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"I really recommend reading military material and not trying to glean things from games or fiction. The latter lean heavily on rule of cool versus rule of not d

"I really recommend reading military material and not trying to glean things from games or fiction. The latter lean heavily on rule of cool versus rule of not dying and killing the other guy more effectively. " Very true, but there are still some games, that are more realistic, than others, so you can learn real tactics from them. And I enjoy them more, than the "cool" games, despite having no intentions of ever being close to a real battlefield. - Operation Flashpoint, a shooter (later Arma) is an example, that is also actually used by some real armies as a training simulation (but in a modified version). - Close combat series, is a tactical strategy game, where you command small units in WW2. (which can run out of ammunition, or simply run away or surrender, if they are under too much pressure) - Total War series, for big old school battles, with Units in tight formations against each other. And about realism and coolness and war: I actually think, all those glorifying Call of Duties etc. for example are really dangerous for the minds of the teens playing it, as they show mainly the glorious side. There are no civilians for example. You can just blow up allmost anything and the game rewards you for it. (mostly) In those games, I never had a moment, like I had with Operation Flashpoint. In one add on, you fought as the red army against resistance. So people in civilian clothing, but some with guns that want to kill you. And this is what matters, since one bullet can kill you - so you shoot at them. At anything that moves. But after the battle you see, oh. Most of them were really harmless civilians. And you shot them, because you were scared, that they shoot you. There was no glory in that. But it left a deep impression with me and I started to understand, what collateral damage really means. And how it is impossible to avoid them in an urban war setting, like in Afghanistan or Iraq.

mountainb 5y ago
Sure, I grew up on those games and have thousands of hours in the Total War series. You can learn some general principles from games because it illustrates them pretty well. But they are also fundamentally distant from reality because they cannot simulate anything like the real dynamics and physical characteristics of historic and current-day combat. Even micro things like how human beings move or communicate tends to be profoundly different in real life despite the visual fidelity games are sometimes capable of.

mountainb 5y ago

Sure, I grew up on those games and have thousands of hours in the Total War series. You can learn some general principles from games because it illustrates them pretty well. But they are also fundamentally distant from reality because they cannot simulate anything like the real dynamics and physical characteristics of historic and current-day combat. Even micro things like how human beings move or communicate tends to be profoundly different in real life despite the visual fidelity games are sometimes capable of.