game was Hidden & Dangerous and Vietcong, partially because I live in CZ. But the tactics presented in the HD1 and HD2 is something I will remember for the rest of my life
This reminds me of a phenomenon when a concept is rolled out every 30 years as a novel observation. When in reality, it's the new generation thinking about it for the first time.
I have very rarely handled soviet bloc weapons in real life. Stalker GAMMA has fairly decent weapon handling and exposes players to different parts of weapons as well. Hopefully, Stalker 2 coming out later this year adopts and improves on many of those mechanics.
Counter strike taught me how to slice the pie, stay ice cold calm in clutch/stressful situations, make correct decisions in a split second, and work with 4 other guys to complete an objective. Holding a long hallway while the rest of your team clears out the other angles for example or falling in with your team and realizing you’re last so you watch flank. So many SOPs are engrained in my head due to more than a decade of FPS experience. Knowledge that I assume is second nature when it is not really second nature. When MW2019 came out all of my casual gamer friends picked it up and I saw first hand how the average Joe is just a headless chicken running around. Not watching flank when they are last in line, stalling in a fatal funnel instead of pushing through, absolutely shitting bricks during a clutch, etc etc.
Good call on Rainbow6: I think it was Rainbow6 3 and ofc Desert Storm (4man squad) games on PS2... RB6 had that HUD that let you do stuff like "breach n smoke" or "breach and flash" etc during CQB. Desert Storm taught the notion of skill expertise (IE demolitions expert vs DMR/sniper), vs heavy gunner...and how/when/where to use them. etc.
Operation flashpoint and rainbow six siege. OF campaign was terrifying, the situations that the player is put in. Then RS was difficult but you set the path for another squad to follow.
I don't play video games but this is an interesting take. One of the reasons I don't play video games is because I'm afraid of getting addicted to them; I spent an enormous amount of time playing Doom and Doom 2 when I was a kid and I can only imagine how much more time I'd spend on the games they have today!
This is why I don’t play videogames anymore. I had over 30 days game time playing bf3. Also spent way too much time on various cods. It’s a huge time sink for me
One of the ironies of video games going to less information on the HUD and manual target ID is that the military is going the other way - trying to build a HUD for the infantryman that will identify friendly forces, waypoints, and objectives to improve coordination and cut down on friendly fire incidents.
GoldenEye was a huge cultural impact. SOCOM didnt have constant ammo pool, it kept ammo per mag. Full Spectrum Warrior was entirely a tactics based game about fire and maneuver. No actual shooting you control, just moving and positioning individuals in a squad.
I believe Marcus Aurelius said imagine yourself a mile above the earth.. look at all the shit going on..somthing like that.. 👍 How it's used, empathies shades and uses. Are completely to the behest of the will commanding the main character... cheese cake or fights.
Dayz has its perks. Actual need to put bullets in a magazine, mid forefight, changes your perspective on firefights in video games. Dayz also has its dow sides. Like flying cars that kill you.
Golden eye 007 and Perfect Dark and on N64. The series of Half Life, Counter Strike and Mechwarrior on PC (Super Smash Bros, Bionicle, Myst/Riven and Warcraft/Starcraft/Brood War get tangential honorable mentions). Handful of more recent one (for me anyway since I've been out of gaming for about a decade now) like Killing Floor.
The "magical ammo pool" thing drove me crazy as a kid; now games like Ready or Not and Insurgency:Sandstorm let you check how heavy your mag feels, and have a standard and a tactical faster reload, where the tactical is faster but you lose any rounds left in your dumped mag, and the standard is slower, but you retain the mag.
Ready or Not, Ground Branch and Operator are excellent games to learn teamwork in CQB so long as you have the right team. We have a few veterans and active duty military/LEO in our channel, and you can check out how realistic the training gets at the Combat Study Group!
My most played game is Arma 3 w/ tons of hyper-realism mods. Let me tell you, I’m learning more & more every day by this “virtual practice”, & I cannot recommend it enough. There’s no doubt in my mind that it is in some way conditioning me for “the real thing” which hopefully never happens, but that’s also why I constantly watch police badge cam videos & war footage. To know what it looks & feels like so that way the shock is not debilitating me, I can just jump right in & say to myself “just like the simulations”.
I have played the Military variant of Arma. It's like the Civilian variant but with higher fidelity of some vehicles and weapons specific made to train crews of those vehicles. And other maps made for the country edition. We had the local exercise ground in game so we could simulate in game and then practice in real life.
Virtual Battlespace Simulator (VBS)
Nice.
