I thought this was pretty funny, from The Castle.
IDF Frowns on Dungeons & Dragons
IDF says players are detached from reality and automatically given a low security clearanceBy Hanan Greenberg
Published: 02.28.05, 14:17
Does the Israel Defense Forces believe incoming recruits and soldiers who play Dungeons and Dragons are unfit for elite units? Ynet has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance.
“They’re detached from reality and suscepitble to influence,” the army says.
Fans of the popular roleplaying game had spoken of rumors of this strange policy by the IDF, but now the army has confirmed that it has a negative image of teens who play the game and labels them as problematic in regard to their draft status.
So if you like fantasy games, go see the military psychologist.
Dungeons and Dragons (also known as D&D) has been a popular roleplaying game for decades and is based on a fantasy world.
I, for one, am a strong proponent of the combat effectiveness of nerds. Look at Matthew Broderick in War Games. One properly motivated computer geek nearly ended mankind. Surely the IDF has use for such unique specimens.
But, I digress. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that the IDF is one of the most effective fighting forces in the world? It certainly is an interesting way to purge their ranks of weakness. World of Warcraft gamers also need not apply.
Hotel Tango - Milblogs
Come on, there has to be at least one spot in Sayaret Matkal or Mista’a Aravim for 14th Level chaotic/good elf magic user.
Us tech nerds have our uses. Electronics maintenance and information technology being the most odvious places. We’re also good at leaderships “Fuzzybunny has invited you to his group” teamwork “LFG uldamon raid” and we have extensive experience in assymetrical combat “My mage can take your warrior any day of the week!”
We’re not out of touch with reality, we’re just absorbed into an overly addictive artificial reality, thats all.
Maybe Hezbollah has been launching magic missles from Lebanon by a bunch of 1-3 level chaotic evil magic users
Orde Wingate, founder of the Special Night Squads and father of the IDF’s doctrine, would certainly not have approved! (See upcoming post on Wingate.)
I’m sure all those people who spent hundreds of hours practicing sniping in FPS games would also be totally useless in the IDF.
Too bad, because all they need to do to meet their recruitment numbers is have an announcer yell “Killtacular” over the radio after four confirmed kills.
okay, the Killtacular comment had me dying.
I should hope that they don’t ban Halo gamers, otherwise they might be hard pressed to fill their ranks.
This made the rounds last year on the blogs/journals. I seem to recall it having been fairly well debunked as being a distortion/exageration.
Apparently, IDF has no need of soldiers with active imagination. This usually means intellectually creative people who can think ouside the box.
Yes, IDF may be an effective fighting force, but they can’t touch US Military with regard to intellectual creativity and out-of-the-box creative planning and flexibility.
“They’re detached from reality and suscepitble to influence,” the army says.
Oh… That explains what my problem has been all these years… ; )
Yeah this is a classically weird story.
Getting the occasional razzing from your fellow soldier was expected if you played D&D.
However if we were in the IDF, at least 5% to 10% of our HHC would have lost their clearances after a 90 day rotation through Graf or Camp May (on the old Czeck border).
During the Gulf War, I was part of an Engineer platoon where over half of us played AD&D constantly.
Along with Spades, Hearts, and sometimes “Buddy-F###” Uno.
But a lot of AD&D. What do they expect? Pull guard duty daily over in the desert for two hours at a time (never mind hundred-yard-stare, we we’re talking kilometers) and your imagination gets a little restless…
Man, the World of Warcraft comment hurt, bud. I started playing it with my two sons and have thoroughly enjoyed the stress-relief it brings. I would worry about the FPS guys myself – they shoot at anything that moves without much thought.
I wonder if they are going to take my TS away?
That is so unfair to IDF members. However, it would be a simple matter for members to let their superiors know of the obvious benefits to get this ruling overturned.
World Of Warcraft Mages
One of the more advanced techniques for frost mages is AoE grinding. World of Warcraft