Developing avatars to improve cultural competence in US soldiers

Virtual systems have existed as a military training technique for several decades, initially implemented to rehearse combat scenarios and flight patterns in a safe environment. The U.S. Army has recently identified virtual role-play as an innovative and highly prioritized training method for cultural awareness as well as it has become clear that a number of avoidable conflicts ensue when members from one culture misunderstand or misinterpret those from another. Our team collaborated with Bohemia Interactive Solutions (BIS) and Alelo, Inc. to develop several virtual role-playing scenarios based in urban Afghanistan that allow soldiers to practice cross-cultural interactions in a safe environment using the Virtual Battlespace (VBS3) platform. We created two game-based scenarios that guide the user, represented as a virtual avatar, through cultural interactions such as common greetings, bartering in a traditional market, and discussing local concerns in a council setting. Dr. Lewis Johnson, Alelo CEO and co-founder, introduced our team to perspective taking. This technique, where the trainee experiences a scenario from the host national's perspective instead of his or her own, is a key component in our simulations. After running a handful of students through beta testing of our prototype, we received positive feedback about the value-add from perspective taking as well as cultural knowledge gained from the simulation as a whole.