All But War is Simulation
Thomas L. Clarke
Dennis K. McBride
Institute for Simulation and Training
University of Central Florida
3280 Progress Drive
Orlando, FL 32826
tclarke@ist.ucf.edu, (407)658-5030, FAX:
(407)658-5059
Douglas Reece
SAIC
12479 Research Parkway
Orlando, FL 328263248
ABSTRACT
This
article discusses
the resistance of practitioners to virtual training simulators. Parallels with
the philosophy of sports and games are discussed using the history of flight
training simulators and other military training simulators as examples.. Similar resistance has been exhibited in
some fields of athletics but not in others.
It is argued that the major factor leading to training simulation
acceptance is danger. The article
concludes with a discussion of projects at the Institute for Simulation and
training to apply military training simulation technology to athletic training
that are encountering resistance and for philosophical reasons may be doomed to
failure
INTRODUCTION
Within the military training
simulation community there are three types of training simulations. These are constructive, virtual
and live. Constructive
simulations are essentially elaborate chess-like games that involve the
manipulation of tokens representing forces in stylized environments. These have little use in sports and will
not be discussed further. The issue
addressed here is the tension between virtual training simulations, simulations
that involve the use of computers or other advanced technology to present a simulation
of reality for training purposes, versus live simulations, which are
essentially just practice games.
Sports practitioners tend to resist the use of virtual training
simulations and in what follows the philosophical reasons for this resistance
will be discussed.
While some aspects of the
concepts of simulation and virtual reality can be found in the ancient world,
e.g. Plato's cave and the use of training devices for gladiators, true
simulation and virtual reality are modern.
From Descartes' philosophical cogito to the contemporary motion
picture, The Matrix, the possibility of simulation has cast doubt on
sensory data while the core self has remained undoubtedly real. Computer technology has advanced to the
point where Descartes' skepticism is almost as factual as portrayed in
Wachowskis' (1999) fictional The Matrix.
Both the philosophical and
the fictional connotations of virtual reality tend to be dark. Descartes contemplated a malign creator who
has designed flaws into human faculties.
The Matrix is a world in which computers have put humans into
virtual slavery. This dark side of
simulation may account for some of the resistance to virtual training
simulation often found within sports.
This connection is made particularly clear in the short story
"Spectator Sport" by John D. MacDonald (1952). In this story a time traveler finds a future
in which virtual entertainment has been perfected. All ambition has been lost except for earning enough money for total
and irrevocable immersion into three-dimensional virtual reality. The perfection of virtual technology has reduced everyone to
ultimate couch potatoes.
A more recent fictional
warning of the dark side of virtual reality is Ender's Game (Card, 1991) in
which a military cadet thinks he is training on a virtual simulation only to
discover that the simulation is in fact controlling a distant battle
fleet. After successfully completing
the training task he is horrified to discover that he has in fact just
destroyed an entire alien civilization.
While fear of the dark side
of simulation may be a factor in resistance to virtual training simulators for
sports, it is probably not the primary factor.
Virtual games such as Doom and Tomb Raider as well as
fantasy football leagues are very popular despite the darkness associated with
virtual reality; however, the darkness may account for the dark visual tone of
many of these games.
The more likely reason for rejection of virtual training is belief in the
inferiority of virtual training to real training. Similar to this is the fact that sports and games are played for
pleasure, so that practicing virtually would give up pleasure that could be
obtained in real practice. A corollary
of this is that participants in dangerous sports should have a greater tendency
to accept virtual training since practicing a dangerous activity is likely to
cut short one's pleasure of participation in a learning accident.
The snobbish attitude toward virtual training is perhaps
best captured by Hemingway's "There
are only three sports. Bull fighting, mountain climbing and motor racing. All
the rest are games." (1954) These
real sports could merit virtual simulation for training for the sake of the
sport, but real men don't play games.
A man might frivolously play a game but he would certainly never
participate in a virtual simulation of a game for training. The proliferation of professional sports
belies Hemingway's extreme attitude, but a vestige remains in the resistance of
many sports practitioners to virtual training.
