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Transitional Online Post-deployment Soldier Support in Virtual Worlds (TOPSS-VW). “Coming Home”. Jacki Morie USC Institute for Creative Technologies. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Transitional Online Post-deployment Soldier Support in Virtual Worlds
(TOPSS-VW)
The projects or efforts depicted were or are sponsored by the U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) Simulation Training and Technology Center (STTC). The content or information presented does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the Government, and no official endorsement should be inferred.
Jacki Morie
USC Institute for Creative Technologies
“Coming Home”
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Wounds of War
Latest statistics indicate that more than 300,000 veterans who have returned from Iraq & Afghanistan are currently suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression OR TBI
(Rand Corporation, 2008)
3
Getting help
Only 1 in 3 Iraq war veterans seeks mental health services, according to an Army panel of experts last year.
Many of those never
complete their treatment.
WHY?
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Virtual Worlds
1 in 8 Americansuse
Virtual Worlds(GigOM research, 2009)
• They are a lot like games, but can serve more purposes.
• You can be anonymous.
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Questions: Can a VW
become part of a veteran’s reintegration process?
provide social support, stress relief & other therapies for veterans in the VW?
Can we make intelligent agents to serve as guides & helpers in the VW?
Our VW choice: Second LifeOur VW choice: Second Life
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“Coming Home” approach
Address re-integration issues via a specialized gathering space in a virtual world with resources for healing & transition.
Provide interactive Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM)-based interventions within the Virtual Space
Add virtual humans to keep the space from being confusing or empty & to direct people to activities
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The Veterans Center
Chicoma Lodge
Relaxing spaces: outside &
inside
Game rooms
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The Veterans Center
Enrichment activities
Labyrinth
Story Tower for Warrior’s Journeys
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Virtual Humans in Coming Home
The Greeter Guide (Island Caretaker)
Currently: Text-based question & answer
Future: Spoken conversation with appropriate gestures & animations
Currently: Text-based question & answer
Future: Spoken conversation with appropriate gestures & animations
…. helps to maximize each person’s experience.
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ICT makes Virtual Humans
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Marketing
TrainingResearch
Dr. PerezSASO-ST, SASO-EN
Elder-Al-HassanSASO-EN
MinorCharacters
C3ITCultural training
ELECTBi-Lat
JustinVirtual Patient
HassanEmotional Dialog Modeling
Virtual
Humans
RaedTactical Questioning
Sgt. BlackwellClinical
Diagnosis
RapportAgent Study
ICT’s Virtual Humans Portfolio
JustinaVirtual Patient
Gunslinger
RadiobotsJFETS Training
VeteransCenter
Sgt. Star
Museum Guide & Coach
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… can be summoned to explain how to walk a labyrinth.
The Labyrinth Guide
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The Storyteller Agent… answers questions about
The Warriors Journey
story
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CAM Therapies
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
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The Veterans Center’s Chicoma Exchange (Cx)
Resources
Events Board
V.O.I.C.E.S. (Veterans Online & Inworld Chicoma Services Exchange)
Orientation & Building Tutorials
Freebies (clothes, objects, avatars)
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The Veterans Center: Physical Activities
The Running Path
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Collaborations
• Support from Linden Lab
• SL Veterans’ group (~1000 members)
• Medical, CAM & military experts
18
Future Plans
Resources
More CAM therapies)
AA and NA in-world groups
Art & music therapies
Career Center
Virtual Humans
Add voice functionality
Create MBSR helper agent
Storytelling agent to assist veterans in authoring their own Warriors Journey
2010: Pilot study with recently returned vets @ Ft. Sam Houston, TX
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VWs -> RW Benefits?
• Stanford group finds that effects experienced by avatars in the virtual
world spill into the real world. e.g. physical activities
Yee, N. & Bailenson, J. “The Proteus Effect: The Effect of Transformed Self-Representation on Behavior.” Human Communication Research 33(3), 271-290. (2007).
Fox, J. & Bailenson, J. “Virtual Exercise in the Third Person: Identification, Physical Similarity, and Behavioral Modeling”, May 22, 2008. Available at http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p230577_index.html
• Social activities are therapeutic – RW or VW
• CAM activities may mitigate declining health scores in
returned vets
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ICT’s Virtual Humans & Vet Center teams
Virtual Humans researchers
Dr. Bill Swartout
Dr. Jonathan Gratch
Dr. Stacy Marsella
Dr. Anton Lueski
Dr. Ron Artstein
Patrick Kenny
Susan Robinson Jillian Gerten
Dr. Paul Debevec & the Graphics Lab
Ed Fast
Matt Liewer
Brad Newman
Dusan Jan
Antonio Roque
Sudeep Gandhe
Ashish Vaswani
And thanks to our funders, the U. S. Army RDECOM, and the NSF.These opinions relayed here are my own and no official endorsement should be inferred.
… & many other talented artists & researchers through the years.
The Veteran’s Center team
Eric Chance
Kip Haynes
Sean Bouchard
Dr. Jacki Morie
Dinesh Rajapurohit
Dr. David Traum & the Natural Language Group