Virtual maneuvers: games are gaining ground, but how far can they go?

When it became clear that insurgents would interfere with reconstruction efforts in Iraq, Pentagon technophiles thought it would be a good idea to develop a videogame to help guide soldiers through the messy business of rebuilding war-ravaged communities.

Thus came "Stability Operations

Winning the Peace," modeled loosely on the commercial games "Tropico" and "Sim City." Players assume the role of local military commanders of a stability operation, and are exposed to the political, military, economic, social and intelligence levers they can pull in a particular situation, while they learn the consequences of their actions.

"It helps the player understand the many tradeoffs required in contemporary stability operations," says a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency news release. The agency hired the firm Games2train to develop "Stability Operations."

Although games by no means are considered valid substitutes for real-world military training and live-fire drills, they increasingly are gaining acceptance as "alternative training methods," says Julia Loughran, president of ThoughtLink, a consulting firm that advises the Defense Department on military technology trends.

The fighting in Iraq only proves that "we need agility and adaptive training," she says. "Large-scale exercises are not suitable for fighting this enemy."

Videogame technology can fulfill many military training needs at a much lower cost than the traditional large-scale simulations, says Loughran. But it will be a long time before the military services begin to push this technology to its full potential, she adds. "We are trying to steer the Defense Department toward smaller simulations ... It's a cultural change."

Much of the training that enlisted troops and officers receive today is either face-to-face seminars and tabletop games, or billion-dollar large-scale simulations. That leaves a "gaping hole" in the middle, says Loughran. "There is no alternative for small-team training, part-task training."

The Army, to be sure, is ahead of the other services in trying to capitalize from advances in gaming technology, Loughran says. "The Army understands the need to include these alternative methods." The service also has made a large financial commitment, including a $45 million investment in the Institute for Creative Technologies, a think tank and production studio created to develop advanced games for Army soldiers.

Videogames are lagging, however, in the area of "joint" training, she notes. Although the military services no longer deploy or fight in isolation from their fellow branches, videogames by and large are service-unique, and are managed and funded individually by each organization, says Loughran. "The problem is that there isn't a joint command that is directing all training."

Another area that is woefully neglected in military training is the "interagency" coordination between tactical commanders and the State Department and humanitarian and non-governmental organizations, says Loughran. "There is no good technology to train interagency interoperability and interaction."

Among the latest products to address post-conflict operations is a game called "Foreign Ground." Funded by the Swedish National Defense College, "Foreign Ground" is a "first-person thinker" game that focuses on communication with civilians and on how to solve tasks by non-violent means. The game is being adopted by NATO countries as a training tool, says Anders Frank, who developed the game for the Swedish National Defense College.

Loughran believes that the U.S. Joint Forces Command--which is responsible for joint training and experimentation--has yet to embrace the use of alternative, low-cost technologies such as videogames. "JFCOM is steeped in their culture of large-scale exercises," she adds. "The problem is not technology, but the adoption of the technologies and how to apply them."

The idea that JFCOM rejects gaming technology is off the mark, says Jim Blank, modeling and simulation division chief at the command's Joint Futures Laboratory.

"To say we don't have the right emphasis on games is not totally accurate," he says in an interview. "We are looking at games, those that might suit our purposes."

The reality is that most commercial games don't meet the complex specifications of the simulations needed for military mission rehearsals and experimentations, he says. "First-person shooter games really don't apply in this environment."

Combat scenarios today are highly complex, and must reflect how political, military and economic developments can shape a conflict. "There are very few of those games," Blank says. "I can't think of one."

Tactical training, meanwhile, is an ideal application for videogames, he says. These are more entertaining, which is a prerequisite to become commercially successful. "Games are really out there for entertainment and that is how they make the majority of their money."

The traditional simulations and exercises that JFCOM manages are important elements of military training, Loughran asserts. "I am not saying large simulations or exercises should go away. But they should do fewer--they are too costly and take too long to plan--and do more small-team exercises." Dozens of contractors are eager and ready to develop low-cost training solutions, she adds.

Although JFCOM continues to focus on large-scale exercises, Loughran says, the command is "starting to open the door" to gaming technology. It recently partnered with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on the development of a game called "Ambush!" that was designed for players to practice convoy operations such as those conducted in Iraq. "That's where these games can be very useful," she says.

