British Intelligence to Recruit Through Video Games

In-game ads are, unfortunately, nothing new any longer. But using them to recruit for intelligence services is new. the British intelligence service GCHQ is going to use them in hopes of attracting the attention of "tech-savvy" gamers.

Games in which the ads will appear will include Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent. However, potential recruits should note that while Splinter Cell focuses on Sam Fisher, described by Ubisoft as having:

... been on the front lines of espionage through several key decades of world history. He has not only survived but excelled in the field of espionage through hard work, insatiable curiosity, and brutal honesty. He has little time for polite niceties and even less for lies.

The GCHQ is a surveillance and monitoring service. Most will work from the agency’s main listening post, in Cheltenham; they won't get a chance at any Sam Fisher-type exploits.

“We will monitor the results from this campaign and are ready to change our recruitment methods,” a spokeswoman said. “We know we can’t stand still.”

On the other hand, this is probably a little more modern that MI5's recent foray into a different venue for recruiting: this summer MI5 advertised for staff on the sides of London buses