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US Government Licenses Unreal Game Engine To Train FBI Agents and Army Medics
cylonlover writes "While games like Batman: Arkham City and Gears of War are certainly entertaining, virtually beating up thugs and fighting subterranean creatures doesn't exactly translate into real world skills. However, a new agreement with teaching software developer Virtual Heroes could see Epic's Unreal Engine platform used to create more practical experiences and train medical staff and law enforcement officers to handle high-stress situations. By using Epic's Unreal Engine 3, some United States government agencies like the FBI and U.S. Army are hoping to give their employees tools for virtually practicing their skills in a more realistic environment and better prepare them to save lives."
when a downed FBI angent screams officer down they will be comforted by the fact that their medical personal trained behind a sony with a analog controller and a mountain dew
Dont get me wrong, games can be high stress, but not nearly as high stressed as one wrong move and you cease to exist, games a have reset button and a spawn location
Its not necessarily about you the player. While stress may be a factor for you in the sense that you have severe time constraints and have to do a bit of multitasking, the real point is learning to deal with *others* that are severely stressed. The actors, computer controlled characters, are acting in a highly stressed and possibly irrational manner. Learning how such people act and how to deal with them is a skill that a "serious game" can help one learn.
As a former combat medic, I can assure you NO VIRTUAL TRAINING can match or prepare you for the real thing. NONE. I participated in medical procedures on dead people (cadavers, people who'd donated their bodies to medical science before death,) and livestock (farm animals, I cannot be more specific, legally,) as part of my post-Healthcare Specialist Course, given at Ft. Sam Houston, TX. I subsequently worked in an aid station and gave literally scores of IV's over the years before my retirement, and helping train new medics as they arrived at my unit, as well as treating numerous wounds in combat (burns, and a few gun shot wounds, but mostly run of the mill stuff as I've mentioned). This includes several deployments to combat zones.
It is my considered opinion, having gone through STX (Situational Training Exercise) or "Sticks," as it's sometimes called, (somewhat realistic training at the end of Advanced Individual Training, treating soldiers playing casualties with realistic-seeming (but fake) wounds and injuries) to the Combat Medic Advanced Skills Training Course, including procedures done on livestock animals... and additional training administered as part of our routine day to day during any down-time we had... literally MONTHS of training that went for the duration of an entire standard work-day... that when you see your first soldier all banged the fuck up from a grenade or IED, or with a hole in him oozing various bodily fluids, all the training up until that point will seem like a goddamned joke.
Anything done on a computer, likewise, is going to be a goddamned joke. I can see why they want to use every tool available to train the newest generation of docs, but it calls into question the people who make the procurement decisions, and how much they can possibly know about the training of medics, because as someone who has been through it, let me assure you. There is NOTHING like the real thing. You will never forget it, as long as you live, even if you forget the procedures, the medical training itself, the sight of a fellow man in bits and pieces will never leave you till your dying day.
So what I'm saying is, enjoy your fucking computer games, just don't imagine they're going to help you when the shit hits the fan.