VBS is a really cool system. I watched Bohemia's demonstrations of the product, and I could only dream of having something like that. Maybe we'll see some of VBS' technologies in the next Arma game, but I doubt it.
I too have used the Bohemia Interactive program for digital Stryker gunnery (forgot the table). It also has the same keybinds as ARMA. So after a quick Google search, myself and my driver were able to dismount our vehicle, maneuver on another truck crew in our platoon, gain fire superiority, and neutralize them. All professionally of course, as you'd expect when you give a bunch of infantrymen software that definitely isn't a 1st person shooter (they absolutely sucked and need to get gud). We made the contractor that ran the facility very happy that day lol
@@Trve_Kvltprobably not, the new armas are being sold on the merits of making a traditionally complicated game simple and cross platform friendly
Arma 3 has a tutorial on how to use a map and compass. One mission drops you behind enemy lines in Cold War East Germany with a wrist watch and a compass, and you have to make your way back to friendly territory.
Arma is such an underrated learning tool.
Can confirm. As a kid in the 1980s who loved to play in street traffic, my elite Frogger skills saved my butt many times.
Many such cases.
Would not be able to cross a road without those hard earned lessons.
Take your buddies into Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and play in the hardcore mode where if you die, your game save deletes itself. See how differently they play when "if you die, you die"
Best game ever.
Nothing says realism like having your point of view being a 2.5 metre camera above your head so you can see over walls and around corners without ever exposing your body.
@@Roger1379the first person mod helps with that, along with other mods
@@Roger1379just because *one* thing isn’t perfectly accurate, does not negate the entire experience.
@@Roger1379 Just ADS the whole game then lol
I've been in the Army for 10 years and as a squad leader I've used games like Door Kickers 2 Task Force North and multiple VR games such as Tactical Assault VR to teach CQB. I've also used Arma to teach landnav, call for fires, and using created scenarios to send spot reports, uxo reports, and obstacle reports. My hardest part of showing how video games into training was convincing higher-ups who only see gaming as useless play things to understand just how useful ot is and how new soldiers pick it up instantly vs traditional training methods
Arma developers are the same developers for EST2000 program. I learn and familiarize weapons system in combat scenario in video games like EST2000 program but it doesn't achieve the actual in real life situation. I can see why US military try to implement virtual and reality to train troops. In video games it is very lack of discipline. I play Squad and Arma. They all have pros and cons but its good to have virtual and reality combinations to train.
Someone needs to get you an MSM for this
Video games are the reason I got into firearms as a kid, now I shoot more in real life than I do in games.
lol, an hour of video gaming is like shooting a decades worth of ammo
@@davidb9323I maybe play a few hours of video games a week anymore and it’s mostly rpg games and a lot of it isn’t based around guns anymore. On the other hand I go the range for several hours every weekend and so by comparison my comment holds up. What was your point?
@@Walter_Stroudis point was either you're delusional or you're bullshiting so you somehow can look cool to strangers and a comment section to a video that ain't going to be seen by many. When you said you shoot more in real life than you do in games now a days, that is suggesting you're playing shooter games not role-playing games that don't have shooting involved. Because otherwise why in the hell would you even make the statement? If you play Call of Duty for an hour I don't give a fuk how much of a weekend warrior you are at the flat range you're not shooting more ammunition. He called you out for your bullshiting and his point was valid. Whether you are bullshiting or not, you sure as hell sound like it and don't make sense
If you guys haven't heard of it, "Hotdogs, Horseshoes, and hand grenades" is a great vr gun simulator. You play as and fight virtual hotdogs, so it's not serious in that sense, but the weapons and manipulation are very detailed and as accurate as the dev team can make them. They've actually just implemented NVGs and ir lights/lasers. It's still being worked on, and I think it's well worth the $20 to have a virtual gun simulator.
That game is pretty much the only reason I got a vr headset. And blade and sorcery but mostly H3vr
I was amazed at the weapon manipulation detail in the game. The shape of the hand controllers won't give you equivalent reps on real steel, but man it's fun. There is a unique excitement in facing down a hotdog and having your gun do nothing because the safety is still on.
Insurgency Sandstorm does ammo management really well in my opinion. Hold the reload button to check mag status, tap reload to do a slower admin style reload and maintain the partial mag or double tap reload and preform a speed reload, but you lose that mag and any remaining rounds.
100%. Battle bit also took that aspect and implemented it. I’m sad that insurgency sandstorm has died, can’t find games anymore.