Bernard Suits (1978) has taken Wittgenstein's aphorism
66:
Consider for example
the proceedings that we call "games". I
mean board-games, card-games, ball-games,
Olympic games, and
so on. What is common to them all? -- Don't
say: "There must be
something common, or they would not be called
'games' "-but look
and see whether there is anything common to
all. -- For if you look
at them you will not see something that is
common to all, but
similarities, relationships, and a whole
series of them at that. To
repeat: don't think, but look! -- (1968)
And
developed the idea that essentially all human activity can be regarded as a
game, that is
to
engage in activity directed towards bringing about a specific
state
of affairs, using only means permitted by rules, where the rules
prohibit
more efficient in favor of less efficient means, and where such
rules
are accepted just because they make possible such activity.
To
play a game (indeed much of life) is to accept limitative rules for the sake of
the activity. Following the rules,
which dictate inefficiency, is to a large extent what gives pleasure in the
game. To participate in virtual
training, that is non-game training, is thus to attempt to become more
efficient and thus to detract from the pleasure of the game.
Somewhat counter-intuitively this
attitude persists even in professional sports.
Sartre provides a rationale for this in Being and Nothingness
where he argues that the aim of play and sport is to get out of the world,
whereas serious and material activities aim to get in the world. As an entertainment, a professional sport
needs to aim out of the world and thus must maintain a core of play. Were professional athletes to strive for
ultimate efficiency they would be leaving the game and thus destroying the
entertainment value they create. Hence
philosophically it makes sense for professional athletes to resist efficient
training such as virtual simulation.
In the next sections some parallels
will be drawn with the history of flight and military training simulation.
ACCEPTANCE OF FLIGHT
SIMULATION
Edwin Link invented the first
modern flight-training simulator in 1927.
Link intended his simulator, the pilot-maker, to be a trainer, but
aviators considered Link's simulator a toy and initial sales were largely to
amusement arcades. Science and Invention magazine noted "such devices would make
a valuable adjunct to the multitude of miniature gold courses that now dot the
country." (Killgore, 1989)
In 1930 Link formed a flight
training school based upon the pilot-maker and struggled to stay in business
during the Depression. Then in 1934
ten Army airmail pilots were lost within a few weeks flying under instrument
conditions. A group of forward-looking
Army officers saw the answer in Link's pilot-maker. The Army order for six simulators provided necessary airmail
pilot training and served to launch the modern flight-training industry. By WWII German and Japanese as well as
American and British pilots had received training on Link simulators.
But even today pilots resist
simulator training, claiming it is not as good as real flying. As discussed in the last section this
attitude has partly a basis in fear of the dark side of simulation and partly
in snobbery. While the concept of real
would provide a philosophical basis for distinguishing real from virtual and
which is superior, it is doubtful if pilots make philosophical distinctions deeper than discussed above. Some Top-Gun attitudes look down on training
in simulators as not macho, and many pilots, like JFK, Jr., think raw skill and
intelligence can overcome the lack of formal training. Research shows that good training can be
had with simple training devices such as Link's wooden WWII era Blue-Box with
its pneumatic controls. Nevertheless
military aviators insist on the latest technology so that their simulators
become very expensive virtual airplanes. While grudgingly accepting simulation
training, pilots demand the best simulator that money can buy.
As a side effect this has
fueled the development of the 3D-computer graphics hardware needed to provide
ever more realistic renditions of aerial scenery. Today this hardware advancement has made the desktop computer a
viable training device. Ensign Herb Lacy, a student aviator at the Naval Air Station in
Corpus Christi Texas, Enhanced Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 with add-ons from
the Internet so the program had the look and feel of a T-34 Mentor training
aircraft. He added Corpus Christi
landmarks and visual references. After
using this standard simulator program on his PC, Lacy "pegged the top of
the grading scale" during intermediate flight training. As a result today even the most conservative
aviators are forced to admit the utility of flight simulation training. (Peterson,
1999)
Another factor in the
resistance to simulator training has been the phenomenon of simulator
sickness. (Kennedy et al, 1992.) Even the most experienced pilot can become
nauseous in a simulator due to the time delays in the simulation computation. If the visual scene presented by the
computer is delayed by more than 30 milliseconds from the other haptic and
kinesthetic cues of the simulation, the disparity quickly leads to nausea. The increasing speed of computers is
reducing this problem, but demands for maximum fidelity simulation always push
the capabilities of available computers.