Researchers at the Joint Futures Laboratory are considering the possible application of the game "NetStrike" into a larger simulation that is being designed to test sensor technologies, Blank said.

NetStrike is a strategy game of hide and seek that portrays the intricacies of combat in the information age.

"In the larger operational context, we haven't found a game that's useful, other than NetStrike, to take a look at the sensor piece," he says. Because the military works with classified databases, merging commercial games with sensitive technology is far from seamless. "It's not plug and play," Blank says. "It requires additional engineering work by the game developer and the government."

The downside to gaming technology is that the developers tend to be commercial companies mat may not understand military training, says Ben Sawyer, a gaming expert and founder of the "Serious Games Summit," which promotes the educational value of videogames.

Several game developers have teamed with military agencies and have introduced a number of commercially successful games, but lucrative sales and training value are not always compatible goals.

"Commercial firms only worry about 'will it sell?'" Sawyer says in an interview. "In the military market, we are worried about effectiveness and other measures we are just beginning to learn ... We have not yet perfected that hybrid version of game-simulation," says Sawyer. "We need game developers that can attack specific problems."

Military customers want something "game-like," a simulation that looks and feels like a game, but does not necessarily play like a game, he adds. The question with which industry experts are grappling is "What's the right blending?"

The convoy trainer, for example, looks like a video game and plays like one, but doesn't have all the elements generally found in a game.

"Game development studios are the closest thing we have to steady simulation talent," Sawyer says. "Most successful firms are hybrid studios that do gaming and 'serious gaming.'"

The war in Iraq has sparked new thinking in military gaming, he adds "The insurgency has taught people that they need adaptive thinkers, soldiers who are strategically adaptive."

The Defense Department, he says, "seems to want soldiers to see what the enemy is doing and formulate strategies. They are now doing that in chat-rooms and via email with veterans who've been there." Games have yet to catch up with soldiers' needs, he suggests.

Some developers, for example, create videogames about combat scenarios they don't really understand, cautions David Warner, an intelligence expert who advises the U.S. military on how to interact with civilian organizations during deployments.

"If you want to do serious games, make sure you understand the root of the problems," he told attendees at the 2005 Serious Games Summit, in Arlington, Va.

While working on Defense Department projects in Afghanistan and Iraq, Warner noticed that commanders often lacked useful intelligence because the data available to them is not displayed in a coherent and simple "gamelike" manner. To create a digital 3D map of a commander's area of operations in Iraq, Warner relied on data retrieved from the "America's Army" videogame, because it was more reliable than the information available on military servers.

Much of the quick-thinking mentality that the services are seeking for their training is seen today in the U.S. Special Operations Command.

Videogames often may not be suitable training tools for the specialized missions that commandos must prepare to execute, often with just a few hours' notice.

"Mission rehearsal requires some pretty hefty detail and accuracy," says Blank. "The current game environment doesn't provide that."

Most of the terrain databases in commercial games are not based on the real world, he adds. "In our terrain databases, we have the real buildings, geo-located within the simulation to the exact spot on the Earth."

Special operations forces are able to expedite their training by creating their own "mission rehearsal" simulations on their PCs. "Their timelines are short. They are called to action in a short time. They want to be able to rehearse very quickly," says Chris Stellwag, director of communications at CAE USA, a supplier of military and commercial simulators and training devices.

Members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment in Fort Campbell, Ky., are able to create a customized simulation of the actual combat zone where they will be deploying. The unit, which has a new suite of MH-47 and MH-60 helicopter simulators, compiled a wide range of imagery, navigation, communications and radar data into a centralized database that makes it possible for aviators to request a specific mission scenario and to have a simulation developed for that particular part of the world. A process that normally would take six months can be done in hours or days, Stellwag says. "This unit doesn't have six months."

RELATED ARTICLE: Military videogame roundup.

ARMY

"America's Army"

Created by the MOVES institute at the Naval Postgraduate School. "America's Army" is an Army recruiting tool. It is a squad-based first-person shooter game consisting of basic training, plus a series of team-based missions that involve operations, Special Forces and combat medic specialties. The game was launched in June 2002. There are currently almost 4 million registered users.