@@Southron-CiKi stopped playing after the RELENTLESS team killing lol
@@joshford60 never dealt with it lol
@@Southron-CiK ya somehow PVE means kill your teammates lol
Insurgency Sandstorm feels incredible good when it comes to weapon handling. The night vision is also one of the best i've seen with the lighting. It fails on so many other levels though unfortunately. Like map design, day time lighting, weather, map sizes. All in all it's a pretty sterile and stylized experience. They also failed to update core game mechanics over the years, like ai, commander mode. A true hybrid between inss and arma eould be amazing. games like Squad hll aso. are also to "formularic".
HUH, i didn't think i would catch a Leroy Jenkins today.
You can never let your guard down.
There's a 33% chance (repeating of course) that he didn't have his guard up. Don't get caught slipping.
WE'RE NO STRANGERS TO LOOOOVE... there added that one in for you too.
It's a tricky balancing act between the two extremes: casual "arcade" franchises like CoD or Battlefield, and the more realistic sandbox simulators like ArmA (or the old and very clunky "America's Army" recruiting software, discs of which were handed out for free c. 2002, and in which you would literally sit through classes with PPT presentations covering a wide range of real world subject matter, in real time). To my delight, I discovered that real world principles of land navigation were applicable in mods/games like DayZ, with the added wrinkle of maps and road signs being in Russian rather than English.
Veterans will tell you that most of the military experience is of the "hurry up and wait" variety (or worse), which would be incredibly boring to recreate for the average user. This means careful compromise in game mechanics design is the order of the day, as well as in UX/UI design, as we're filtering fine motor skills through a keyboard/mouse or console controller...that's like duct-taping holiday hams to your fists and trying to pick a bike lock.
Extreme granularity of realism always runs the risk of hitting a point of diminishing returns that completely nukes user immersion (player fantasy) and the "fun" factor. Even for most hardcore milsim players (a rather masochistic demographic, if we're being honest), there must be an accomplishment-satisfaction cycle for the experience to endure and be considered successful. And all of this is just addressing base functionality...we haven't even tucked into whether or not said experience represents viable training for real world application. In my experience, the real secret sauce for high fidelity milsim games/simulators is always, always a strong and serious-minded player community.
I really love this topic. Great thought exercise potential.
To answer your question, my preferred "realism"-focused games/IPs (in no particular order):
- Rainbow Six 1-3
- SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs
- Ghost Recon
- ArmA 3
- DayZ mod / DayZ SA
- Squad
- Insurgency / Insurgency: Sandstorm (this is borderline arcade, a compromise between extremes)
- Hell Let Loose (also borderline arcade)
- Escape from Tarkov
There's no games that fully recreate the real experience of soldiering , so they're not "viable training" by themselves. However, they can serve as a valuable part of a training curriculum when it comes to introducing key concepts and techniques. They can also aid in memorizing locations with sufficient fidelity and attentive design. Think of it as a more engaging alternative to reading books and manuals.
I love sandstorm. Best mix of both and the focus on infantry gameplay is fantastic. I remember seeing a teammate walk into a room and immediately get waxed. I realized the enemy was behind the open door. Shot through the open door and the enemy collapsed. Very satisfying and still fast paced enough to be fun
The SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs games taught me about each mag having different quantities of rounds in them rather than a pool of ammo.
The classic MW COD lobby clip was not something I was ready for. Oh my god, that was out pocket lmfao
Tarkov was the one that taught me about weapons and all the different limitations/modifications per weapon, Ready or not taught me actual tactics/critical thinking within that regard and arma/squad taught me the implementation of the other games on a wider scale
I had never thought of the difficulty of maps and not having GPS till I played ARMA. It made me learn a whole new concept that I am so happy to have learned.
On a side note I learned to drive a standard transmission from playing Gran Turismo 2 and 3 and I have never ground a gear in the almost dozen normal, HD and HP vehicles I have driven in real life
Yupp underrated skills for sure.
As ridiculous as it sounds, video game skills can carry over to real life. At a high level, video games teach you how to solve problems (when/how to fight, retreat, manage resources, etc). Of course, the degree to which this knowledge carries over to real life is determined by the authenticity of the game mechanics, and no game thus far is 100% authentic. That being said, I'm confident that someone who has had exposure to these concepts via video games will learn the irl skills faster and potentially become more competent than someone who hasn't.
I've been writing essays about this topic for years, but I've never published them. I'm glad that it's being discussed now, because I haven't heard anyone bring it up before tbh. People often make the mistake of focusing on the 'hard' skills aspect, and they'll often argue, 'no, a videogame won't help you. You won't learn how to reload, you won't learn how to aim, you won't improve physical stamina, etc. etc.' And it's like, yeah, no duh. Nobody with a brain thinks that, but I've always maintained that these games do indeed help with the 'soft' skill side of things.
