Copyright nytimes
But they said that the contest could be motivating, spurring competition among drone operators to be the first to hit a battlefield target. “Of course, there were times when we’d argue in chats over points,” said Stun, who was given his call sign partly because his favorite move in his favorite video game was “stun,” which freezes enemies in their tracks. “For example, when a vehicle was hit and several units engaged it, we’d argue over who got the actual hit,” he added. “We’d say: ‘That was our target! Don’t touch it!’ ‘We were the first to hit it!’ ‘We did it! That was us!’” Mr. Fedorov said that the game was constantly expanding to match new technology in the war. Units can now earn points for using robotic ground vehicles on logistics missions like rescuing injured soldiers, for detecting Russian equipment with reconnaissance drones and for destroying targets using guidance systems with artificial intelligence. There are still kinks — the system is new, after all. Some unit commanders have said that the new drones did not arrive quickly enough, and some soldiers have complained that they destroyed valuable Russian equipment that was not worth any points.
