America's Army is a computer game that has caused some controversy. It is a figurative and written type of message presentation, that could potentially serve US Army recruitment, but especially at giving an impression of the US Army in general. Whether that impressions is positive or negative depends on the viewpoint of the user.

It can also be contested that it is primarily a playable and subliminal piece of video game propaganda and virtual recruiting tool, whose success led to further versions of the game and other games of that type being developed, such as Under Ash (Palestinians), Full Spectrum Warrior (US Army), (US Marines) and (US Airforce) but, unlike America's Army, these other games are not free of charge.

America's Army claims to accurately represent the training and close combat tactics of the US Army. Some feel that it fails to paint a complete and balanced picture of modern warfare and the US Army, and neglects any negative aspects. However, many innovations were added into the game to try and increase this aspect of realism, such as having your character end up in a virtual jail cell for certain rules violations, mandatory virtual training sessions before missions, and remaining "dead" until the end of a round when killed. Being a computer game, there are limitations on what could be accomplished both in terms of the engine itself and in limitations in funding and content creation. The game focuses on training for close combat missions and the missions in the game themselves, and does not focus on explaining every detail of the US Army.

While many call the game propaganda, some people prefer the euphemism "advertisement" because, in English, the word "propaganda" often carries a strong negative connotation. However, one of the primary goals is not to advertise but to allow people who won't or can't join the army, a chance to have see some aspects of the US Army experience, such as training and infantry combat.

According to the developers, "children 13+ [...] need to know that the Army is engaged around the world to defeat terrorist forces bent on the destruction of America and [their] freedoms". America's Army, considered by the US Army as a "cost-effective recruitment tool", aims to become part of youth culture's "consideration set," as Army deputy chief of personnel, Timothy Maude, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee.[1] This "battle for young thumbs and minds", as the newspaper The Guardian calls it, by itself has caused worldwide attention, indignation and ethical debates.[2]

Some debate has sparked surrounding the fact that the game is paid for entirely by US tax dollars, though it can be considered to be a continuation of the advertising that the armed forces have always engage in, such as with posters, TV commericials, magazine ads and even entire films of earlier periods. Other organizations have released free video games to promote their cause, notably some movie releases. Also, being a pseudo-simiulation the game allows people who are unable or unwilling to join the US Army a chance to be exposed to some virtual examples of US Army training and combat.

Research papers of two different universities that have analysed America's Army both infer that the game is propaganda and one of the two also claims that "video game propaganda, whether morally right or wrong, is here to stay. It is not a passing phase, but an effective way that the US government has discovered to recruit soldiers and something other nations are now beginning to experiment with as well." The paper predicts that "video game propaganda will prove to be most effective" as well.[3][4]

After the paper had been released, a poll by I for I Research confirms 30 percent of young people who had a positive view of the military said that they had developed that view by playing the game. Also, one result is appearing at the military academy at West Point where 19 percent of 2003's freshman class state they had played the game. The "aggressive, innovative experiments" called for by Congress seem to be doing their job, as enlistment quotas were met in the two years directly following the game's release.

Nevertheless, the boost of recruitment numbers is not the only intention of the game: They intend to give a positive image of the US Army in general, in their own words: "We (the developers) want the whole world to know how great the US Army is".

According to the American journalist Gary Webb, Zyda said, "We thought we'd have a lot more problems. But the country is in this mood where anything the military does is great. ... 9/11 sort of assured the success of this game. I'm not sure what kind of reception it would have received otherwise."[5]. However, previous games released by the goverment had been well recieved at least by the gaming community, as proved by a previous free military game, a marine version of Doom which did not cause much debate. Also, news of Americas Army existed before 9/11 and had met with a good response.

A large part of its success can not only be atributed to it being a US Army game, but by simply being a free first person shooter. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is another free FPS has done even better during the same time period, much better then its nearly identical predeccesor Return to Castle Wolfenstein, a game which must be purchased.