I learned a lot about tactics from playing games like ArmA, a lot of stuff that I would think is somewhat applicable to real life. For example, not staying in one position for very long during combat, tactical positioning, how to read a map, how artillery works, how to maximize survivability during bombardments, how combined arms works among other things.
Now, did these games make me a modern Alexander? Obviously not, but I believe my understanding has grown to be far beyond the average layman and I have these realistic shooter games to thank for that. Soon I will be starting my actual military career, and I suppose I'll just have to wait and see if what I've learned is really applicable, but I think there will be more that's applicable than most people realize. Maybe more so for potential officers though, I don't know.
Games have one requirement that real life doesn't. Is this fun?
I'm glad a based channel produces techy and more nerdy content. I'm an FFL and Second Amendment absolutist. But I'm also a gamer, Linux user for all my desktops, laptops and servers and a programmer. Understanding technology, especially open source platforms, is the balancer of the disparity in power between the government and the average citizen.
Amen to that my friend
Hey! While this video is fresh, the footage captioned as Arma Reforger (2022) is actually Arma 3 (2013). (Using CUP or RHS assets in Takistan i believe)
For real tho. Growing up my parents were Fudds. You know like they thought you should only use revolvers because semi auto handguns were “unreliable” much less owning a AR-15. So I learned manual of arms from COD ghost. And it definitely translated
I don't know how your parents could be old enough to argue only using revolvers when reliable semi-auto's have been around since the early 1900's but also young enough that you would learn how to use guns from a bad 2013 game.
ready or not has some of the best cqb "training" you can get in a game
If you're a cop 😂. Ground Branch stands superior, hell even Operator is better. VR is the way though with TAVR and others in the market.
Nah, the bots in that game are absolute bots
If you haven't yet I'd give zero hour a try too. But I definitely agree about ready or not.
@@2crakd ground branch is cool but i dont really like the maps as much as ready or not. they dont feel as detailed.
would like to try vr at some point
@@darthschmutz615 zero hour is pretty fun but it feels more clunky and the ai and graphics arent as good
"Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier" (2012) has my heart ❤ it introduced me to what today's small arms conflicts would be like today... Drones n AR's
I grew up with nova logics delta force series, Jane’s USAF, and the rainbow six. Jane’s USAF was amazing in its instructional style and detail of capabilities. In early 90’s it explained to a kid how to fly a stealth fighter correctly and use laser munitions and gps munitions.
When I was avidly playing the best combat flight simulator out there, DCS, I knew the Apache completely and knew it well enough to fly semi-realistic custom missions with actual pilots in game. The best part of that was they were able to create a complex combined arms scenario with real people that I had to communicate with via multiple radios across multiple channels. And that was some of the most realistic civilian to professional military/police simulation I've ever experienced because it was seriously difficult and I needed the real officer to assist me. I was trying to juggle comms with first of all my pilot, then I had to communicate with other helos in our flight, and I had to communicate with a different set of helos that were about to do an air assault, and I also had to communicate with multiple jets entering and exiting the battle space, and finally I believe someone was on comms simulating ground forces. And I had to juggle all of this while still doing my "job" of being the co-pilot gunner. Scanning for threats, looking where the pilot needed me to, manipulating the weapon systems etc. It was nearly impossible considering I had no preparation and very little military radio simulation other than basic squad comms and some basic beginner ATC.
If you're into military simulation style games, you need to at least once figure out a way in your style of game (infantry, tank, flight etc) to organize a large scale mission where everyone has to utilize proper radio communication. It's wild.
The Metal Gear games are what got me into guns and gear initially.
Another thing that seems pretty interesting is meeting gun guys online from other countries besides the US. Most of them are from countries that prohibit ownership of firearms, but a lot of them are into guns because they want a specific gun they've used in whatever tactical shooter they were playing at the time. I've known some of them to get into airsoft in their country, if that isn't prohibited, and train with analogs to their dream gun.
For comms, I like how in Arma Reforger you can take the enemies radio and listen in on them and on some servers you can talk back to them. This future makes people be more mindful of how much detail on what to say about their location and plans on objectives.
Battlefield 1942 and battlefield badcompany/3 introduced me (and the world) the combined warfare. As well as, the idea that you cannot just camp in one spot. Having destructible environments taught a lot of people that cover is sometimes just concealment.
Not many people remember "full spectrum warrior" for xbox, even less knew it was a direct xbox port of an actual us army training game to teach squad leader tactics.