Designers of rides for theme parks have to deal with simulator sickness
as well.
Military training by
simulation has come a long way from the sword-fighting practice
dummies adopted by the Roman army in 105 BC after gladiator training had proved
their value. The US Army is just
completing procurement of the C2T2 (Close Combat Tactical
Trainer) training system which enables teams of soldiers to drive M1 Abrams
tank simulators, M2 Bradley fighting vehicle simulators and other simulated
vehicles in a virtual simulated battle.
These simulators are networked using the DIS (Distributed Interactive
Simulation) protocol and its derivative HLA (High Level Architecture) so that
all participants can see and interact with all other participants. (Clarke,
1995)
Soldiers,
like aviators, would rather drive real noisy, smelly tanks around for training
than use a mere video game-like simulator.
However, unlike aviators who fight in single combat, tank battles can
involve hundreds of vehicles, so that similar numbers of simulators must be
networked with DIS for training. The
Army thus cannot afford the state-of-the-art fidelity that the Air Force
lavishes on its few multi-million dollar flight-training simulators. It is thus unlikely that the Army would have
ever adopted a system like C2T2 had there not been a push
from the top.
A
far-sighted officer, Jack Thorpe, at the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) saw the training value in lots of 70% realistic simulators
networked together. If only medium
fidelity is sought, large numbers of simulators become affordable. These first
tank simulators were a step or two behind the art a decade ago, but such is the
pace of technology that today's Sony Playstation 2 or Microsoft's X-Box has
more computing power than these early simulators . In a pilot project at DARPA, Thorpe built a training facility at
Ft. Knox, the heart of the US Army tank command, with 75 of his 70% simulators
networked together. With such close
exposure to a real system, the Army was won over and is making C2T2
a standard training system. No
doubt the winning of the Canada Cup, a prestigious NATO tank maneuver
competition, by a team which trained with networked simulators helped make the
case for C2T2.
The
title of this paper "All but war is simulation" is also the motto of
the US Army Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) which
designed C2T2 after DARPA has proved its utility. This motto cuts two ways, however. While it points to the fact that everything
done in preparation for the reality of war (or sport) is in some sense
simulation, it also carries the sense that simulation is less than reality with
the implication that only non-lethal war is truly training.
War,
or reality, is sometimes inherently dangerous and cannot easily be made
non-lethal to the novice. The Roman
gladiators whose training techniques the Roman army adopted, had to know how to
fight upon entering the arena the first time or else die. The airmail pilots in 1934 (and JFK Jr. in
1999) found out that instrument flying is often lethal to the novice. In situations like these the practitioner
naturally adopts training through simulation.
In other cases simulation-based training may have benefits but tends to
be resisted unless imposed from above as in the case of the DIS tank
simulators. The same situation seems to
apply with sport simulators as will be discussed in the next section.
RESISTANCE TO ATHLETIC TRAINING
In 1984 here at the
University of Central Florida (UCF) Dr. Wayne Burroughs developed a
simulation-based trainer for baseball batters and proved its positive training
value. (Burroughs, 1984) He evaluated the effectiveness of
visual-simulation-training film approaches to enhancing the visual pitch
recognition and pitch location skills of collegiate baseball batters.
