Gamers Can't Spot IEDs to Save Their Lives

The attack on those people who play games, now a majority of the adult population in most developed countries, seems to be getting more and more bizarre. After being portrayed as being anti social and being blamed for every bit of violence in modern society, gamers are now said to be unable to actually detect roadside bombs when serving in the military forces.

An article in the Los Angeles Times mentioned there are two groups of enlisted personnel that are very good at spotting roadside bombs or improvised explosive devices: those who hunted in their youth and grew up in the country and those who were raised in tough neighborhoods where they needed to watch out for gang attacks.

The article then mentions a category that does not do so well. The Los Angeles Times says “Personnel who fit neither category, often young men who grew up in the suburbs and developed a liking for video games, do not seem to have the depth perception and peripheral vision of the others, even if their eyesight is 20/20.”

It seems that the explanation is linked to the tendency of soldiers with a videogaming background to focus more on the windshields of the vehicles they move in, regarding them as videogame screens, so they are less focused on their surroundings.

Another reason, not mentioned in the article, is that gamers probably pay less attention to some threats because of the fact that videogames, even military-themed ones like Modern Warfare 2 or ArmA 2, instill the idea that death is never permanent in warfare situations.

It would be interesting to see how the behavior of gamers might change if their favorite titles included sequences based around roadside explosive devices and the need to actually see them, disarm them and track down those who planted them. There's an idea for the next Battlefield Bad Company or Operation Flashpoint.