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In response to the history professor/gamer. Yes, it is annoying - that is the nature of protest. I am sure the owners of the tea dumped in Boston harbor were annoyed. I am sure the white diners at the lunch counter during the civil rights protests were annoyed. I am sure the soldiers getting daisies placed in their rifle barrels at the Pentagon during the Vietnam war protests were annoyed. While it is easy to say what I am doing just makes people angry or moreso - it is perhaps over time that real change may occur.
As for gaming - I too came to such work through an interest in fantasy oriented games, many of the same you mention in your comments. I never thought I would see the day when real contemporary conflicts would be featured as a computer game. The thought of re-enacting the Vietnam war seems wholly in bad taste. (I re-enacted the first of three presidential debates between Kerry and Bush in Battlfield Vietnam in 2004). Depicting what for all intents and purposes are the Iraq or Afghanistan conflicts in AA is rather astounding when you really think about it.
I must confess that I enjoy WWII simulation games - taking imagined vengeance against virtual Nazis fulfills some sort of retributive desire (having Jewish relatives suffer throught the war has something to do with this I am sure).
One curious aspect of AA is the odd fact that you are always playing as an American soldier while to your opponent on the other team, you appear as an unnamed combatant with the appearance of a middle eastern militia member or terrorist! You can draw your own conclusions from this! Very strange.