I have to recommend a deep dive into a PC virtual reality headset with the Valve Index Knuckles. Games like "Contractor$ PMC", "Tactical Assault VR", and soon "Geronimo VR"
Great stuff, Isaac! I remember getting that first real feeling of I feel like I am actually starting to understand what a special ops guy actually does in Ghost Recon. Thanks for the Leroy J, that got an actual LOL.
As a police officer in Brazil, I believe that games (not all, obviously, but some specific ones) can be used as a kind of tool that will assist in training, in a practical, relatively cheap and functional way. Great video and congratulations on the topic!
I remember castle Wolfenstein and DOOM - it blew our minds! We hooked a ton of computers in our lab and all played against each other - was crazy.
Great Video,
I am slightly dissapointed that the OG Counterstrike did not make it into the list of Videogames and I think Black Hawk Down would have very well fit into the "Hollywood" List.
Absolutely agree, both were hugely influential
In my opinion I think leaning into "realism" can offer interesting game play choices. Take ammo for instance. With the magic ammo pool, the only choice is "do I have time to wait 1.3 seconds for a reload?". With more realistic magazine management, the choices increase to not only the time decision, but also "should I drop this mag to reload quicker?" "should I do a fresh reload before going into a new situation?" etc. In my mind as a game creator it has nothing to do with imitating reality, it's all about providing the player with meaningful choices. Because that's all a game is; a series of choices where you try to "solve" situations as best as possible
11:53 my boy Leeeroy
Escape From Tarkov really tought me about firearms modifications and gear as well as ammo managements and medical utilities. From the tactics perspective older Rainbow six titles and Squad got me into learning communication and decision making, and made me think about that choice that brings a lesser malus to the situation! Great vid!
Fun fact: I grew up learning landnav, starting at 4 or 5 parents had me triangulating my location in the mountains as a form of play for some reason, but orienteering in Operation Flashpoint and Arma series as a teenager was actually a whole new level of difficulty for me. Lack of peripheral vision and the innate human ability to sorta orient oneself in space meant that identifying features (which weren't exactly unique or easily identifiable because large world in a game = copied assets) and using the compass all the time was the only way to really. Lack of the ability to count my steps also introduced a whole new layer of complexity. Great stuff.
MicroProse Falcon 3.0, Falcon 4.0, RedViper, Command and Conquer, and Command and Conquer Generals launched me into a military career spanning over a decade.I remember when American Army came out and there was a news article on how someone used the medical skills in the game (which was literally a virtual Self-Aid Buddy Care course that any military branch would put on) and actually saved someone's life.
In addition to the above, Counter Strike (both 1.6 and Source), Rainbow Six:Rouge Spear, and CoD4 really introduced me to firearms. Right now I use a full motion flight simulator at my flight school and MSFS2020 to help me pursue my flight training career.
To me, the most benefit (or lessons) that I get from playing online and competitive games is how important it is for comms discipline and knowhows. What I mean is how we sent messages all the while doing high-adrenaline action is not something people can do everyday. Things like concise messages, practising comm discipline (e.g not spamming/garbage messages) is the basic comms knowledge that can be trained in video games. Bonus for when the games actually has complex gameplay mechanics related to communications; need to acquire in-game radios and/or needs to setup basic radio functionality first.
And yes I also agree with you about camos and target identification. Tarkov is one game that teaches me how armbands is NOT sufficient as IFF and how important it is to have good comm practices. I'm willing to bet that if things go well and gaming tech goes better, it won't be a weird thing that military would use video games/video game-like tech to train their forces. Perhaps future civillians could learn more and more 'soft combat skills' thru video games too.
Nice video as always, good to see more and more guntubers acknowledging video games can be a basic medium for 'soft combat skills'.
I remember the first time I applied a skill in real life that I learned in a video game. I had been playing Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30. One of the main mechanics of the game was suppressing fire, focusing on one man or team pinning down the enemy while another advanced or flanked them. Then I was playing paintball with some friends in the woods, and the other team set up 360 bunker in the middle of a clearing, and I instinctively told my team to lay down suppressing fire, then sprinted forward, reached over their wall, and mowed 'em down.
Like the "things on the shelf" metaphor.
Please look at Gad Saad and his distinction between affective & cognitive engagement. Digging deeper check out the differences between system 1 vs system 2 (fast vs slow) learning pathways
The one-take KING!
I’d like to also bring up a controversial point that being a good shot in modern first person shooters in my opinion has a tiiiiiny bit of translation into the real world of firearms. I feel like it was much easier for me to pick up the basic skills of “put aiming reference point on target and time trigger pull to be when said target is where I desire in my crosshairs/reticle/sights etc.” I’ve seen first hand how someone who has never even held a real firearm can quickly learn the basics and excel on their first outing with no other experience other than some competitive Call of Duty under their belt. ESPECIALLY when you introduce them to red dots and holographic sights as that is what most modern fps games expose the player to the most.
