April 19,
2008: Computer games have been a major source of training technology for the
armed forces. Not just in the United States, but all over the world. Most of
these adaptations get little publicity, some are even classified as secret. But
all simply take the visual and physical aspects of video games and use them to
simulate real combat.
A current
example is HD World, which provides a hyper virtual world, that faithfully
simulates the ordinary. Basically it's a virtual, persistent online world that
can be used for combat training. It's not just people going about their normal
routines in an urban area, but also what they do when a bomb goes off. The
physics of it all are faithfully rendered. Thus the explosion does realistic
damage to people and things. Vehicles rushing to the scene realistically bounce
over debris. The civilians, as well as the objects, react realistically. This is a big deal. HD
World becomes a setting for military exercises and experiments that would not
be possible otherwise (because they would be too dangerous). It's also
realistic enough to test new sensors, or new tactics with existing sensors.
Keeping
the system accurate forces the military to pay more attention to how civilians
in potential battle zones think and act. Whether you do that or not, the troops
will still have to deal with the civilians. Might as well be prepared, and find
out these things ahead of time.