"Army Research Lab Trainer for X-Box"

Created by Breakaway games, "Army Research Lab Trainer" is a game for the X-Box console that uses satellite data to create a 3-D environment.

"Asymmetrical Warfare Virtual Training Technology"

Created by Forterra Inc., "Asymmetrical Warfare Virtual Training Technology" is a research-and-development project about building a new type of training approach for anti-terrorism.

"Battle Command 2010"

Created by MAK Technologies, "BC-2010" is designed to support Army battalion and brigade commands and their staff officers in preparing operation orders. The game is a military tactical trainer that allows commanders and their staff officers to practice their planning and execution skills.

"Battlefield 1942"

This is a commercial game about World War II used by the Army and the Marine Corps. Players can storm the beaches of Normandy, drive a tank across the deserts of North Africa and pilot a fighter plane during the Battle of Midway.

"Civil Support Team Trainer"

Built for the Army Reserves, the CSTT is a collaborative, distance learning system to help developers create interactive courseware and simulations. The goal is for National Guard civil support teams to pursue professional development, enhance their peer network, and identify resources. It was designed and Built by Engineering and Computer Simulations Inc.

"Critical Leadership Analysis System"

Created by the Institute for Creative Technologies, CLAS is an experimental game designed to help soldiers think like a commander. Players watch an incident unfold in a video, then question the participants to determine why things happened as they did.

"DARWARS Ambush! Lessons Learning Game"

Designed to capture and disseminate lessons learned related to convoy ambushes in Iraq, it was designed, produced and built by BBN, Jason Robar, Total Immersion Software and Savage Entertainment.

"DARWARS Tactical Language Trainer"

The objective is to develop tools to support individualized language learning. The training system enables learners to communicate directly with on-screen characters using a speech recognition interface.

"Decisive Action"

A division and corps level simulation from HPS Simulations that depicts combat with maneuver brigades and battalions plus supporting artillery, air strikes, electronic warfare, engineer, helicopters and psy-ops units. It is used at the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth for tactics training.

"Delta Force V / Land Warrior"

This commercial game is used by the Army.

"Digital Warrior"

The game is a staff and soldier-training pro gram developed by the University of Texas Institute for Advanced Technology.

"Full Spectrum Command"

Created by the Institute for Creative Technologies and Quicksilver, "Full Spectrum Command" is a company command level game. As the commander of a U.S. Army light infantry company, the student must interpret the assigned mission, organize his force, plan strategically and coordinate the actions of about 120 soldiers under his command.

"Full Spectrum Leader"

Third in the Institute of Creative Technologies' Games Project Series, "Full Spectrum Leader," is currently in development as a training game for platoon leaders.

"Full Spectrum Warrior"

Created by Pandemic, Sony Imageworks and the Institute for Creative Technologies, "Full Spectrum Warrior" is a squad-based training game that runs on the Microsoft X-Box. it places the student in the role of a light infantry squad leader. A version of the game has been released commercially.

"Gator Six, Battery Command Virtual Experience"

An officers' leadership development trainer, this game is based on lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan. Users assume the identity of an Army artillery battery commander in an interactive movie, and confront decisions about mission, morale, family issues, ethics, tactical proficiency, and navigating a complex and dangerous cultural environment. It was developed by Will Interactive.

"Guard Force"

Created by Cornerstone Industry for the Army National Guard, "Guard Force" is a real-time strategy game focused on the Guard's combat and non-combat missions, from counterinsurgency to rescue.

"M1 Tank Platoon"

In this commercial game from Microprose, players command an M1A2 main battle tank.

"Mission Rehearsal Exercise"

Created by the Institute for Creative Technologies, "Mission Rehearsal Exercise" is an experimental, immersive, squad-level game in which the player is a lieutenant in a unit that has just experienced an accident in the middle of a mission, and must tell his sergeant how to proceed.

"Operation Flashpoint"

A commercial product from Bohemia Interactive and distributed by Codemasters, "Operation Flashpoint' is a tactical-combat simulation game. Used at the U.S. Military Academy for cadet instruction.

