MULTIMEDIA
A webinar is a one-way web conference in the manner of a webcast, though limited interactivity is allowed, such as audience polling or a brief Q&A session afterwards. If you think about it, however, the state of today’s webinars are hardly far removed from something such as amusement rides like Oztrek by New York entrepreneur Zalman Silber. These are IMAX-like experiences that are passive, with no audience interaction, the only difference from a traditional movie screening being the synchronized motion seating effects involved.
After all, what’s a webinar but a kind of online workshop? And what are workshops but educational forums? To such ends, then, something like the Army Virtual Experience, or VAE, may portend the future to come.
The VAE is a mobile infantry combat simulator that allows participants to get a small taste of soldiering under extremely hostile environments. Full-sized Blackhawk helicopter and full-sized Humvee vehicle simulators are employed to further develop the sense of realistic immersion. It was developed as a response to the increased appetite of young American males for electronic forms of entertainment, augmenting traditional advertising efforts on television. Available in different versions, the full VAE requires just under twenty-thousand square-feet of room for all the various aspects of the simulation technology involved, from the aforementioned life-sized replicas of Army hardware to the various computers and network equipment necessary for bringing it all together to life.
Visitors gather in the “Assembly Area,” whereupon uniformed VAE staff shepherd visitors on to 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 as well as proper use of simulator equipment and proper 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 more likely and less innocuous duties of Army life and death in a time of war.
Upon completion of the mission participants are debriefed in an “After Action Area” where Army values are introduced within the context of the mission, values such as duty, honor, respect, and camaraderie. At certain venues, an actual war hero is on-hand to speak with participants, lending an inspirational air of authenticity that has many VAE visitors applauding.