The First Person Cultural Trainer
Marjorie A. Zielke, Thomas E. Linehan · 2009
The First Person Cultural Trainer (FPCT) is a 3D inter- active training simulation, sponsored by TRADOC G2 Intelligence Support Activity, which teaches the values and norms of a specific culture in order to facilitate in - telligence missions. The game is currently focused on Iraq and Afghanistan and missions related to uncov- ering improvised explosive device (IED) network in- formation. FPCT includes four clearly defined stages that lead to the successful completion of missions: • Step One: Establish a presence in the community • Step Two: Understand community problems • Step Three: Develop an action plan • Step Four: Gather intelligence like information about IED networks. The project has adopted an ongoing challenge to develop extremely high-fidelity representations to create an envi - ronment that serves as a cultural training tool before, or dur- ing, actual deployment. The game must act in a nonlinear way, as a Middle-Eastern geographic area would. Further, players must have the ability to read nonverbal communi- cations of the non-player characters (NPCs) in the game. Our game inserts the player into rural, semiru- ral, and urban settings within Iraq and Afghanistan. The player's goals are to explore the social and po- litical settings through conversation, establish him- self within the area, provide humanitarian aid, and eventually use the social status he has established to gather information about IEDs and the IED network. In a high-fidelity simulated environment like FPCT offers, players can attempt to achieve realistic objectives in the context of accurate cultural representations. The technol- ogy is much more flexible than staged, full-scale model villages with live endemic actors — one way this type of training has been done to date. A high-fidelity simulation such as FPCT allows any number of players, who may be scattered around the globe, opportunities to quickly expe- rience a wide variety of situations and specific cultures. Conversation with the NPCs, otherwise known as virtual agents, is the primary method of interacting with the world. Tactfulness, emotional and cultural sensitivity, and prob- lem resolution will bring respect among area inhabitants. Agents may become more comfortable with the player over time, and become increasingly willing to talk about issues in the area. The player is expected to rate moods and reliability, and gather information through each of the four stages described above. At the end of gameplay, the player is assessed based upon the accuracy of his ratings of the populace and the quality of information gathered. To achieve these design requirements, the FPCT devel- opment team has developed a living-world construct to replicate in-theatre cognitive complexity. Param-