Simulating the call for service

Driving fast cars. Avoiding explosions. Thanks to a university-developed program, Xbox-addicted teens might not be the only ones playing hero in video games. Some real firemen and police officers have joined the ranks as well.

A group of university researchers is developing a video game to teach emergency responders how to act at the scenes of accidents, using 3-D graphics to simulate scenarios real-life training cannot.

The game, which features colorful graphics, bold explosions and even the ability to fly helicopters, could be one of the first video games ever used for emergency response training purposes, said Michael Pack, a university researcher and principal investigator of the project.

Pack presented the program at the Federal Virtual Worlds Expo in Washington last Thursday, an event where government employees and contractors discussed how to use virtual reality technologies.

Although it's still in its early stages, many rescue officials have already tried the game out themselves.

"I was fairly impressed," said Steve Kerber, Deputy Chief of the College Park Volunteer Fire Department. "It has the potential to be a good tool."

In the game, emergency responders go online and log in as a viritual characters, called avatars, that represent their real-life jobs.

Once the firemen, EMTs and the rest of the team are logged in, they talk via headsets as they redirect traffic, transport injured civilians and perform other tasks to resolve virtual accidents.

Although the game can simulate emergency situations pretty accurately, Kerber said it cannot provide everything that reality has to offer.

"The graphics were certainly realistic," Kerber said. "[But] you certainly can't replicate the pressure of life."

The game is funded by the I-95 Corridor Coalition, an alliance of East Coast transportation agencies that has contributed about $1.4 million to the program's development. George Schoener, the coalition's executive director, said he is also impressed by the game's capabilities.

"I thought it was extremely effective because it allowed real-time role play," Schoener said. "It was like they are right there on the scene."

But Schoener said he originally had his doubts, a sentiment many others shared.

"A lot of people, at first, they were skeptical as to using this because they hadn't played video games, and so that was actually a very big inhibitor for them being able to learn the core competencies that this will teach them," said Phillip Weisberg, a university alum and 3-D development manager of the project. "But after they actually realized how powerful the tool was ... they were very intrigued by that."

Even Kerber admitted he was a bit skeptical at first. But after he and his fellow firefighters gave the game a test drive, he realized just how effective the software truly is.

"It lets you plan for emergencies that are of a huge scale," Kerber said, adding that real-life training cannot offer the same opportunities.

But the College Park Volunteer Fire Department isn't the only group that became interested in this game's capabilities.

The History Channel featured the program on an episode of Modern Marvels that aired in February, and several organizations across the East Coast have tested the game, too.

Steve Austin, project manager of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemans Association, said when he sat down to try the game for the first time, he was pretty confused.

"I didn't even know what an avatar is when I started," he laughed.

Austin also had never used a joystick before playing the game, but after about 15 minutes, he became comfortable.

"It's like riding a bicycle," Austin said. "You fall a bunch of times."

Austin said this game is not only a learning tool - it can be fun as well.

"It's this whole idea that you can get into a game like this and see yourself as a character ... that's very entertaining," he said. "It's not boring at all."

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