Despite not looking realistic, the Reciever games offer a great simulation of firearms handing and can even be used to teach people who have never fired a gun how to operate one.
When I served in Ranger Battalion, I had a VR headset and the game Onward. Whenever I brought other Rangers over and showed them the game, almost all of them said it would be a good training tool. This was before Tactical Assault VR came out, in the early days of VR.
Also, with the right modifications to Arma 3, you can create a very realistic experience and practice operations planning and skills like land navigation, radio communications, battle drills, and more. In my experience, there are a lot of former and active military members in the milsim community.
CoD4 is the cause of my undying love for the M60 and 1911 pistols.
Ahh man, i needed this video after a 15 hour day...the edits were on point. Thanks bois.
Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat were fun ones as a kid. Battlefield also had a good variety of weapons across the series.
I should have mentioned Day of Defeat! It had a really fantastic aim down sights system.
The army EST system is still built on basically arma by Bohemia
Love the shelf idea. I’ve said multiple times it’s way easier to learn something if you have a place in your brain for the information.
there is a indie game called "OPERATOR" and the weapon fidelity there is just amazing
OIF 68W vet here. Arma/Day Z has a lot of good medical because not only do the medical items work in game as they do in reality but you can improvise really well. You can make an improvised splints and bandages.
Very interesting video, Video games played a big role in me developing an interest in firearms and associated skills for certain, I enjoyed the First Rainbow Six game with my father back when it came out even though I struggled to understand it (I was around 6 years old at the time) with it's emphasis on planning operations, but it did kinda set a tone for how I'd come to see firearms and by extension violence.
I think even without the super modern graphics and features that make training with video games viable the idea of combat being about planning and coordination with high stakes and consequences are valuable lessons they taught.
I still play games like ARMA, Insurgency and recently Gray Zone Warfare with a lot of real life friends and my brothers. It's oddly something that has encouraged me to try to stay fit despite having a sedentary job just seeing what would be physically required to survive real life dangerous situations.
OK I have to say, the _LEROOOOOY JENKINS_ clip did make me laugh lol
Rainbow Six blew my mind because you could actually choose what gun you wanted to use, you didn't have to find it laying around as a kind of power up.
Battle field 3 taught me to turn on the semi auto function and treat every assault rifle like a DMR unless I'm up close or providing suppressive fire.
Rainbow six siege taught me that cover is just a suggestion and to shoot the wall they ran behind.
Ready or not taught me doors are terrifying.
Ground Branch taught me more ammo is more gooder and night vision is a superpower.
Love the Gray Zone Warfare plug!!! Great video as always...
BRAVO Issac!
Love this episode. Next episode: best cheap Civilian drones for recon and how to use them and relay information on your intel
Leeroy Jenkins in a T Rex vid was not on my 2024 bingo card
I played America's Army, from back in the 90s/early 00s, many milsims and realistic FPS games were modeled from it. It was developed and funded by the US Army specifically as a recruitment tool, and it was quite successful.
Mentions blackthorn but not Raven Shield - one of the very first games that introduced magazine management, you could cycle through 5 or so mags and it tracked ammunition expended per each. Or you could equip a big drum mag and only have 2 or 3 mags, but your total count was way up and need to reload was reduced.
Interesting take, also the leroy jenkins and communication references haha
I've learned so many tactics from games over the years, such as:
-Muzzle flash is the easiest way to spot where shots are coming from, hide your muzzle flash at all costs.
-Stick to shadows
-After taking shots from a position, move to a new position
-If you are about to enter a room through a doorway that you know an enemy is on the other side of waiting for you, ditch the BS cool guy room slicing and clearing, and toss as many frags as you have into that room before you enter.
There's many more to list.
Kinda random but my favorite thing that is being implemented in games are the bullet penetration physics . Lighting up a house with an LMG knowing the bullets are zipping through is an amazing feeling.
Tom Clancy splinter cell games were great spy/stealth games on the original xbox. I know a lot of friends enjoyed ghost recon back in the day. I never fell in love with his books and have preferred Brad Thor's books personally. It is interesting that his books inspired so many games and when I did try reading his books they were based very heavily on realism with sometimes page long descriptions of weapons haha. Great talk and keep working hard Issac!
Splinter Cell taught kid me what thermal was because I wasn't old enough to watch Predator!
