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The New VA Health Plan Is Second Life

Posted by Soulskill on from the not-reincarnation dept.

theodp writes "Remember when Catbert informed Dilbert that the new company health plan is Google? In another case of life imitating Dilbert, combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder are being provided with a US Army-sponsored virtual world in Second Life (slideshow) to help deal with their condition. Developed by USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, it is hoped that the veterans-only virtual world Coming Home and its planned activities will promote conversations that can help reduce PTSD. The Avatar will see you now, Sergeant."

2 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'm not sure about this. by Gregoyle · · Score: 3, Informative

    I work in the military as a health care provider.

    One of the biggest problems for military specific PTSD patients is the feeling that no one around them understands. And in most cases, they are right. No one really does understand, nor could they.

    Once someone is medically retired they lose the connection of having buddies around them who've been through the same or at least similar experiences. There aren't many people in civilian life to connect with.

    I think using a Second Life style interface for soldiers and veterans (especially veterans for the reasons I've mentioned above) is a great idea. It provides an opportunity for people to connect with others who have similar experiences. I think it would probably be even more effective to have a game where people are actually doing something rather than just sitting around talking to each other; many veterans will reject something like this as just another "group therapy" session.

    Now a PTSD only Halo server or something would be great. You could even have separate servers for guys blown up in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. You could have an "I hate MRAPs but I still have my legs" server. The possibilities are endless. If you allowed the soldiers/vets to make their own designations they would probably scandalize those who've never been in the military :-).

    --

    "He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil."

  2. Re:Why use Linden Labs? by westlake · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've been following a lot of similar stories recently and I don't understand why agencies and institutions wouldn't build on an opensource infrastructure that they can control (e.g., something like openlife)

    Linden Labs has experience and resources.

    Linden Labs clients include:

    British Petroleum
    Wells Fargo
    NOAA
    The government of Ontario
    Naval Undersea Warfare Center
    CIGNA
    Kraft
    Unilever
    Disney
    Northrop Grumman
    Kelly Services
    Cisco
    IBM
    Intel
    Microsoft
    Toshiba
    British Telecom
    Nokia

    Second Life Work

    Openlife is in beta and looks it.