This question takes us back to 1966, when the American writer Harry Harrison published the story "You Men of Homo Sapiens". In the story, the players (then participants in desktop and electronic simulations) did not even realize that they were controlling real space combat vehicles, not just training.
Almost 60 years have passed since this work was published. The world has changed, but Harrison seems to have brilliantly anticipated our realities, as if he had looked into the future. Today, the skills of gamers - reaction, spatial thinking, attention, multitasking - have become key for modern cyber fighters and pilots of FPV strike drones.
At the Dronearium, we see that even those players who have never played flight simulators master FPV drone control 60-80% faster than the average cadet. Young men who have just gotten up from their gaming chairs have high cognitive readiness-the ability to quickly navigate and adjust in unusual situations-and much higher stress tolerance.
Researchers from Stanford even compare their stress resistance to that of fighter pilots. And this is logical: hundreds of hours spent in full concentration at the computer, not "for show" but "to the fullest", is probably the best training that can be invented for a future operator.
However, the general combat skills of young gamers should not be overestimated. They are undoubtedly good in simulation scenarios. But take a step away from the flight and into a real combat situation, and you often find a young man who is poorly oriented in an ordinary forest, not very physically developed, and usually not able to work in a team. Young gamers lack responsibility, and sometimes even a drop of real, sometimes life-saving fear. In a real battle, it is impossible to "save" as in a game and go through the level again.No miracle happened: fighters who are fully ready for real operations do not leave the game table. However, the skills gained through hundreds and thousands of hours of gaming make gamers the best candidates for combat specialties related to remote control of equipment, from DJI drones and NRCs to FPV interceptors. If a young man with good gaming skills gets into our training and then into a specialized unit, where he will be instilled with the other qualities necessary for a soldier, he has every chance of becoming an effective fighter and making a fast-paced career in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
We already see such examples: FPV drones made up of former gamers (for example, the Clear Eyes group) have become one of the most effective strike units in Ukraine, destroying targets with high accuracy. We can't say that any gamer is guaranteed to make a perfect cyber pilot, but we have observed that the best FPV operators are people with serious gaming experience.
Let's summarize what is true and what is a myth in the story of the ideal cyber soldier from a gaming chair:
Advantages: reaction, motor skills, attention, adaptability, stress resistance - all of these are useful for a drone operator.
Limitations: a gamer is not a ready-made operator. It requires teamwork skills, emotional endurance, ability to work with people, responsibility for life and property.
A pragmatic solution: we are happy to accept gamers as a source of potential resources for pre-selection and training, but additional training and adaptation to real combat conditions is required.
Some real-life examples of gamer pilots who have gained well-deserved fame:
1. Nazariy - call sign "Joker"
Pilot of FPV attack drones in the Voron unmanned systems battalion. He first studied aviation and then mastered drone control, noting that his gaming experience helped him a lot.
2. The pilot of the Northern Eagle Battalion of the 151st Brigade, call sign "Hayens"
He used to work as a waiter and was a gamer. This helped him to quickly master FPV drones, especially in the difficult terrain in the Kharkiv sector.
3. Foreigner "Sam" - call sign "Bambi"
A 20-year-old gamer from Charleston, USA, who participates in FPV tournaments and simulations, joined the Ukrainian forces. He says that his drone pilot skills in competitions helped him a lot during real combat missions.
And perhaps the same guy who is breaking records in shooters today will save lives tomorrow by piloting a drone over the battlefield.