Virtual reality tours have come a long way since something like the New York Skyride of serial entrepreneur Zalman Silber, which is an IMAX-like cinematic experience located at the city’s famous Empire State Building. Contrast that with the United States Army’s Virtual Army Experience, or VAE, which is an interactive multimedia virtual tour of what it is like to be an American soldier in the 21st Century.
The VAE was designed to capitalize on the appetite of today’s American youth for electronic entertainment. As opposed to continuing to run television commercials as was done previously, it was decided to support classic forms of outreach with one that far more immediately and forcefully resonated with today’s young males. Something like the aforementioned Skyride by Zalman Silber is family entertainment and totally innocuous, G-rated to seat as quite a few as possible. It’s mildly educational although the VAE is meant to showcase the most positive aspects of modern soldiering to action-oriented youths. The VAE presents a life-sized networked environment for visitors to get a little taste of soldiering and battle. With a complicated setup that involves computers, video, motion sensors, and full surround sound, the VAE is an engaging method to both entertain and educate, not to mention recruit. Via the use of conventional storytelling alongside familiar videogaming conventions, the VAE has been hailed for its innovative use of cutting-edge technology to inform together with to sell.
Website visitors gather within the “Assembly Area,” whereupon uniformed VAE staff shepherd guests on towards the “Joint Operations Center.” There they meet former soldiers, now employees of Army partner Ignited Minds, a marketing firm, who serve as “team leaders.” An intelligence briefing ensues, which covers the upcoming virtual mission. Time is also taken to introduce Army rules of engagement along with proper use of simulator equipment and suitable deployment of Army tactical doctrine. Then it’s on to the mission itself, which takes place in the “Mission Simulator” proper. The objective is to evacuate civilians, an unassailably righteous scenario that critics contend mask the much more likely and less innocuous duties of Army life and death in a time of war.
Upon completion with the mission participants are debriefed in an “After Action Area” where Army values are introduced within the context from the mission, values such as duty, honor, respect, and camaraderie. At particular venues, an actual war hero is on-hand to speak with participants, lending an inspirational air of authenticity that has quite a few VAE site visitors applauding.
It is all incredibly beguiling, especially for young men still trying to prove themselves to themselves.
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