The complicated legacy of War Thunder in the military community

War Thunder is seemingly everywhere. If you’re not familiar, War Thunder is a free-to-play videogame available for most consoles. The game focuses on realistic vehicular warfare. It started with aircraft but has expanded to include ground vehicles, warships, and more from World War I to the modern day.

Many different nations are available to play as, and the battles are fairly large and can be a ton of fun. It came out in 2013 and remains popular. The company who created it, Gaijin Entertainment, hosts many different events to keep people interested.

The game has a very interesting relationship with the United States military and many servicemembers play it.

War Thunder, in my experience, was fun but also a grind. As an adult with kids, I never had the time to “get good.” While it might not be for me, it’s clearly extremely popular, which has both advantages and disadvantages for the U.S. military.

The military’s use of War Thunder

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Nico Natale plays a videogame during an E-Gaming tournament at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Feb. 7, 2023. Natale attended a technology exposition to play videogames and learn about innovations and new technologies offered by over 60 companies from around the globe. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Thomas Karol)

In 2020, Task and Purpose reported that War Thunder was being used by the United States 1st Cavalry Division as a training tool during the COVID quarantines that made training difficult to do safely. Reportedly, the division also tried World of Tanks – another military videogame – but found War Thunder to be the better option.

The military has used video games for training purposes several times, including having a Marine Corps version of Doom way back when. However, in the 2020 case, it could also be that troops were bored, someone introduced War Thunder, and now they had a way to justify playing videogames during the workday. I don’t blame them; being stuck in the barracks during COVID would have been hell.

The U.S. isn’t the only country that’s used War Thunder for training purposes. South Korea reportedly used the game to train some of its armored troops.

It has also been applied in the war in Ukraine: An M2 Bradley gunner in Ukraine destroyed a Russian T-90 tank and credited learning the tank’s weak points to a videogame which most assume was War Thunder. A drone operator from New Zealand destroyed a Russian T-72 tank in Ukraine by bombing its weak spot after learning about it in War Thunder. Clearly, the game’s radically realistic.

That realism has built a dedicated audience of enthusiasts who appreciate it. In fact, they appreciate it so much that they are willing to share classified data to prove a point.

Related: These are 7 finer things that military video games get wrong about combat

The big problem

Cinematic trailer for War Thunder. (Gaijin Entertainment)

What makes War Thunder problematic is that the community seems to love sharing Classified, Secret, or For Official Use Only documents with the player base. A lot of these leaks come from the War Thunder forums.

Users will notice something they view as an inaccuracy in the game; it can be modeling, weapons, capabilities, top speeds, and even things as specific as how fast a tank turret can rotate. They then, often using their positions as defense contractors, military members, or former military members, leak the accurate information, most commonly to end arguments. Take a moment to think about that: Nerds are sharing secret documents to win arguments on the internet.

We’ve seen leaks from France, China, Russia, the United States, and more countries. Admittedly, a lot of the information shared isn’t always classified. Some of the information shared is unclassified but not approved for export, which still makes it illegal to share.

This keeps happening. In fact, people have created datasheets to document leaks. Gaijin Entertainment rapidly deletes these posts and does not implement changes stemming from them in the game. Yet, this doesn’t stop users from leaking secrets, getting demoted, and losing a chance at a military career.

Don’t share documents, folders, files, or manuals with other nerds online. I say that with respect.

Feature Image courtesy of Gaijin Entertainment

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