Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin
In which Rozhin channels his inner Comrade Stalin
[ColonelCassad] Regarding the heated debate about the role of games in education and leisure, then:
1. Video games have long turned into the same element of mass leisure for citizens as watching a movie, listening to music, reading a book, etc. Anyone who does not understand this is hopelessly stuck in the past and simply does not understand modern society. Ko-ko-ko, games for children and the like - this is senile grumbling at the entrance. In the Russian Federation, the games market (PCs, consoles, mobile devices) in 2023 exceeded the film market. At the same time, one should not confuse ordinary hobbies and recreation with gaming addiction and escape from reality into virtual worlds to the detriment of full life activity.
2. Video games have long been used to teach military personnel certain skills. Defense agencies fund the production of (professional) gaming simulators as needed and also support the use of related simulators from the consumer market. There is also a practice of financing targeted video games in the interests of propaganda or popularization of contract service in the army, which the Pentagon has been doing for a long time and successfully.
But there are also game strategic models where real military conflicts are simulated, which is used in the training of officers.
3. So games occupied their niche in the near-military environment a long time ago and successfully. This is not a question of whether it is necessary or not, but rather a question of how and why to use them, which requires the integration of this segment into the process of training certain skills, including before entering military service (the most commonplace now is orientation skills in three-dimensional space and piloting using a joystick/remote control - initial skills can be acquired even before getting acquainted with professional simulators). This does not mean that a person who only knows how to sit on the couch with a joystick will become an excellent fighter tomorrow, it means that he will already come to the army with good skills, which, if properly trained, will allow him to become an effective professional.
3. Should the government control the video game market? It certainly should. If left to its own devices, it will be occupied by the enemy's products one way or another. This entails the need for state subsidies for the domestic gaming industry (within reasonable limits - the same “Smoot”, which was actually released in an alpha version, is a negative example, it would have needed another 1-1.5 years for development and additional investments) and censorship foreign products (especially in war conditions). It is advisable to involve professionals in the development of the entire segment of the Russian gaming industry, and not just officials, who often simply do not understand the issue. As a guide, you can take China, where there is government regulation of the gaming industry, censorship of Western games entering the Chinese market, and the use of games to promote the state, army and patriotism.