Rather curious initiative here, via Stratics:
Horizons: Military Appreciation Program
I'm not quite sure what to make of that. MMO Promo campaigns come and go - hell, I managed nearly three months on 14-day free trials eariler in the year and by no means exhausted the stock available, but I've not seen anything quite like this. The deal seems to be a free second account, if you have a '.mil' email address.
Whether History will look back on the US as a liberator or oppressor is is a whole can of worms I'm not touching with a ten-foot barge pole, but regardless of whatever guiding purpose, the individual men and women of their armed forces certainly put up with a lot more than most of us. It's difficult job, in difficult circumstances, and no matter how much Planetside I play, I'm unlikely to ever have even the faintest idea what really being a soldier is like. So yes, love or hate Bush and Rundsfeld, the average member of the American Military probably does deserve a great deal of appreciation. I just think this is probably one of the more bizzare ways I've seen it expressed, is all.
To be perfectly honest, I haven't the faintest idea what Horizons is like. My only experience with it was way before it ever saw light of day, back when there was only Everquest. I remember being particularly excited about the 'In Development' blurb, all the wonderful and new stuff it was promising. I'm not sure what happened after that; I guess I went off the boil somewhat - Anarchy Online came and went, and by the time the game was actually released, some three years later, I'd totally forgotten about it, and was busy elsewhere.
So I can only realy get a glimpse by trawling the smorgasbord of hack-rag reviews, which seem to come out as an average 7/10, including reader ranked ones. So it's a good solid also-ran Everquest Clone, but probably no WoW-beater. They curious thing is the phase:
"We hope that this will allow military families to play Horizons together, giving them a family-friendly environment where they can meet, talk and play together over the Internet."
Odd. Surely there are much more effective ways to accomplish that - Skype being the obvious one, or is it about more than just talking? Stratics have a more explanatory interview piece here:
Stratics: David Bowman Interview
...which certinly seems well-intentioned enough, afterall, an online game can only help with what they have at hand, but I'm quite curious to know if this is useful, or used. Are MMOs a good way to help families spread all over the world, military or otherwise, spend quality time together?