![]() ![]() ![]() I joined ShackTac to find out what kept these men and women fighting, together, two nights a week for nearly eight years. I was there to document a kind of role playing experience that can’t be found anywhere else, and I didn't need someone showing off or holding back because I was there to observe them. To keep the experience pure I withheld my true identity as a writer. I was in Shack Tactical now, an elite Arma gaming group, embedded with them as a new recruit. ![]() I had spent more than 400 hours in this game world. Over the years I'd struggled with, and mastered, its bizarre user interface. I'd spent hundreds of hours learning to navigate across its environments on foot through jungles with a map, over deserts by compass and once, while at sea, by using only the stars. I had plenty of experience in how to use the various small arms in the game, how to aim and reload and adjust them for range. I’d played Arma, the complex military simulation series, before. In the darkness I began to notice that my palms were sweating. Our pilot pulled us into a shallow valley and I lost sight of both the other chopper and the sunrise. In the distance, backlit by a sky purpling with the dawn, I could see Alpha squad beginning to descend, their rotors kicking up a huge cloud of dust. From my seat at the open door, the view tipped straight down for a moment before we leveled off. Army Blackhawk helicopters suddenly broke formation. Flying low above a pine forest, the two U.S. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |