Wednesday, January 28, 2009

PC Gaming for Defense

Modern Defense Forces around the world today are rapidly adopting these systems to train their personnel. Defense Forces in USA, Erstwhile USSR, UK and India to name a few have been using specialized Computer based simulations to train their Commanders & Strategists. Simulators have been used for training in vehicle operations such as Aircrafts, Ships and Submarines etc. for more than a decade now.

Although PC games are traditionally deemed as entertainment tools, the Singapore Army and its key technology partner, the Defense Science & Technology Agency (DSTA), have recognized that they can effectively complement the conventional training methods such as field training. Soldiers here are the first outside the US Army to start training with PC strategy games.

Example of purposes for which PC Games can be used:



Military

· Battle Field Management
· Squad Level Management
· Reflex Training to Soldiers
· Scenario Based Training

Civil Defense

· Disaster Management
· Scenario Based Training for Police/Fire Brigade and Anti Terrorist agencies
· Training Drills for Civilians (Earthquake, Fire, Armed Aggression etc.)

The viability of PC games as a medium of such training stems from their following inherent advantages over specialized simulations that run on Supercomputers:

· Low Development Costs: Even Block Buster commercial PC games with Budgets ranging in a few million dollars cost a fraction of the cost of setting up the hardware and developing specialized software for realistic simulation.

· Low Running Costs: Since these games can run on average multimedia PCs the cost of running and maintenance is much lower than super computers.

· Faster Learning Curve for users: As these games run on easily accessible and commonly available, popular platforms like Windows & Linux they are easier to use and learn for end-users
· Short Development Time: PC Games take significantly less time to develop than complex simulations and the development process is more interactive. Therefore more scenarios can be explored with PC games in the same or smaller time frames

· Wider Development talent pool: The number of people engaged in and qualified for the development of PC based Games is vastly greater.

· Greater Adaptability: PC games can be easily, cheaply and quickly modified to play different variations of in built scenarios.

· Better Multimedia Capabilities: Since PC games are primarily Entertainment products the number of people and companies with products that provide better graphics and sound features is much larger and therefore the technology is much more advanced.

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