Visual-simulation training films were produced by filming collegiate baseball
pitchers throwing fastballs and curves using a camera located in the
right-handed batter’s box. These films
were edited into a series of learning trials in which subjects were required to
identify the type of pitch and its location in the hitting area. Experiment groups (with controls) were given
1 hour of film training or combinations of slow-motion and/or real-time film
training before or after the trials. Group comparisons indicated significant
gains in location scores but nonsignificant changes in pitch recognition
scores; Dr. Burroughs thinks the lack of change in recognition is probably due
to initially high pretest levels. These gains occurred with use of slow-motion
or real-time films, and most of the gains were
maintained in a 6-week follow-up post-test.
Despite these positive
results, Dr. Burroughs was unable to convince the major leagues to adopt his
training device. Part of this is due to
not-the-real-thing factor; it's not real training if you can't smell the glove
leather. We argue that much is due to
the non-lethal nature of batting.
Aviators and gladiators were forced to adopt simulated training or die,
whereas a ball player will just have a lower batting average if he rejects
training simulation.
A survey of the Internet and
bibliographic indices finds little active use of training simulation by serious
athletes. Recreational sports such as
golf have developed training simulators that have good commercial success, but
professional and serious amateur level sports do not seem to use simulation as
much is possible. There are exceptions
and these support the thesis that danger is a factor. Rough water sports such as kayaking do make use of
simulators. This sport puts an
individual into a situation where drowning is a real possibility so that
pre-training the novice in a simulator is a real danger reduction factor.
The case of Jacques Villeneuve, the Canadian Formula One driver
who used a racing simulation game to practice for and win the Belgian Grand
Prix is also instructive. (Chidley, 1997)
Auto racing is of course one of Hemingway's dangerous sports. The same article also reports how golfers
use simulations to pre-familiarize with the Banff Springs golf course. This remote Canadian Rocky Mountain course
is only open briefly during the year so that practice, while not dangerous, is
difficult.
A
possible exception is the video-based quarterback training system reported in Ergonomics in Design. (Walker and Fiske,
1995) This system, developed at Georgia
Tech, was reported to be received enthusiastically by the Georgia Tech football
team. Unlike a pure computer-generated
simulation it requires a team to role play all of the desired offense-defense
combinations and record them with a video camera located some distance behind
the quarterback. This has the drawback
that the plays are not programmable; in
order to try a new offense or defense or combination, it would be necessary to
get players to act out the play and make a new video disk or CD-ROM. This would be impractical on a week-by-week
basis. Also, it would not be possible
to vary the speed, behavior or other characteristics of the players. Nor is it possible for the quarterback
trainee to move around (to drop back, move around linemen, etc.) on the virtual
football field.
When
we first heard of this system we thought we might have been scooped as we are
working toward developing a purely computer generated simulation for training
football quarterbacks. The next section
discusses our conception of a quarterback training simulator. This training simulator is one of many that
could be used to illustrate how virtual technologies can be used for sport
training. It is philosophically
interesting because the proposed training modality is alike yet different from
the actually activity of quarterbacking.
It thus affords a means to analyze and identify likely sources of
resistance to simulation-based sports training.
SPORTS SIMULATORS AT UCF
IST (Institute for Simulation
and Training) has worked primarily in the area of military training
simulators. Recently we (Doug Reece is
now at SAIC) have realized that many of the training technologies developed to
hone soldiers cognitive and perceptual abilities could be applied to
sport. What in military parlance is
called “situational awareness” becomes in football the task of “reading the
defense” or "reading the offense."
So far we have focused on the
quarterback-training problem, as it is definitely a cognitive/perceptual
task. Lots of people can throw the
ball, but only a few can see where to
throw it. Computer graphics have
reached the point where affordable hardware can generate images of players on
the field with sufficient fidelity to produce positive training transfer. We envision the QB viewing a projection
display of simulated play action to hone his defense reading skills. Questions remain about the best interface,
for example, would pointing with a 3D mouse result in good training or is a
more sophisticated instrumented football interface needed to avoid negative
training?
One of the sports activities for which simulation training has a
high potential payoff is quarterbacking.
