Armed with video games and information, military officials took over the Reitz Union North Lawn Thursday to recruit college students to their cause.
About 70 students came to the Interactive Game Experience, an event sponsored by the National Guard that uses popular video games to spark interest in the National Guard and the UF Army ROTC.
Steve Casto, tour manager for the Interactive Game Experience, said the event has traveled to every major college in Florida looking for college students. Using video games, he said, is a great way to bring students together and to interact with them.
“If they want to make the military a career, we’re there for them,” he said.
Students were asked to take a fact-finding survey of yes-or-no questions that will help the National Guard decide which campuses are interested in the military. This information, Casto said, will be used for future recruitment programs.
Some, such as Mike Sipos, a 19-year-old zoology major at UF, said the event caused them to pay more attention to the National Guard.
Others, like Ryan Swafford, a 19-year-old political science major at UF, don’t agree with using military-based games to recruit college students.
“It misguides people on what happens in wars,” Swafford said.
A total of 17 games were available, including “Madden NFL ‘11,” “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.”
The main draw of the event were two “Modern Warfare 2” tournaments in which 32 people participated to win a backpack full of National Guard goods and a $10 gift card to GameStop.
“Modern Warfare 2” is a first-person shooter game that pits soldiers against terrorists in a fictionalized war.
Casto said the reason that “Modern Warfare 2” was chosen for the event and for tournament play is because it’s the most popular game out.
“If ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ had been the most popular, it would’ve been chosen instead,” he said.
