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First-Person Shooter Modified For Fire Drill Simulation
Hugh Pickens writes "Researchers at Durham University have modified a video game and turned it into a fire drill simulator using the Source engine (the 3D game engine used to drive Half-Life 2), and created a virtual model of one of the university's departments. Dr. Shamus Smith said that although 3D modeling software was available, modifying a video game was faster, more cost effective, and had better special effects. 'We were interested in using game technology over a customized application and the Source Engine, from Half-Life, is very versatile,' said Smith. 'We used the simulation to see how people behaved in an actual fire situation and to train people in "good practice" in a fire.' The team says the virtual environment helped familiarize people with evacuation routines and could also help identify problems with a building's layout. One problem, however, was that while the simulation worked for most people, those who played a lot of video games did some unusual things when using the simulation. 'If a door was on fire, [the gamers] would try and run through it, rather than look for a different exit,' said Smith."
This makes me wonder to what extent entertainment software will fill the role of non-entertainment software as the tools and engines become more and more powerful. Ars mentions related news that the US Dept. of Naval Research is dumping millions of dollars into "virtual reality-like simulations of small-scale urban conflicts." It's unclear whether this is related to the US Army's similar program.
I think the availability of firearms is allegedly the cause for the school shootings, not just video games.
No. That kid who shot people. He was the cause.
Jack Thompsonwhen you really need him!?
Seriously though, I am certain he is going to point to this as conditioned behavior caused by gaming, cause, you know, gamers will jump through an actual flaming door, despite the heat and all. A message for ya, Jack: Gamers may be conditioned by games, but only when actually playing games.
Cliffs and ponds are far more common than building fires and we don't see crumpled or floating bodies of gamers beside these natural hazards despite their low danger level in video games.
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I'm not a fire expert by any means but several things really annoyed me about the video linked to on the BBC article. Mostly about the realism of the situation and several to do with "training" people to do things correctly.
First - WHY DON'T THEY SHUT THE DOORS THAT LEAD TO A FIRE... chances are opening those doors where a fire was on the other side would probably have killed you quite quickly anyway, but for God's sake, SHUT THE DOOR, if you're not going that way to reduce the available oxygen. It's an FPS engine so you should be penalising people for not shutting the damn fire-doors after them.
Second - Why are the doors just "flung" open without checking - what happened to all the training I had as a child to put the back of my hand on the door, open it slowly etc. in case the fire was on the other side of the door I'm opening. You have an FPS engine, this should have been put in as your only "weapon".
Third - Why were there fires on metal stairs, and why only halfway up the staircase and WHY, when going into a stairwell which is obviously on fire within mere feet of the "down" stairs, do they continue to use the stairwell to go down? Abandon the attempt and back off if you don't want to die.
Fourth - No smoke. Fill the burning rooms with smoke, so that you can only just see the exit signs or, indeed, the fire. Much more realistic and useful (I can find my out of any building in broad daylight - that's not the problem you're testing here).
Fifth - That CS department modelled is really crap in terms of signposting the fire exits and I only saw one fire extinguisher on the entire three floors the character went through (though I might have missed one because it only occurred to me halfway through that I didn't rememeber seeing one). Stop making simulations and sort the real situation out if that model is any reflection on the actual physical location.
Is someone with lots of spare time, and I'm sure there's many, planning on modding the fire escape game with a realistic simulation of S11 where you have to escape the building? Or how about the Titanic disaster or other disasters for that matter? Coz you know how sick people are, they're play it just to see if they would make it and probably pay money for it too. If it worked for Leisure suit Larry this one's a winner.
Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
Hm, let's see. No kid--> eventually another kid runs amok and does the shooting. No firearm available--> no shooting.
There will always be ways for bad people to do bad things. I seem to remember back in 2001 a handful of folks caused a lot of trouble using only boxcutters. You can't keep bad people from being bad, but you can make it so the good people can control the damage.
"25 States allow anyone to buy a gun, strap it on, and walk down the street with no permit of any kind: some say it's crazy. However, 4 out of 5 U.S. murders are committed in the other half of the country: so who is crazy?" - Andrew Ford
The "Should we leave?" effect is the result of over testing of the fire alarms. The building is constantly testing the alarms, so you just assume that if they go off it's just a test. For the most part, that assumption is true.
Is that most games don't allow for real-world techniques. Case in point, Call of Duty 4. The first problem I have with this is it doesn't let you lean out from behind cover so you only expose your head and weapon. No properly trained person would expose his whole body. Second, you can't climb stuff you would normally be able to. Third, there is an exponential component to racking up kills. Once you get to call in air-strikes and helicopters, you usually rack up enough kills to get more air-strikes and helicopters. And since when to .223 rounds not blow through body armor at close range? And finally, a simulation only would be effective if you can't play it anymore once you're dead.
Hm, let's see. No kid--> eventually another kid runs amok and does the shooting. No firearm available--> no shooting.
Let's take your logic to the next step:
Parents have sex, resulting in child. No sex --> no kid --> no more school shootings.
or...
no schools --> no more school shootings.
It's like people forget that humans have never been as ingenious as when they are trying to kill each other. Take away the guns, they will use bombs. Take those away, they'll use knives. Take those and they'll use rocks and clubs. Take those and they will strangle each other or push people out of windows.
I find it interesting that Canada has a MUCH higher per-capita gun ownership than in the US, yet their level of gun violence is drastically lower.
Your children are still MUCH more likely to be killed driving to school. But nobody is yelling for a ban on cars.
I wish more places would have two-phase alarms. An intermittent alarm means there *might* be something happening somewhere in the building and you should prepare for an evacuation, but there's no need to actually evacuate. A full alarm means that you're actually in confirmed danger and should evacuate.
The last place I was that had a two-phase alarm randomly set off the phase one alarm every 6 weeks or so, but it meant that when the alarm actually went to phase two we all evacuated because it was a "confirmed" fire rather than just some burnt toast or someone messing around.
How many people can read hex if only you and dead people can read hex?