Feature: 'Master's Thesis: Tapping into the Popular Culture of America's Army'

In today's student feature, part of Gamasutra's education coverage, we present a master's thesis by David B. Nieborg, presented to Utrecht University and fully titled: 'Changing the Rules of Engagement: Tapping into the Popular Culture of America's Army'. This thesis examines the status of the free state-of-the-art PC game America's Army within the military-entertainment complex and contemporary youth popular culture, by exploring the implications of the interaction between commercial game culture, technology, marketing and military culture. As Nieborg's summary explains: "The realistic approach to both the production of America's Army and the representation of the U.S. Army in a virtual environment raises questions about the status of America's Army as a game. By analyzing the game itself, its production, distribution, and its reception, four different dimensions of the game will be proposed: a recruiting tool, a propagame, an edugame, and a test bed and tool for the U.S. Army. The success of America's Army has consequences for thinking about games and simulations and the use of these interactive texts for advertisement, education, analysis and propaganda." You can now read the full synopsis and download the full 238 page PDF for this master's thesis (no registration required.)