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."

Comments

I don't know

[oldspewey]

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.

Re:I don't know

[qoncept]

Thank you for finding the PC way of saying what I was thinking. The best I could come up with is "this is the worst fucking idea for a game I've ever heard."

Re:I don't know

[houstonbofh]

I just can't see staying up until four in the morning to get the last of that bottled water to Indonesia... Next year they come out with "Checkbook Simulator" and Virtual Dishwashing!"

Re:I don't know

[MicktheMech]

I just checked out the video on the site. It's as lame as it sounds.

Re:I don't know

[DeadDecoy]

That really depends on the game mechanics. If it's fun, then the core idea can be whatever it needs to be. If you think about it, games with initially odd concepts have performed well: Sim City (or any of the Sim Series), the Tycoon series, Pheonix Wright, Eco, Katamari Damacy, Sonic. Not every game needs to be pigeone-holed into RTS or FPS to be fun. It's just easier for publishers to make the safe bet.

Re:I don't know

[R2.0]

But the ones you listed don't have an overt propaganda mission (ok, "educational aim"). This is "Make Learning Fun"! - which generally isn't a very good way to teach.

If they wanted to actually get their point across, make it an expansion module to America's Army where you get promoted to a position that actually needs these skills to win the game. Think Petraeus in Iraq.

Re:I don't know

[Belial6]

You haven't heard of the smash hit "The Sims"? It's been done, and people loved it.

Re:I don't know

[stuntpope]

I don't believe it's intended as video game entertainment. It's an educational simulation to train people who may need to devise disaster response policy. Players run through the simulation, make certain choices, and then they all engage in an after-action review session to check the appropriateness, or effectiveness, of their choices.

Re:I don't know

[jamboarder]

"But the ones you listed don't have an overt propaganda mission...

...make it an expansion module to America's Army..."

I hope this took you at least several hours to write because it's difficult to imagine the two thoughts occurred within within seconds or minutes of each other...

I Played as the US...

[vjmurphy]

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.

Get used to hearing it...

[Doc, the Weasel]

I need to mobilize the National Guard and send food to the affected areas... "Spawn more Overlords!"

Re:Reality Check

[tthomas48]

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.

Conflict resolution

[BigGar']

America's Army teaches conflict resolution.
By killing all those that disagree with you, you resolve the conflict.

Expansion pack for America's Army...

[Vexler]

...will be checking to see whether your avatar has served in the Virtual Peace Corps before deciding to let you join.

Watch out

[SnarfQuest]

While flying supplies into the outback, we were shot down by the kangaroos anti-aircraft fire.

Video Game to Develop Skills?

[TheLazySci-FiAuthor]

...The creators must have taken their notes from this http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/video-game-skills.php

Video goodness

[Triv]

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.

I'm working on a new game

[Vinegar Joe]

I'm calling it "Oil For Food".....

This is an undergraduate course at Duke University

[Anonymous Coward]

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?

This is a little disturbing.

[k1e0x]

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.

Re:Reality Check

[Free the Cowards]

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.