Wired for Communication: War Games without Weapons

WIRED FOR COMMUNICATION

Wired for Communication

War Games Without Weapons, Sometimes Without Words

It’s probably no surprise that soldiers benefit from virtual reality training offered in computerized war games. But soldiers abroad need to learn to dodge more than bullets: in different cultures, they need to learn to navigate different norms and rules of nonverbal communication.

American soldiers stationed in Iraq, for example, have discovered the hard way that gestures that are innocent in the United States can be quite offensive in Iraqi culture (and vice versa). For example, showing the soles of your feet is considered rude in Iraq; proximity while speaking, head bowing, and handshakes can also lead to misunderstanding. In one instance, an Iraqi man gestured at a female soldier by rubbing his fingers together. He was indicating friendship; she thought he was making a lewd sexual gesture.

This is where Tactical Iraqi, a virtual reality game created for the U.S. military, comes in handy. Wired magazine reports that “players navigate a set of real-life scenarios by learning a set of Arabic phrases, culturally relevant gestures and taboos. . . . A speech-recognition system records and evaluates the responses. Accurate responses allow the soldier to build a rapport with other characters and advance to the next level” (Cuda, 2006). The point is to help soldiers understand the Iraqi gestures, as well as to know how Iraqis are likely to perceive gestures that are considered innocent in the United States.

Interestingly, the game, though intended for soldiers, has no weapons or combat of any kind. It focuses instead on mutual understanding, with soldiers attempting to gain the trust of their companions in order to rebuild war-torn communities. The game’s technical director, Hannes Vilhjalmsson, notes the power of nonverbal communication in this process: “I got a kick out of removing the weapons and replacing them with gestures” (Cuda, 2006). The success of such games has led the U.S. military to invest even more in simulation games—dubbed “first-person cultural trainers”—that help prepare troops for intercultural communication (Drummond, 2010).

Think About This

  1. Do you think soldiers can learn communication skills from a video game? Do you think this method of training would be more or less effective than classroom instruction?

    Question

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    Do you think soldiers can learn communication skills from a video game? Do you think this method of training would be more or less effective than classroom instruction?
  2. Why is establishing competent communication so important for soldiers in Iraq? Do you think such training would have been more or less important for soldiers in Europe during World War II?

    Question

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    Why is establishing competent communication so important for soldiers in Iraq? Do you think such training would have been more or less important for soldiers in Europe during World War II?
  3. The company that created Tactical Iraqi is considering a civilian version of the game. Would it be useful to engage different cultures in the United States in virtual reality play? How might its technological format affect its usefulness for various co-cultures (age, education, socioeconomic status, and so on)?

    Question

    46O/GvlXlao=
    The company that created Tactical Iraqi is considering a civilian version of the game. Would it be useful to engage different cultures in the United States in virtual reality play? How might its technological format affect its usefulness for various co-cultures (age, education, socioeconomic status, and so on)?