U.S. Army Esports Explained

U.S. Army Esports
Parent Group:United States Army
Sport Label:Divisions
Sport:Call of Duty, , Fortnite, League of Legends, Overwatch, Magic the Gathering, Halo Infinite
Coach:Marcus Lovejoy (Halo Infinite) [1]

U.S. Army Esports is an esports team sponsored by the United States Army.[2] The team, which consists of active duty and reserve personnel, was announced in November 2018 as a public outreach initiative operating within the Fort Knox, Kentucky-based Army Marketing and Engagement Team.[3] [4] Games in which the team announced it would compete include video games such as Call of Duty, , Fortnite, League of Legends, and Overwatch, as well as tabletop games such as and Warhammer 40,000.[5] [6] [7]

In 2020, U.S. military esports activities garnered widespread media attention after a successful legal battle led by the ACLU forced them to lift the bans on the people they had removed for discussing war crimes committed by U.S. armed forces.

History

The U.S. Army Esports team was founded in November 2018. After the Army missed its recruiting goal for the first time in 13 years, the team was founded in an effort to modernize outreach efforts.[8] In 2022, the team finished second in the inaugural Armed Forces Sports Championship in Halo Infinite that was played against the other U.S. service branches.[9]

First Amendment concerns

The official U.S. Army Esports Discord server and Twitch became the target of activists who began to post comments and memes referencing war crimes committed by the United States. This led to moderators of the Discord server temporarily restricting people from joining, and a number of Twitch users being banned from the U.S. Army Esports Twitch channel.[10] [11] [12]

The American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations have claimed that the banning of Twitch users from the channel is a violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[13] [14] An official spokesperson for the U.S. Army noted that users were subsequently banned after trolling and harassing members of the team; however, some bans were lifted.[15] [16]

Fake giveaway accusations

The team has been accused of promoting fake giveaways on Twitch by providing links that they claimed would enter viewers into a giveaway for an Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, but rather redirected viewers to a recruitment form.[17] Twitch asked the channel to remove those links, with which the Esports channel complied. The team noted that they had given away ten controllers, gaming stations, and chairs in the past year.[18] [19]

Return to Twitch

In response to the mass criticism, the U.S. Army Esports team announced on 22 July 2020 that they would halt activity on Twitch and would likely resume activity in spring 2021.[20] However, the team returned to Twitch on 14 August 2020.[21]

