Massively Multi-Player (MMP) Environments for Asymmetric Warfare

Abstract

It has been proposed that the Army needs a high-level training capability for asymmetric missions. Current training programs are focused on conventional warfare and are mainly limited to units that are co-located. Where training capability exists, the scenarios have limited interactivity and fail to address a variety of cross-cultural communication issues that troops encounter in the real world. U.S. Army's Research, Development, and Engineering Command, Simulation, and Training Technology Center in Orlando, Florida, has been conducting an Army Technology Objective (ATO) using massively multi-player (MMP) gaming technology to address these issues. The objective of the ATO is to develop a large-scale, persistent, distributed simulation environment to train soldiers. The research is focused on evaluating the use of MMPs for Army training for operations in asymmetric warfare environments. Weapons of mass destruction, terrorists' actions, crowd and hostage situations, peacekeeping, psychological operations, and civil affairs will be possible interactions faced by the users. OneSAF Objective System computer generated entities will augment the large numbers of real people who will populate the scenarios. The various Armed Forces will be able to engage in such simulation environments anytime, anywhere, using standard personal computers (PCs) connected via the Internet. The paper details research in the formative evaluation of Internet-based training using soldier participants and gaming technologies. Initial test results with the 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and the Illinois Army National Guard are presented to indicate the potential such technology has to meet new asymmetric training needs and optimize use of soldiers' time while preparing for live training events and actual deployment. The paper also addresses the tools needed to build the training environments and required After Action Review capabilities.