Calling All Video Gamers

Calling all Video Gamers

By Rich Hildreth

 

With the release of Call to Duty – Black Ops II today I started thinking about what an Emergency Management video game might look like. I realize it might not be as exciting as shooting terrorist and shooting down enemy drones; however as a tool to educate people in what it takes to be an emergency manager it might prove valuable.

Our game would start out with the player gaining a situational awareness of the resources and vulnerabilities of their jurisdiction.  Multiple landscapes could be included so players could choose between hurricane risk, earthquakes, tornados, floods or any other type of disaster.  Different types of landscapes could also be used for different levels of the game. Once the player gains situational awareness they then could establish their emergency operations plan by use of a drop down menu.

Actual play would of course be the approach of a storm or the onset of a disaster.  What decisions would you need to make and what consequences might occur as a result.  As an example with the approach of a Cat 4 Hurricane that is 36 hours out from a resort town you might consider mandatory evacuations.  You could have businesses argue with you that they will lose money and threaten to sue and have your public works people voicing concern over the ability to provide services after the storm.  Variables could be tossed in such as questions over where the storm might make landfall or the availability of safe locations for shelters. If you choose to order evacuations you could have clogged roads, gas shortages and break ins of vacant homes pop up, if you choose to only make evacuations advisory you might have people trapped in homes when the storm hits. As professionals we know that in any disaster there will never be clear concise answers, we can only make choices based on the best information we have at the time.

Figuring you survive the storm as a player the next phase could be how you respond. Based on the resources you previously identified, how do you deploy them for effective response and recovery?  You could have resource request coming in and have to scramble to find ways to fill them.  You could have power outages where you planned to set up a shelter or a staging area that is now inaccessible.  There are plenty of realistic variables that could be tossed in.  You could have politicians and citizens both making demands that you direct resources in one area when you know they are better used in another. You can have the media covering the house on the beach where the residents threw a hurricane party and are now trapped in a partially collapsed home and surrounded by water and debris, while ignoring the efforts to find shelter locations and supplies to take care of those people who did evacuate.  I know as professionals you recognize these variables are realistic, but wouldn’t it be fun to see how gamers might react?

At the end of each level you could have participants put together an after action conference and refine their emergency plans accordingly.  They could compete for mitigation projects and the building of additional capacity and resources.  You could have players and elected leaders debating why they should fund emergency management programs instead of building a park.  Players could have to convince their bosses why it is important for them to gain training in Incident Command or why attending an emergency management conference is important. I recognize this might not seem to be the most exciting part of the game, but as professionals, we know the impact this portion can have on the next disaster.

I do not have the skills to create a video game like this, but I think it would be interesting.  Most people do not recognize that emergency management is not just the response to a disaster.  As Call of Duty and other games have become so realistic and interactive that people swear it is just like real war; maybe the same thing can be done with disaster. It might not be as glamorous however I feel it is just as important for people to gain a sense of realism of what pressures impact disasters.  Maybe then people will be a little more proactive in being prepared themselves.