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December 18, 2004

Gaming for peace, sort of

Interesting article by Di Luo in Computer Gaming world about the government using games not to recruit and train for war (e.g., America's Army) but to teach more peaceful tactics. Tactical Language Learning System and Virtual Environment Cultural Training for Operational Readiness teach cultural sensitivity. The former is built on the Unreal engine and the latter uses the LithTech engine that brought us so much gamey fun in No One Lives Forever and Tron. For example, VECTOR players learn to understand other cultures' body language, and also get extra points for head shots.

The article also reports that the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict has created A Force More Powerful that's designed "to train activists in the planning and tactics needed to bring about political change." There's some great stuff on the ICNC page reminding us how successful organized non-violence has been. It makes you wonder what we could have done in Iraq if we had been more imaginative.

Posted by D. Weinberger at December 18, 2004 03:49 PM


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» Gaming for peace, sort of from [jb] jim brayton

Using video game technologies for cultural training.
The VECTOR environment is built using iGEN™ and the LithTech Jupiter Game Engine, which has been used to develop such comme

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Tracked on December 19, 2004 12:45 AM

» Intl Center for Nonviolent Conflict from Tensegrities
Check this out! Thanks to Joho I've found the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict, which among other things a really rich set of web resource links. The Center is dedicated to "developing and encouraging the use of civilian-based, nonmilitary ... [Read More]

Tracked on December 20, 2004 09:19 PM

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