Авіаносець HMS Prince of Wales під час операцій у 2024 році і частина ігрової кімнати на кораблі. Фото: ВМС Великобританії, AP і Business Insider
The aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales «Prince of Wales», which belongs to the Royal Navy of Great Britain, has received unique equipment — and it is a full-fledged game room for sailors, built in partnership with the local esports federation.
The «suite» gaming room is equipped with 12 Alienware Aurora R15 desktop gaming PCs with RTX 4080 graphics cards and Core i7 processors, LED lighting, a widescreen TV, and office chairs. Cons? To play, you will have to stand in a long queue, as the crew reaches 1600 people.
«Other ships have PlayStation and Xbox, but this is the first ship with such a PC configuration», — says Martin Miller in an interview Business Insider, a ship’s petty officer and vice chairman of the Royal Navy’s eSports Committee, who runs the room.
Miller says that officers and commanders book the gaming suite for their teams by email three times a week, and sailors are there almost every night. However, the gaming library is limited while at sea — the Internet there allows only simple text messages, so the crew makes do with local multiplayer games like Halo and Team Fortress 2.
Miller himself also likes to play games and after the end of the working day at about 20:00 he starts Civilization VI.
The UK Ministry of Defense recognized esports as an official military sport in March 2024, along with traditional shooting, rugby, etc. The introduction of a gaming culture is considered a way to attract and retain young people in the service, as well as to develop social ties between crew members.
In the future, the ship plans to hold an international tournament and organize gaming leagues.
The «Prince of Wales», launched in 2019, actually has several other benefits besides the games room, with saunas, inflatable pools, a golf simulator, three gyms, and karaoke. One of the ambitious dreams of the Navy’s gaming committee is to install a Formula 1 driving simulator.
«Much of our infrastructure in the Navy is in use, so we are now looking for a proper location,» says Senior Lieutenant Joshua Gill, Treasurer of the Royal Navy Esports Committee.
Earlier we told you about the US Navy commanders who «reset» to Starlink to use the prohibited Wi-Fi on a warship to watch movies.
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