Recruitment Advertising Is A Game. War, Not So Much.

USA Today reports that tomorrow’s warriors are likely lurking in the gaming culture, popular with today’s teens and 20-somethings.

The U.S. Army is about to invade the online gaming community with an estimated $2 million sponsorship deal with the Global Gaming League website.
Starting in June, the Army will sponsor a “national gaming” area as a way to tap into the site’s 9.2 million players per month of everything from shooter games to pro baseball. It hopes to find candidates for recruitment among the 17- to 24-year-old males who are 80% of the gamers on the site — young men hard to reach with advertising.
GGL is a gaming community site that blends game news and play. Founder Ted Owen describes it as “ESPN meets MySpace for gamers. Video gaming is a culture. The Army has been a very forward thinker. They get it.”

Here’s hoping the targets of these Army messages also “get it.” It being the very real differences between video games and a real war.