Army looks to online gamers as recruiting pool

NEW YORK — The Army is about to invade the online gaming community with an estimated $2 million sponsorship deal with the Global Gaming League Web site.

Starting in June, the Army will sponsor a “national gaming” area as a way to tap into the site’s 9.2 million players per month of everything from shooter games to pro baseball. It hopes to find candidates for recruitment among the 17- to 24-year-old males who are 80 percent of the gamers on the site — young men hard to reach with advertising.

“The consumer model for traditional media is changing,” said Gary Bishop, who oversees Army marketing and advertising. “We’re grappling with the challenge of how do we better use new media to tell the Army story. Online is probably the best way.”

Read the rest at Army Times