Football players at the college and professional level have already
developed excellent physical skills through years of practice. However, players often have to learn new
offensive systems and plays, and have to learn their opponent’s formations and
plays every week. The defenses used
by each opponent may be significantly different. Quarterbacks in particular are responsible for recognizing the
defense and directing plays in response to the defense’s general formation,
individual player locations, play.
The quarterback’s defense reading task is as follows: before the
snap, 1) recognize the defensive play by watching how the defensive players
line up as the offensive players take their positions (or go in motion), and 2)
change the play if necessary. After the
snap, A) look at the appropriate defensive player and recognize the defensive
play by his initial movements; B) based on (A), watch the correct receiver; C)
based on defensive play, throw to the correct receiver, or look for the
appropriate secondary or tertiary receiver.
The quarterback has about 3 seconds to make a decision; during this
time, the quarterback drops back several yards, and onrushing linemen threaten
him, obscure his vision, and may force him to move around.
In order to give the offensive squad practice in playing against a
new defense, the coaching staff of a football team watches tapes of the
opponent and teaches the third-string defensive squad to play as the opponent
does. While a simulator cannot train
all aspects of a quarterback’s job, it does have some significant potential
advantages over training against the third-string defensive squad. In particular, it would not require the
defensive squad. Its advantages would
include allowing training in bad weather and allowing the quarterback to get
more extensive training without requiring the time of the rest of the team. In
addition it would give reserve quarterbacks more opportunities to become
familiar with the opponents defense, and it could simulate the speed and other
capabilities of opponent players that the third-string defensive players could
not duplicate
Our prototype VR training system for quarterbacks would operate as
follows:
Offensive
and defensive formations and plays would be designed with a simplified user
interface before a training session and then selected by a coach before each
play. Then the quarterback would view a
display showing the football field and the teams. He would be immersed in the virtual environment as a player. At play start he would see the players
moving to their positions, and could also move behind the center. The quarterback could call signals and move
back in the pocket when the play started.
When he selected a receiver, the quarterback would signal that he was
passing the ball and the play would end.
Afterwards, the play could be reviewed from the quarterback’s
perspective or from a stadium-top perspective.
This resistance to simulation
training when there is a viable non-simulation alternative, even if the
non-simulation approach is inferior or more costly, does not bode well for
sports simulation-training programs like the nascent one at UCF. However, some hope is offered by the
experience of the military. Whereas
just the act of instrument flying can be lethal, driving tanks and running
through the woods for war gaming is not inherently dangerous. Nevertheless, the US and other armies are
adopting computer-simulated training as cost cutting measures despite
resistance by the troops. It is almost
trivially easy to computer generate images with sufficient fidelity for
training; individuals have adapted game software to training purposes. The barrier to good sports training
simulation is software development time not hardware cost. IST intends to develop suitable software and
the UCF coaching staff will help determine the utility of sport training
simulation.
Forward-looking coaches like
Brian Billick of the Baltimore Ravens are beginning to see the usefulness of
simulation for developing strategy.
Studies (Lohr and Scogin, 1998, and Farrow et al, 1998) are appearing
that demonstrate the value of simulation-type training in sports. In the near future the true value of
simulation for sports training as well should be realized. The skills of high-level athletes cluster
tightly and simulation-based training can provide the small, but crucial
winning edge. But in view of the
introductory discussion, there are strong philosophical reasons for resisting
the injection of virtual training into sports.
Sports must retain an element of play or gamefulness if they are to
retain what makes them attractive.
Reizler (1941) makes this clear in analyzing what distinguishes a game
from serious life. Briefly, something
is serious if it contains "a cause you would fight for". Despite the fights that sometimes erupt at
World Cup matches, it is doubtful that any sport truly contains a cause worth
fighting for. Thus it seems, in a twist
on the title of this paper and the STRICOM motto, only war or other life
risking activity is worth virtually training for.
Thus the final conclusion is
less optimistic than that expressed above.
There seem to be fundamental philosophical reasons for not using virtual
simulation training in sport and efforts like the one the Institute for
Simulation and Training has been conducting in promoting quarterback training
simulation may be doomed to failure.
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