“Battlefield 3” for realizing that you can turn cover into concealment, “Warzone” for small unit tactics, “Ready or Not” for understanding that not everyone will survive CQB, “Squad” for understanding that full auto is not always the answer, communication with multiple channels / squads as well as high level thinking of the overall mission, “Insurgency: Sandstorm” for understanding surprise and violence of action, and the original “Call of Duty 4” was the first game I’m aware of that allowed you to shoot through concealment like sheet metal fencing and who could forget that switching to your pistol is always faster than reloading!
Ghosts Of Tabor is a realistic veteran made VR game that is absolutely amazing for training in real life with firearms. You have to reload yourself, actually grabbing the mags and putting them inside the magwell. You have to use a mag loader or hand load bullet by bullet. It has all the real gun names and they all shoot true to life. Its made by combat vets so they really did a good job at adding a realistic damage system. With bleeding and bandaging aswell. Its the Tarkov of VR. You die, you lose your stuff. Really helps aiming in real life, because in VR your ACTUALLY aiming! 😅 Nice video I hope anyone seeing this comment can check out Ghosts Of Tabor & show them your support. 😊
My first exposure to guns in games started (somewhat realistically) with Halo. But for sure got more realistic with Rainbow 6 Vegas and COD4 and MW2, then into Battlefield 4. BF4's destructible environment paired with actual bullet drop was a huge thing to me at the time for realism. In all cases they really helped me understand manual of arms in real firearms.
Now I don't play much anymore, more real life shooting, but from what I've seen the bar has been raised for realism with Ready or Not and Tarkov type games.
I’ve played several CoD and Battlefield games in my younger years, but a specific game called Project Reality was probably one of the first games I played that truly managed to crank that realism factor to 11
Rainbow6 for CQB and tactics.. some gun knowledge and mostly gear like flashbangs and stuff. That game was really educational.
Bf1942 taught me the importance of radio etiquette and how much of a difference it makes to establish effective commss and leadership structure. Man I miss that combined arms stuff..
Battlefield bad comiany 2 was amazing, one of the best games ever, it's no arms or squad, but where it blows most games away is the damage to all the structures, like every structure in the game can be leveled with a tank or explosives etc, if squad had structure damage like that it would be unreal
Used the military version of Arma a lot when I was in as a forward observer. Fantastic tool for team mechanics
Arma 3 has a MOD called "KAT - Advanced Medical", i don't remember seeing a more complex and realistic depiction of medical treatment in other games. Arma with mod is insane, ballistics, radio communication, land navigation, it's crazy!
I've owned an AR for a year. I've known the details of how they work for a decade, and the knowledge did, in fact, carry over.
Visualization is a thing, and I've visualized most of the relevant interactions with the gun about a million times lol
I remember noticing on BF4 that if you have 30 rounds spawning with a rifle, you’d send the bolt forward and then reload again to have 31 rounds (including in the chamber)
ready or not is probably one of the best tactical shooters on the market. resource management, weapon handling, handling friendly and hostile variables
VR games really are something else when it comes to this situation though.
While flatscreen games are really nice, and quite advanced nowadays, the VR games are even MORE advanced.
No longer is it "press square to look at the number to go from 0 to 30 bullets", its "check the chamber, drop/take out the magazine, take the other magazine out of your belt/pouch, get it into the magwell, and rack your slide."
Or perhaps aiming, its no longer "press Right mouse button and wait till the red dot is on the enemy, or maybe wait till enemy is within the floating crosshair."
Its trying to aim your weapon, like you would in real life.
Games like Hotdogs, Horseshoes and Handgrenades (H3VR) are REALLY great games, simulating guns, and a lot of other stuff realistically.
The most overlooked game from your list is Battlefield. As it's far more realistic then others in weapon usage and over all tactics.
A sniper rifle in COD is not used as a sniper rifle a majority of the time for example.
Treating a decked out and suppressed rifle as an almost mythical item in DayZ was a big thing back in the day. Anything with a cope that gave good range and a suppressor was such an enormous advantage the only thing that I was scared of after having one was someone with a thermal equipped weapon.
Something that Escape From Tarkov has taught me is how to call out possible targets. The amount of people that I've played with that just say "He's by the tree" when we're in the woods, it's really hard to understand where that person is. Adding in "Left of the big rock, he's close" on it's own adds a LOT of information. Same thing with a callout like "To the right of the yellow SUV", instead of just saying "He's by the car"
I learned to track targets and compensate for bullet drop by playing Arma. When I shot a gun for the first time, I had no problem with aiming as I already knew what to account for.
for me the most remarkable game was Hidden & Dangerous and Vietcong, partially because I live in CZ. But the tactics presented in the HD1 and HD2 is something I will remember for the rest of my life
This reminds me of a phenomenon when a concept is rolled out every 30 years as a novel observation. When in reality, it's the new generation thinking about it for the first time.
