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Virtual Peace Sim Game Based On America's Army
fortapocalypse writes "Duke University in collaboration with Virtual Heroes (who created America's Army) has produced a game called Virtual Peace, the intention of which is to help the gamer develop disaster relief and conflict resolution skills. Virtual Peace also is the winner of the HASTAC/MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition, according to an article published by the university."
I just don't see a lot of mass appeal for a game that involves handing out disaster-relief supplies or carefully negotiating power-sharing deals in shaky democracies.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
I played as the US in the Katrina emergency so that I could eat Cheetos and surf the web instead of helping anyone. After a few in-game days, I transferred some water to the survivors and attempted to blame everyone else.
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
I need to mobilize the National Guard and send food to the affected areas... "Spawn more Overlords!"
What about PvP?
Um... Cuban Missile Crisis? Just first thing that popped into my head. There have been a couple times in the past when conflict resolution skills have come in handy.
The idea itself isn't necessarily a bad one. Not all games have to be violent, and 'fun' computer games can be had without violence, sex, or comedy.
That said, it's the gameplay that makes it work or not work. It sounds like this one is going to be a flop (not to mention it sounds rather politically motivated, another thing that can potentially ruin a game...)
America's Army teaches conflict resolution.
By killing all those that disagree with you, you resolve the conflict.
Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
...will be checking to see whether your avatar has served in the Virtual Peace Corps before deciding to let you join.
While flying supplies into the outback, we were shot down by the kangaroos anti-aircraft fire.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
...The creators must have taken their notes from this http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/video-game-skills.php
Read my Very Short "Stories"
There's a video up on the referenced website, and it's freakin' hilarious - there are 20-30 kids seated at computers and wearing headsets and playing around in a virtual world, completely ignoring the fact that, if they took the computers away, they'd be sitting in a room with 19-29 other students who could easily pose the same arguments and take on the same personalities IN PERSON. It's called Model UN, and it's been going on in high schools for at least a decade. The selling feature of this thing looks to be that it's happening in a virtual world that looks sorta like the conference rooms in the real world where decisions were made about Hurricane Mitch, and that you can make your avatars look like the real-life politicians involved.
The internet is not and should never be a replacement for exercising an imagination. I can't help but shake the feeling that somebody needed to justify a shiny new computer lab and this is what they came up with.
Uh huh. Thanks for reminding us that the bible has a retarded quote for just about everything.
No, heroism is going from ordinary to extraordinary. Going from scumbag to ordinary is reform.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
I'm calling it "Oil For Food".....
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Before you get all excited, note that this doesn't appear to be a game at all as the summary implies. ("Editors on crack" alert.)
Instead, it looks like it's just a simulator with one scenario that's used as an educational aid in one class at Duke University. It's not available for download. I don't even know why it's a .org domain. From what I can tell, the site explains this Virtual Peace in a very vague manner and appears to just a way for those involved in the development to get their big faces on the web (and probably in print).
It's like saying flight simulators are boring because you can't shoot the other planes.
This "game" is a simulator used to help train our potential, future world leaders how to resolve conflicts without resorting to the type of diplomacy typified in America's Army.
You will also notice there is no way to download this "game." It seems this is part of the course curriculum, as the private area of the website points out.
Sure, it may be more fun to blow someone's head off with a sawed-off shotgun, but really, would you do it for real, just for fun?
"I am Ben Franklin! Master of sex and Voodoo!" - Benjamin Franklin
Bow-ties are cool.
When handing out relief supplies in devastated areas, who is going to be shooting the lowlife scum looters?
I propose an add on module for online gamers to join as either looters or people who shoot looters.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
America's Army was known to be a "reciting tool" intended to show kids how "cool" being a grunt in the infantry is.
In light of current politics, there is something on the "to do" list for the major players in government, and it's called National Service. Obama, McCain, Clinton and Bush all supported this and they have been using careful wording to sugar coat what is basically forced government conscription.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel Obama's choice for chief of staff wrote a book called "Big Ideas for America" where he writes. (emphasis added)
It's time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, All Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five will be *asked to serve* their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service.
Here's how it would work. Young people will know that between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, the nation will enlist them for three months of civilian service. They'll be asked to report for three months of basic civil defense training in their state or community, where they will learn what to do in the event of biochemical, nuclear or conventional attack; how to assist others in an evacuation; how to respond when a levee breaks or we're hit by a natural disaster. These young people will be available to address their communities' most pressing needs. ..
Some Republicans will squeal about individual freedom..
On one hand, they say this is voluntary.. Groups like "Service Nation" that had a big rally in New York attended by McCain and Obama on, yep.. you guessed it 9/11 to exploit the date to promote their plan, they *claim* it will be a persons choice.. However if "Some Republicans will squeal about individual freedom" As Rahm says.. then he is clearly NOT planing for this to be voluntary.
I have no indication of it.. but I wonder if this game is, like America's Army, propaganda in order to convince people that "National Slavery" is a good thing and they they should love working for their masters in government.
Bringing liberty to the masses. - http://freetalklive.com/
Why the hell do you think I joined the military, to get college money?
Germany was OK with the peace terms imposed on it after WWII but not with the peace terms imposed after WWI: hence, dramatically different results.
I'd be careful with that. The outcomes of those two wars were vastly different even before peace terms. In WWI German soil wasn't even touched before the surrender, which then led to the sentiment that they got a raw deal. In WWII their cities were pounded to rubble, their men killed, their streets filled with enemy soldiers, and their government evaporated. It was very, very clear that they had soundly lost the war this time around.
If you mod me Overrated, you are admitting that you have no penis.
Stanislav Petrov saved your life in 1983.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
In particular, the conflict resolution skills of Vasiliy Arkhipov, who, on 27th October 1962, resolved a conflict aboard the submarine B-59 over whether to launch a nuclear torpedo against the USS Randolph battle group, which was dropping depth charges at the time. Had that debate gone the other way a Soviet nuclear weapon would have detonated off the Cuban coast, destroying a dozen American warships, at the very height of Cold War paranoia and tension. The outcome would not have been pleasant.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Yep, that's unbelievably lame to most people, but some people are going to have fun. There exists a subset of the population that will be intensely serious (perhaps even obsessive/compulsive) about carrying out these virtual negotions. You've seen them in other online games before... the people for whom the game becomes their reality, and they are so dedicated they don't eat or sleep in the real world.
However, that's not the group I was referring to when I said some people are going to have fun. That group is going to be tortured. The group that is going to have fun is the group that LOVES to mock the serious gamers, screw around in negotiations and generally tick people off. Essentially, they'll be the Leroy Jenkins of Virtual Peace.
For those that haven't seen the World of Warcraft video about Leroy Jenkins, here is a link. Listen to the square in the background being all serious, carefully planning out this raid as though it somehow matters or has significance in life. Then you've got ANOTHER loon in the background doing "number crunching" and calculating their odds of success to ridiculous significant figures. They're the first group. Then along comes Leroy, member of the second group. I think it's pretty obvious who was having fun, and who was being tortured as their carefully ordered virtual life was messed with. Leroy is going to have a good time in here :D.
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.