Community | July 11, 2009 | 39 comments

US Army to spend $3.7 million on an anti-smoking video game

source: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/697275/US-Army-Spending-37-Million-On-Anti-Smoking-Videoga...

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TentativeChaos

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/697275/US-Army-Spending-37-Million-...

That's right 3.7 Million dollars is going to be spent by our Army in order to fight smoking through the medium of the video game. Am I the only one who thinks that's a really big waste of money? I guess only time will tell, but common sense tells me that a game who's excitement comes from [i]resisting peer pressure[/i] and getting facts about smoking seem destined to be a bore. Also do they really need that much money? I mean how could you possible spend that much on a game like this?

Ok so what do you guys think?
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39 comments // US Army to spend $3.7 million on an anti-smoking video game

  • CalgarC
  • mik661
    • 0
      mik661  
    • Image

    • Heres the position of the Pentagon on Smoking. For those of you complaining about Obama's involvement, please keep in mind that this originates witht the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who was appointed by George Bush and has been in the works well before he was out of office.

    • 3 years ago
  • div
    • 0
      div  

    • I hate cigarettes - on principle, mind you, I've never smoked. But if a citizen is at war, and the only think that makes him feel better is some nicotine, far be it from me to suggest he stop smoking based on my principles.

    • 3 years ago
  • lapedro
    • 0
      lapedro  

    • Yeah, that will definitely prevent kids from smoking tobacco - just like the informative anti-cannabis commercials that let you know your dog will start talking to you when you're high.

      They should buy $3.7 million dollars worth of cigarettes and make as many prospective smokers as they can smoke a carton to themselves. That might actually do the trick.

    • 3 years ago
  • VegaNerDiva
    • 0
      VegaNerDiva  

    • Guess the army can't make up their mind on this, I mean they are the same folks that put cigarettes in w/ military rations. Give that 3.7 millions to California we have the most people here and this state really needs it rite now =O

    • 3 years ago
  • trelk
    • 0
      trelk  

    • i think metal gear solid 4 cost about 20 times that. 3.7mil is chump change for making a game these days. and they say that 90% of smokers started before they were 18yrs old.

      with that said, whenever the institutions try to make art it turns to dogsh^t so i expect that this game will have the opposite effect and more kids will want to smoke out of spite.

      give your 3.7 mil to videogame developer treasure and let them make a shooter for the wii. you could guide a digital piss stream and blow up cigarettes in a toilet bowl. you men know what i am talking about.

    • 3 years ago
  • clownpuncher
  • JK47
  • CroatianPimp
  • Rorenado
    • 0
      Rorenado  

    • I think they should not spend money on a video game, but instead provide our servicemen/women with better body armor and weapons that don't jam up as easily as the M16 series. Those weapons are a pain in the ass to clear anyway. Imagine doing that in a combat zone.

      Provide our military members with better weapons and protection, instead of the third rate stuff they use currently, instead of asininely trying to get them to stop smoking. Smoking is a personal choice.

    • 3 years ago
  • michail77
    • 0
      michail77  

    • If they really want to make it somewhat effective it should be approached like any other marketing campaign -- sex, Sex sells. Have the makers of the Axe commercials create some anti smoking videos.

      Any attempt at a game would just be funny.

    • 3 years ago
  • EtVoila
    • 0
      EtVoila  

    • How about they spend that money to help soldiers suffering from PTSD? They're making a video game while suicide and homicide rates continue to rise among active duty soldiers...

      Fucking idiots.

    • 3 years ago
  • shanklinmike
    • 0
      shanklinmike [removed]  

    • I still can't believe people want the Feds, the same system that runs the Pentagon, to monopolize our health.....unbelievable....

      Sorry, but I think we have had too much fascism in the last 50 years, ESPECIALLY IN OUR HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY.....but what do I know......supposedly everyone on here thinks we have had a free market.....so sad.....I guess people just want to continue to prop up the government backed insurance companies instead of looking at liberty economics. What boggles me even further is how people won't even allow the more efficient states to do the spending....damn we are screwed, and have been for a long time. How can people not even vote for transparency at the Federal Reserve? Brainwashed republicrats!

    • 3 years ago
  • JK47
  • Nephwrack
    • 0
      Nephwrack  
    • shanklinmike:

      so you'd rather have health care run by corporations that are so greedy that if they saw you burning in the street that they wouldn't waste 2 drops of pee on you unless you paid them tens of thousands of dollars?

      yea that's much better than nationalizing health care.

    • 3 years ago
  • adamsmithfreedom
    • 0
      adamsmithfreedom [removed]  
    • shanklinmike:

      First off, at an upper level, nationalization of almost anything outside of national defense is wasteful. The states spend (although inefficiently still) more efficiently than the Federal monopoly, so even if you are falsely labeling me as a corporatist that still debunks your monopolization theory that universal Federal mandated, rationed, and controlled universal healthcare is the "best thing for the country".

