Slashdot Mirror
The New VA Health Plan Is Second Life
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."
This is a logical continuation of conference calls and working from home. It's like going to a self help group meeting, without actually having to drive over there (saving time, money, and polar bears). That, and you have an additional layer of anonymity, which might help lower the threshold for newcomers who are too ashamed of joining.
I think a similar system could work very well for other groups such as AA and NA.
I'd rather you rationally disagree than irrationally agree.
I have a Ph.D. in psychology and I can tell you that the notion of "escaping from reality" is a concept borrowed more from pop-psychology than science. The fact of the matter is, these people need exposure to cues that trigger traumatic memories in a context that is safe, supervised, and controlled. Talking about roadside bombs is an important first step but far less immersive (and less effective) for later parts of therapy than being part of an animated scene where patients get to re-experience a convoy-support mission.
Second Life is definitely *not* a viable platform for long-term businesses. Why? 1. Linden Lab actively holds hands with long-term Griefers like Tizzers Foxchase (Tizzers Teardrop) - aka the SL Woodbury University group. The new CEO Mark Kingdon doesn't seem to mind long-term griefers casually crashing simulators as well as stealing (copybotting) someone else's work and then selling it. 2. Linden Lab staff does not actually appreciate corporations/customers using it's Second Life VW platform - they'd rather laugh their heads off and call people 'losers' behnd their backs. ( Evidence: http://bit.ly/C0VM4 and http://bit.ly/LT7Hv ) 3. Your business can't grow very far in Second Life unless you actively *suck up* to the Linden Regime - applaud every single move made by Linden in order to gain a *HUGE* advantage over the in-world competition. Illegit *Bribing*, basically. ( Source: http://bit.ly/LT7Hv ) Corporations would be better off using some other platform, like Blue Mars and OpenSim, even though both are currently in public beta. Anonymous Coward? More like, if I reveal my identity, Linden Lab will ban me & take my business away, for whistleblowing! Though, they can't really sue me, since my statements are well backed up with evidence.