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The military
is very heavily invested in the 'serious games' industry, as interviews
with companies such as BreakAway Games support. Michael Macedonia,
CTO of the government-owned U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation,
Training and Instrumentation, knows this better than many, and discussed
it in detail in his lecture on the first day of the Serious Games Summit
at GDC 2005.
Why do games
work in training? Can they really teach someone how to be a soldier? Macedonia
argues the position that yes, they can. He says that our brains are predisposed
to respond to simulation. The new discipline of neuroesthetics tells us
that the brain reacts positively to art and engaging visual stimulus,
and it is this property of the mind that allows us to immerse ourselves
in interactive entertainment.
Macedonia
outlined the long history of military simulation and serious games, which
dates back to Link Aviation's development of "blue box" flight
trainers in 1940, which though not virtual, helped train some 500,000
pilots in World War II, and ranges to SimNet LAN networking in 1986, some
of the first online multiplayer environments.
Now, as
technology becomes less of a factor, and graphical systems that the military
paid $200,000 for in the past decade are now available even in the home,
the viability of serious games coming from the development is very real.
He advises that developers and hardware makers alike should be aware of
so-called inferior technologies, and diversify their business portfolios,
or face winding up like so many disc drive manufacturers. This follows
with the recent trend of 'modding' extant off-the-shelf games for serious
games application - a method which is cheaper and somewhat less specific
than creating completely original IP, but also better than attempting
to use off-the-shelf products as is, which has been attempted in the past.
The military's needs change rapidly as well, so Macedonia urged the audience
not to become complacent.
Currently
in use is a missile system interface, the design of which is based on
the PlayStation 2 controller. According to Macedonia, senior officials
polled a group of soldiers about what would be their ideal method of control
for missile guidance, and that design was resultant. He maintains that
it is important, on both the hardware and software side, to make the technology
fit the user, not force the user to fit the technology.
Macedonia
submitted several reasons why the military finds games interesting for
training purposes. Today's complex missions, cyber warfare, robotics (there
are over 300 unmanned aerial military vehicles in operation now, 200 of
these in Iraq), lack of spectrum and space (i.e. training facilities are
being encroached upon by rampant urbanization). These trainers can inform
soldiers not only in combat scenarios, but also humanitarian assistance
and peace keeping. He also cited cultural understanding as something one
can actually accomplish through serious games, although did not specifically
address this.
Referencing
data from the Marine Corps, Macedonia went on to list those properties
of networked serious games that are particularly appealing to the military:
Robust communities, multiplayer, scenario creation, open database, after-action
review, developer engagement, validation and accreditation, and technical
support. These are the things he says developers should keep in mind when
proposing serious games to the government.
Though real-time
trainers are still an important part of military training, serious games
like Full Spectrum Leader and Full Spectrum Command
(which later became the commercial title Full Spectrum Warrior)
are useful in teaching team management in a limited actual physical space,
but a larger virtual urban space. The military is mostly interested in
making games that are not just first person shooters, but first person
'thinkers', which teach not only shooting technique, but strategy, tactics,
and ability to follow orders.
In terms
of those other applications for military serious games, Macedonia mentioned
that hospitals and research facilities have been using VR to help patients
cope with fear, through exposure therapy. Games have been proven to help
people get over their fear of flying, heights, spiders - and with this
in mind, the military is currently evaluating the effectiveness of using
Full Spectrum Warrior to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
At the Q&A,
members of the audience asked Macedonia how he felt about using virtual
reality to teach actual real-life combat skills and ethics, especially
given the recent political outcry at violence in games. Macedonia responded
that it's very tough to teach people to think, and especially difficult
to instill judgment in an 18 year old. Experience, of course, is the best
teacher. But with these games the military hopes to create virtual veterans.
Veterans not only with combat, but also other aspects of military life,
understanding the true role of the soldier.
He is very
optimistic about the future of serious games as military applications.
"You can see evidence in the soldiers' performance," says Macedonia .
"They come back, and they say that their training prepared them."
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