US Military Builds MMO Earth Simulator

transient writes "BBC reports that the US military is creating a second Earth with help from There. At the moment, only Kuwait City has been modeled, but the ultimate goal is to model the entire Earth using existing terrain data and a super-accurate physics model. While combat will be part of the game, 'the emphasis in the artificial Earth will be on human interaction rather than conflicts involving lots of military hardware.'"

Comments

The Point?

[Alan Livingston]

Perhaps I've become an old curmudgeon, but what exactly is the point of There? Clicking on their "What is There" buttons gives the following blurb:

There is an online getaway where you can hang out with your friends and meet new ones--all in a lush 3D environment that's yours to explore! Check out the pictures below for just a glimpse of what you'll find in There. Then sign up for a free trial and see it all for yourself!

Maybe it's just me but everyday I open up the door I enter a "lush 3D environment". (Ok, not so lush. I live on Long Island -- part of the New York metro area.) But it's immensely more satisfying than any online experience.

Mr. Gehorsam

[cyberm_acc]

Mr Gehorsam said the world being created will not be a game but instead will be a "massively multi-user persistent environment" that will model real world physics as closely as possible.

Gehorsam is German and means dutiful, obedient, submissive (taken from leo.org) So it's like calling the evil guy "Mr. Evil"

Re:BBC huh

[Troed]

Yeah I cannot understand why.

But Pilger reminds us that the genocide did not begin at 'Year Zero' with the Khmer Rouge, but with the secret and illegal American bombing five years earlier, which killed 600,000 people and was the catalyst Pol Pot was waiting for.

http://pilger.carlton.com/