      Now that we realize how the independent states would be much better at spending this money while still in line with the 10th Amendment, we can then turn to Public Choice Theory to determine the appropriate incentive structure for the lobbyists and special interest groups. Just because you do not want to enslave your family and friends into the elites/bureaucrats centralized coercive monopoly does not mean you want corporations to run it. Sad to say that is where the last 50 years of fascist-tinged government backed healthcare got us. For decades, government has been price deviating creating shortages, under licensing, and driving the costs of healthcare up and up while oligopolizing the healthcare industry. The greatest myth is that government and corporations are in some polarized battle on each end of the political spectrum, but history shows this not to be true, as government and corporations go hand in hand. Where do corporations come from? The government gives them "rights" for the "Common good". This is exactly why environmental reasoning went out the door years ago with property right destruction. As the "common good" people believed corporations to be a major addition to the states agenda. Almost every major corporation has some form of protectionist or governmental advantage....the people are just blind to it.

    • 3 years ago
  • mik661
  • AnaRchY_N_AgnOstiCism
  • Valence
  • bluestranger
    • 0
      bluestranger  

    • You can't stop people that fight for our freedom from making choices. You can ask them to make a healthier choice. Maybe they should make a film for the brass on what wasting money does to the health of our economy.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • Rorenado
    • 0
      Rorenado  
    • JanforGore:

      Umm... that's kinda what they're paid to do. As a Marine myself, my primary specialization was 0311 (infantryman), and my secondary MOS (military occupational specialty) was 4341 (combat correspondent [make your Full Metal Jacket jokes here]). I understand that I was being trained to kill. I was also taught proper judgment on when to kill. We aren't stupid barbarians whose only goal in life to relentlessly kill people. We have feelings and emotions just like you Jan, and I think it's insulting for you to think that we're killers.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • Nettle
  • Mudboy16
  • KefKef
  • Rorenado
    • 0
      Rorenado  

    • Is it just cigarettes, or are they targeting all forms of tobacco? I know of a lot of people who dip now a days in the military. It's cheaper, you don't have to go outside, and can dip in the battlefield (you cannot smoke in a battlefield). If they are just targeting cigarettes, then they aren't solving the problem, there just changing what the problem is. From smoking to dipping. I know people will do it too. I've seen smokers who've gone to Iraq, and came back dippers.

    • 3 years ago
  • ZeldaMasterZapp
  • hardknockxpert
    • 0
      hardknockxpert  

    • STUPIDITY! If these ladies and gentlemen can go overseas away from their families and their home land and risk their lives daily for this country, then I think they have the right to smoke just about whatever the hell they want. This is ridiculous. This administration is becoming more disappointing by the minute.

    • 3 years ago
  • mik661
    • 0
      mik661  
    • hardknockxpert:

      Why would you think that this decision was made by Obama? You really think he is personally managing decisions this far down the food chain? The army has been fighting smoking for over 20 years. They quit subsidizing the price of cigarettes in the PX because smokers cost more money for health care and it affects your fitness.

    • 3 years ago
  • bailey78
  • nkeg87
    • 0
      nkeg87  

    • While I do think something needs to be done about smoking, especially since more people seem to think its better than other drugs, I dont think this is the way to go about it.

      Truth has the right message, people just arent paying attention. Honestly, its quicker to drink the arsenic straight and cheaper than the chemotherapy when you get lung cancer or txs for emphysema.

    • 3 years ago
  • dainjdc
  • royulery
    • 0
      royulery  

    • a lot of people smoke to supress trama. it is not unusual for some people who use hypnosis to quit compulsive beheaviors, to become self destructive in other ways. hypnotherapists are trained to see if some neurotic beheavior is protecting a person from experencing an unacceptable reality.
      since it is difficult to breast feed for confort publicly, it is better to put a cigarette in in your mouth than a gun.

    • 3 years ago
  • SupaDawg
    • 0
      SupaDawg  

    • Am I missing something here? Where is the statistical information that leads them to think that this would work?

      I mean, America's Army was a rad game, but it was more of a recruitment tool than anything. I'm completely lost as to how they expect this to work.

      I guess if nothing else it will put some out of work programers back to work, so it ends up being some stimulus.

    • 3 years ago
  • Cicada_Song
    • 0
      Cicada_Song  

    • This will only be good, if the game is a first person shooter in which you go around shooting people with cigarettes. Not smokers, but a actual cigarette gun.
      Ammo damage depends on the strength of the cigarette.

    • 3 years ago
  • Nettle
    • 0
      Nettle  

    • I agree that this is a waste of money, but they are trying to address the problem of smoking in the Army. Just not the best outlet methinks.

      I can't imagine any kind of game is going to change the minds of smokers in the slightest, though. Can you imagine some recruit playing a game that pelts you with hilarious no smoking messages. I think it might be worth a chuckle.

    • 3 years ago
  • Acedia
    • 0
      Acedia  

    • This is about as bad of an idea as The Bible Game was. Although I imagine this will cost significantly more...

      Doesn't the government have more constructive ways to waste our money?

    • 3 years ago
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