"Saving Sergeant Pabletti"

Created by Will Interactive, "Saving Sergeant Pabletti" addresses behavior change by having a platoon that failed to save its sergeant go back and make different choices. Players win by making values-based decisions.

"SIMNET"

This is an Army simulation and training game tool developed in the 1980s, now used primarily as to support National Guard training at Fort Knox.

"Spearhead II"

Created by MAK Technologies, "Spearhead II" is a real-time, military, tactical trainer designed for tank company or platoon commanders. Trainees develop battle plans and execute those plans in real-time, in a game-like environment. The primary focus is to facilitate tank-combat battle planning and visualization.

"Steel Beasts"

A commercial, off-the shelf game for the personal computer created by eSim Games and published by Strategy First, "Steel Beasts" is a highly accurate simulator of the U.S. M1A1 and German Leopard 2A4 tanks that is designed to let players create and play scenarios of modern armored warfare.

"TAC-OPS"

This commercial game, by battlefront.com about tactical warfare, supports team play by allowing up to 19 players or spectators organized in as many as eight teams, plus an umpire, to connect and fight the same battle online. It is used by the Army and the Marine Corps for tactics training.

NAVY

"Battle Stations 21"

This is a 12-hour basic-training simulation for Navy recruits, further developing and replacing a very basic "jury-rigged" version developed by petty officers. In "Battle Stations 21," 352 Navy recruits at a time will man a ship and draw on all they've learned.

Designed by I.D.E.A.S. of Orlando on a $1.4 million Navy contract, it currently is being built at a cost of $82 million.

"Bottom Gun"

Created by the Naval Air Warfare Center, "Bottom Gun" turns standard periscope training into a game which allows trainees to fire missiles based on their periscope readings and see how accurate they were.

"Electro-Adventure"

This game was created for the Navy in 1991 to teach the basics of electricity and electronics to avionics technicians.

"Forward Observer"

In this game, the player acts as a forward observer, calling in naval gunfire and F/A-18 air strikes. Funded by the Office of Naval Research, the game illustrates general military technologies and is intended to generate scientific interest in young people as a part of a traveling Navy exhibit. It was created by BMH Associates.

"Harpoon2"

This commercial game is used by the Navy.

"Jane's Fleet Command"

This commercial naval-strategy game for the PC, published by Electronic Arts, was used in the 2002 inter-academy "Warlords" competition.

"Leadership Training--Center for Naval Leadership"

Created by Will Interactive, this game is currently in production.

"Microsoft Flight Simulator"

This commercial game is used by the Navy.

"Navy Anti-terror Simulation Game"

This simulation educates naval personnel and civilians in modern anti-terrorism and counter-terror operations, it is a multiplayer, 3-D game that recreates environments, challenges and missions of the Navy's Mobile Security Group Two. Users perform tasks and interact in real time with both synthetic and human-controlled sailors. It currently is in development by BreakAway.

"SOCOM: US Navy Seals"

A commercial game for the PlayStation 2 created by Zipper interactive and published by Sony, "SOCOM" is a realistic tactical shooter that places you in command of a squad of special operators in a variety of anti-terrorist missions around the globe. It's designed for players to team together and fight a common enemy. It is used by the Navy.

"Sub Command"

This commercial game is used by the Navy.

MARINES

"Close Combat Marines"

This internally created simulation is used by the Marine Corps in its Infantry Cognitive Skills Labs. It is based on the "Close Combat" engine by Atomic Games.

"Infantry Tool Kit"

ITK is not a game, but rather a set of games and programs, encompassing predominantly PC-based gaming technology tactical games and decision-making tools. It was created by the Marines' Training and Education Command.

"Marine Air-Ground Task Force--MAGTF XXI"

Created by MAK Technologies, "MAGTF XXI" is a real-time, military tactical trainer developed for the Marine Corps to facilitate expeditionary warfare training. A trainee assumes the role of a Marine Expeditionary Unit commander or staff member. "MAGTF-XXI" can be used to help MEU commanders develop war-fighting skills by allowing them to plan the battle, fight the battle and review the battle. It currently is being tested at the Marine Expeditionary Warfare School.