On 22 July 2020, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed a draft amendment to the House Appropriations Bill that would prohibit the U.S. military from "[maintaining] a presence on Twitch or any video game, e-sports, or live-streaming platform."[22] This amendment has since been defeated however, with the final vote being 292–126 against it and 13 members abstaining from voting.[23]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Army Esports Earns Silver at Inaugural DoD Esports Championship. 2023-01-02. DVIDS. en-US. 14 November 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221114182609/https://www.dvidshub.net/news/422106/army-esports-earns-silver-inaugural-dod-esports-championship. live.
  2. News: Brown. Fraser. 14 November 2018. The US Army is starting its own esports team. PCGamer. 23 November 2018. 24 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181124055128/https://www.pcgamer.com/the-us-army-is-starting-its-own-esports-team/. live.
  3. News: Garland. Chad. 23 November 2018. Uncle Sam wants you — to play video games for the US Army. Stars & Stripes. 9 November 2018. 18 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181118101448/https://www.stripes.com/news/uncle-sam-wants-you-to-play-video-games-for-the-us-army-1.555885. live.
  4. News: McMahon. James. 23 November 2018. The US military is using video games and esports to recruit – it's downright immoral. The Independent. 23 November 2018. 14 May 2022. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220514/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/army-military-video-game-fortnite-battlegrounds-call-duty-esports-defence-a8648656.html. live.
  5. News: Kaser. Rachel. 23 November 2018. The US Army's Fortnite esports team is totally not for recruitment. The Next Web. 14 November 2018. 16 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181116045727/https://thenextweb.com/gaming/2018/11/14/us-army-esports-team/. live.
  6. News: 10 November 2018. U.S. Army wants to pay you to play video games competitively. WSOC-TV. 23 November 2018. 24 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181124105727/https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/us-army-wants-to-pay-you-to-play-video-games-competitively/869967690. live.
  7. Web site: 2020-01-30 . Soldier helps pave the way in Army's first tabletop wargame team . 2024-08-03 . www.army.mil . en.
  8. Web site: Nervest. Marjolaine Grappe and Nora. We followed the US Army's official esports team as it recruited gamers at a national video game convention. 2020-12-31. Business Insider. 7 December 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201207132635/https://www.businessinsider.com/us-army-esports-team-twitch-livestreams-recruitment-2020-9. live.
  9. Web site: Army Esports Earns Silver at Inaugural DoD Esports Championship. 2023-01-02. DVIDS. en-US. 14 November 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221114182609/https://www.dvidshub.net/news/422106/army-esports-earns-silver-inaugural-dod-esports-championship. live.
  10. Web site: Internet Declares War On The U.S. Army Esports Discord Channel. 2020-07-06. GameSpot. en-US. 6 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200706174723/https://www.gamespot.com/articles/internet-declares-war-on-the-us-army-esports-disco/1100-6479313/. live.
  11. Web site: 2020-07-03. US Army Esports Tweet Causes Backlash. 2020-07-06. Game Rant. en-US. 6 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200706013156/https://gamerant.com/us-army-tweet-backlash-discord-ban/. live.
  12. Web site: Hernandez. Patricia. 2020-07-01. The US Army is losing the war in Discord. 2020-07-06. Polygon. en. 12 December 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211212194809/https://www.polygon.com/2020/7/1/21310282/us-army-discord-esports-uwu-ban-speedrun-trolling. live.
  13. Web site: U.S. Army and Navy Must Stop Banning Speech About War Crimes from Their Twitch Channels, Knight Institute Says in Demand Letter. 2020-07-23. knightcolumbia.org. en. 23 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200723124142/https://knightcolumbia.org/content/us-army-and-navy-must-stop-banning-speech-about-war-crimes-from-their-twitch-channels-knight-institute-says-in-demand-letter. live.
  14. Web site: U.S. Army Esports Team May Have Violated the First Amendment on Twitch. 2020-07-22. www.vice.com. 16 July 2020. en. 23 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200723233053/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5dz58z/us-army-esports-team-may-have-violated-the-first-amendment-on-twitch. live.
  15. Web site: US Army Reinstates Twitch Commenters It Banned for Asking About War Crimes. 2020-08-07. www.vice.com. 5 August 2020. en. 6 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200806131408/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4ayb7d/us-army-reinstates-twitch-commenters-it-banned-for-asking-about-war-crimes. live.
  16. Web site: Venhuizen. Harm. 2020-07-20. Army esports team denies accusations of violating First Amendment, offering fake giveaways. 2020-07-22. Army Times. en-US. 31 July 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230731211724/https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2020/07/20/army-esports-team-denies-accusations-of-violating-first-amendment-offering-fake-giveaways/. live.
  17. Web site: 2020-07-23. US army retreats from Twitch as recruitment drive backfires. 2020-07-24. The Guardian. en. 24 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200724171712/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/23/us-military-tactically-withdraws-from-game-streaming-site-twitch. live.
  18. Web site: Vincent. James. 2020-07-17. Twitch tells US Army to stop sharing fake prize giveaways that sent users to recruitment page. 2020-07-22. The Verge. en. 21 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200721144312/https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/17/21328130/us-army-twitch-esports-gaming-recruitment-fake-prize-giveaway. live.
  19. Web site: Cox. Matthew. 2020-07-21. Army Denies Violating 1st Amendment in Esports Recruiting, Sponsoring Fake Giveaways. 2020-07-22. Military.com. en. 23 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200723032632/https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/07/21/army-denies-violating-1st-amendment-esports-recruiting-sponsoring-fake-giveaways.html. live.
  20. Web site: Amid Backlash, U.S. Army Retreats From Twitch. 2020-07-23. Kotaku. 22 July 2020. en-us. 23 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200723143247/https://kotaku.com/amid-backlash-u-s-army-retreats-from-twitch-1844471907. live.
  21. Web site: Gault . Matthew . The U.S. Army Makes an Awkward Return to Twitch . www.vice.com . 17 August 2020 . 2020-08-18 . en . 18 August 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200818020943/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bv839a/the-us-army-makes-an-awkward-return-to-twitch . live .
  22. Web site: AOC Introduces Measure to Stop the Military from Recruiting on Twitch. 2020-07-22. www.vice.com. 22 July 2020. en. 22 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200722213334/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/889vbv/aoc-introduces-measure-to-stop-the-military-from-recruiting-on-twitch. live.
  23. Web site: 2020-07-30. AOC Amendment to Halt Military Recruitment on Twitch Defeated in House. 2020-08-07. The Esports Observer｜home of essential esports business news and insights. en-US. 7 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200807175132/https://esportsobserver.com/aoc-amendment-recruitment-defeated/. live.

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