I have very rarely handled soviet bloc weapons in real life. Stalker GAMMA has fairly decent weapon handling and exposes players to different parts of weapons as well. Hopefully, Stalker 2 coming out later this year adopts and improves on many of those mechanics.
America’s army 3 had a great injury/treatment system. DayZ and Tarkov are top tier modern day.
But no virtual tool can teach courage and stress for your and others life’s.
Counter strike taught me how to slice the pie, stay ice cold calm in clutch/stressful situations, make correct decisions in a split second, and work with 4 other guys to complete an objective. Holding a long hallway while the rest of your team clears out the other angles for example or falling in with your team and realizing you’re last so you watch flank. So many SOPs are engrained in my head due to more than a decade of FPS experience. Knowledge that I assume is second nature when it is not really second nature. When MW2019 came out all of my casual gamer friends picked it up and I saw first hand how the average Joe is just a headless chicken running around. Not watching flank when they are last in line, stalling in a fatal funnel instead of pushing through, absolutely shitting bricks during a clutch, etc etc.
Squad has taught me that logistics and company level tactics/strategy and communications are far more important than rifle attachments.
Good call on Rainbow6: I think it was Rainbow6 3 and ofc Desert Storm (4man squad) games on PS2...
RB6 had that HUD that let you do stuff like "breach n smoke" or "breach and flash" etc during CQB.
Desert Storm taught the notion of skill expertise (IE demolitions expert vs DMR/sniper), vs heavy gunner...and how/when/where to use them. etc.
Arma and Dayz have a lot to teach
Operation flashpoint and rainbow six siege. OF campaign was terrifying, the situations that the player is put in. Then RS was difficult but you set the path for another squad to follow.
I don't play video games but this is an interesting take. One of the reasons I don't play video games is because I'm afraid of getting addicted to them; I spent an enormous amount of time playing Doom and Doom 2 when I was a kid and I can only imagine how much more time I'd spend on the games they have today!
This is why I don’t play videogames anymore. I had over 30 days game time playing bf3. Also spent way too much time on various cods. It’s a huge time sink for me
One of the ironies of video games going to less information on the HUD and manual target ID is that the military is going the other way - trying to build a HUD for the infantryman that will identify friendly forces, waypoints, and objectives to improve coordination and cut down on friendly fire incidents.
I'm surprised he doesn't talk about the Metal Gear Solid series
GoldenEye was a huge cultural impact.
SOCOM didnt have constant ammo pool, it kept ammo per mag.
Full Spectrum Warrior was entirely a tactics based game about fire and maneuver. No actual shooting you control, just moving and positioning individuals in a squad.
I expected you to mention Squad, a game which greatly encourages learning infantry tactics and communication
I believe Marcus Aurelius said imagine yourself a mile above the earth.. look at all the shit going on..somthing like that.. 👍
How it's used, empathies shades and uses. Are completely to the behest of the will commanding the main character... cheese cake or fights.
Dayz has its perks. Actual need to put bullets in a magazine, mid forefight, changes your perspective on firefights in video games. Dayz also has its dow sides. Like flying cars that kill you.
Golden eye 007 and Perfect Dark and on N64. The series of Half Life, Counter Strike and Mechwarrior on PC (Super Smash Bros, Bionicle, Myst/Riven and Warcraft/Starcraft/Brood War get tangential honorable mentions). Handful of more recent one (for me anyway since I've been out of gaming for about a decade now) like Killing Floor.
The "magical ammo pool" thing drove me crazy as a kid; now games like Ready or Not and Insurgency:Sandstorm let you check how heavy your mag feels, and have a standard and a tactical faster reload, where the tactical is faster but you lose any rounds left in your dumped mag, and the standard is slower, but you retain the mag.
I know I’ve learned A LOT about CQB room clearing and other tactics/techniques by playing in serious groups for games like Ready Or Not.
Ready or Not, Ground Branch and Operator are excellent games to learn teamwork in CQB so long as you have the right team. We have a few veterans and active duty military/LEO in our channel, and you can check out how realistic the training gets at the Combat Study Group!
My most played game is Arma 3 w/ tons of hyper-realism mods. Let me tell you, I’m learning more & more every day by this “virtual practice”, & I cannot recommend it enough. There’s no doubt in my mind that it is in some way conditioning me for “the real thing” which hopefully never happens, but that’s also why I constantly watch police badge cam videos & war footage. To know what it looks & feels like so that way the shock is not debilitating me, I can just jump right in & say to myself “just like the simulations”.