Warfare, Gamified The Norwegian Army has found a way to gamify tank warfare by equipping its tank crews with Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets, according to a recent Motherboard article. The headset is hooked up to four VR cameras mounted on the outside of the tank, allowing the soldiers inside to have a 360-degree view…
It’s not very surprising that the military has been using video games as a form of training. This form of gamification is very serious, enough so that in 2008 the U.S. Army invested “$50 million over five years on games and gaming systems designed to prepare soldiers for combat.” This investment is so big, it has its own title: the Project Executive Office – Simulation Training and Instrumentation, or PEO – STI, and the Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Homeland Defense are involved as well. These games are basically complex simulations, which have been in use since possibly the 1920’s.
The Department of Veteran Affairs estimates that between 11 and 20% of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffer from PTSD. Yet many soldiers who suffer from PTSD are reluctant to seek help and their loved ones may not know how to encourage them to do so. Some researchers are now using games in health as a strategy to get veterans the help they need. “Family of Heroes” by Kognito is an online simulation that helps equip families and friends of veterans to recognize symptoms of post-deployment stress and encourage veterans to seek help at the VA.
