Fortnite Used As A Recruitment Tool By British Army
The British military is using Fortnite Creative as a recruitment tool, seemingly in a bid to appeal to younger audiences. The army plans to livestream the private map, Operation: Belong, next week.
The ad for the map includes the disclaimer that it is not "sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Epic Games", yet the studio has come under fire for not shutting the recruitment campaign down. As some have highlighted in the replies, Operation: Belong likely goes against Fortnite's terms of service, as it explicitly forbids Creative being used to "promote enrollment in the military".
Operation: Belong seems to be set out like military training grounds, encouraging players to hone their skills. It will be streamed from the British army's Twitch channel, but it's far from the first time a military has tried to recruit from the gaming community. The US Army started using Twitch to try and reach younger audiences in 2020, and the Call of Duty series has long faced criticism for whitewashing the military.
Likewise, the UK Army's use of video games as a recruitment tool is also coming under fire, labelled predatory by many in the community. This is especially concerning in the case of Fortnite since it largely appeals to children.
The Twitter account for the army is hiding many of the critical replies, including one that references the killing of civilians committed by the British military in Bloody Sunday (1972). Other hidden replies question the morality, or even the legality, of using Fortnite in this way.
"Is your marketing department sick in the head?," says Twitter account @judgementalhog. "Do you know the demographic of Fortnite? You are recruiting CHILDREN."
"Morally this seems all kinds of weird.....", reads a similar reply from user @thebigjonse. The UK Army's account seems to have since abandoned all moderation, as the replies flood with criticism for the ad campaign, and others trying to alert Epic Games to the event before it takes place.
Epic Games is yet to
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