"Marine Doom" (no longer used)

"Marine Doom" is no longer used by the Marine Corps, but is included here for historical purposes, as one of the earliest instances of modifying games for training purposes. "Marine Doom" was an early version of the commercial game "Doom" by Id Software. It was created internally around 1998 by Lt. Scott Barnett and others, and originally was designed to teach teamwork, coordination and decision-making.

"Medal of Honor"

This is a commercial game from Electronic Arts. As Lt. Mike Powell, member of the famed 1st Ranger Battalion, the player battles through military campaigns of World War II. It is used by the Marine Corps at its infantry Cognitive Skills Labs.

"Soldier of Fortune"

A COTS game for the PC created by Raven and published by Activision, SOF is a first-person shooter game used by the Marine Corps at its Infantry Cognitive Skills Labs.

"Virtual Battlefield Simulation 1 (VBS1)"

This modification of the commercial game Operation Flashpoint, by Bohemia Interactive, is used by the Marine Corps in its Infantry Cognitive Skills Labs. It was created by Coalescent Technologies.

AIR FORCE

"Air Force Delta Storm"

A commercial game for the X-Box from Konami, "Air Force Delta Storm" is a flying combat game that includes SO missions and over 70 planes. It is used by the Air Force.

"Avant Guard"

This game, being built for the Air Force Research Lab's Human Effectiveness Directorate, models an urban convoy-protection mission using unmanned aerial vehicles. The player must direct the UAVs and manage the sensor stream to search for hostile actors within a civilian population. The goal is to detect the ambush ahead of the convoy arrival. The developer is Games That Work.

"Falcon 4.0"

This commercial game is used by the Air Force.

"JVID and Finflash"

Created by the Air Force, "JVID" and "FinFlash" are games designed to teach pilots quickly to identify friendly and enemy aircraft.

"Project X"

Created by IBM for the Air Force Squadron Officers' School, the "Project X" game is one part of a multi-hour online training course.

"Quick Strike--Time Sensitive Targeting Trainer"

This game is being designed to make targeting-team training and mission-analysis more effective and time-sensitive. This new desktop product will support staff interaction with combat crews flying Air Force flight simulators as well as individual operator training.

Particular importance will be placed on developing a simulated environment with appropriate fidelity, so that it can be used both to train Air Force personnel involved in the decision-making process, and to support analysis and evaluation. It is being developed by MAK Technologies and Zel Technologies.

"Starcraft"

As the military leader for the species, the player must gather the resources needed to train and expand his forces and lead them to victory. It's a commercial game used by the Air Force.

JOINT FORCES

"Anti-Terrorism Force Protection"

Created by Will Interactive, "Anti-Terrorism Force Protection" is an interactive program that helps train commanders to make decisions related to their command's anti-terrorism posture.

"DARWARS--The DARPA Training Superiority Program"

This effort by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency applies multiplayer online gaming principles to training. The goal of the initial three-year project is to create a new kind of cognitive training experience for units and individuals based on continuously available wars. The program has two key areas:

"Entropy-Based Warfare"

Created by Breakaway Games based on technology created by Booz-Allen, "Entropy-Based Warfare" is a game that has been used by the Defense Department and the Army War College.

"Joint Force Employment"

Created by Cornerstone Industry for the Office of the Joint Chiefs, "Joint Force Employment" is designed to teach the staffs of combatant commanders to employ multi-service forces with maximum effectiveness. It is available to the general public as the commercial version Real War from Simon and Schuster.

"Peloponnesian War"

Created by Breakaway Games, "Peloponnesian War" is a strategy game used at the National Defense University.

"Stability Operations: Winning the Peace"

"Stability Operations--Winning the Peace," a game modeled loosely on the commercial games "Tropico," and "Sim City," puts the player in the role of a local military commander of a stability operation. The game helps the player understand the many tradeoffs required in contemporary stability operations. It currently is in development by Games2train.

"Warlords"

Not a game but an inter-service academy competition begun in 2002, "Warlords" uses a variety of custom and commercial games in which teams from the academies compete against each other. The games used in 2002 were "Operation Flash Point" (tactical), "Starcraft" (strategic), "Jane's Fleet Command" (operational), "InfoChess" (asymmetic) and "VBS1" (joint).

Source: Department of Defense Game Developers' Community