SGS Feature: 'Chris Chambers On America’s Army'

Today's main feature written for Gamasutra sister site Serious Games Source, which deals with games created for training, health, government, military, educational and other uses, takes a look at the serious game America's Army. Specifically, the site spoke with Chris Chambers, the game's Deputy Director, to get more insight into the rise of this extremely popular serious game. In this excerpt, the Chambers looks back at the early days of the America's Army project, and describes the goals as they were originally envisioned for the serious game: “The Army started this project as a means of connecting with America, using pop culture as the medium. Originally, the mission focused entirely on the successful development and launch of the PC game product alone. Today, the brand has been extended into a variety of additional products, all of which establish new touchpoints with young people. Embedded in the original mission was a concept that continues to drive the project still, namely to create an opportunity to provide young adults and their influencers with virtual insights into the range of Soldier experiences. The game uses online technology to place a great deal of information about the Army into a voluntarily consumed popular culture medium and thereby reduces the information search and assimilation costs for information seekers.” You can now read the full Serious Games Source feature on the subject, including more from Chambers regarding America's Army (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).