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 My name is Jerry Hopper,
In my spare-time im a 'Gaming talk-show host' on a online radio station 'Sahrani Radio'.
With this Radio-show im informing and entertaining the community around 'ArmedAssault' a game by Bohemia Interactive Studios.
In the July edition of the Defensiekrant, a weekly publication of the Netherlands ministry of defence, an article surfaced on the use of commercial gaming applications as part of the courses at the Maneuver Instruction and Training Center (OTCMAN).
Just a few days later, a major dutch newspaper 'de Telegraaf' publicized the following news about research the use of games and in specific VBS2.
The army uses war-games to prepare soldiers on a wide range of combat-situations.
In attempt to research the best use of war-simulations within the dutch army,the 'Defense and Security' department of TNO organizes on 13 September a gaming contest.
Five experienced civilian players will take it up against 5 trained military personnel, who play the game following 'army doctrines'. TNO is currently selecting volunteer for this contest on the Internet. The researchers want to see the essential differences of of both teams strategy, to see if they actually make different choices and learn from failures.
VBS2, ARMA? - A little History of the game engine.
In 1997 Ondrej Spanel presented his 'Real Virtuality' engine to the public. it this engine that eventually would evolve to what it is today.
Three years later Maruk Spanel, Odrej's brother founded 'Bohemia Interactive' and in that same year Flashpoint was presented at the invex trade show.
It would take until 2001 before Operation Flashpoint was released. In that time, Operation Flashpoint was unique in game its kind. It featured large islands, simulation of and day, night and weather.
Next to a variety of vehicles, weapons and personnel that came with the game, the input of the community really made the game a huge success.
Not long after the release, other potentials of this game was noticed. In December 2001 the United States Marine Corps started to use a special combat training application based upon Operation Flashpoint. This special version of the Operation Flashpoint Technology was called VBS1 (Virtual Battlefield System). Other military organizations began to look at VBS1 for training purposes.
The military training program was developed by Bohemia Interactive Studio and Coalescent Technologies Corporation, an independent engineering firm contracted by the Department of Defence and the United States Marine Corps. The diversity of the engine, and 'modding tools' would make the Operation Flashpoint community one of the most creative and active until today.
A select group of these 'community' modders founded 'BIA'. ( Short for Bohemia Interactive Australia )
It in these days that VBS and Operation flashpoint got separated. Development of VBS1, the 'Professional' version of Flashpoint was in the hands of BIA, while Bohemia Interactive Studios would work on 'Game2' which we now know as ArmA. With so many similarities of Armed Assault and VBS2, i was determined to report this extraordinary event.
Armed with the event information, and a list of 'hardcore' OFP/ARMA players, i tried to get in contact with these researchers.
Its Thursday, September 13.
After waking up on a outreagously early time, i started my journey for today. 
Traffic jam! |
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I will meet with 'Michel' another contestant near Amsterdam where we together will drive to the place of the event. A military compound in "’t Harde" in the Netherlands. Alternative route, please!
The day before the journey started, i arranged phone-numbers of the contestants, so we could meet-up at the gates around 8:45AM.
Where would start our challenge to fight real soldiers in VBS2.
Even before we got there, we had to challenge some real life bugs that are quite common on the dutch roads - traffic jam!
We were screaming and flaming at the girl from the navigating system, demanding to give us an alternative route without delays, which was seemingly impossible. Frustration went sky-high, and we decide to use our 'gamers' instinct to evade this madness called 'traffic jams' To kill the time i called the other contestants Tiemo, Marcel and Jefke to tell us the status of our journey so far,
and it seemed we were not the only ones that were unfortunate.
The other contestants were the same shit as we were in. Traffic jam!
Its amazing how long the total length of traffic jams can be in such a small country as the Netherlands. 
Just like in TOCA 3! |
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While we were still driving towards the military compound, choosing small roads to evade the traffic jam, we managed to reach a highway without jams. - Time to push the limits of this car.
Michel said: IF we can travel at light-speed, we try that. Unfortunately we didn't got further than around 240km/h but it was fast enough for me. Michel grinned and said "well, its a good thing we practised with TOCA3 huh?" while i noted him about the car in front of us, that was closing in real fast! Suddenly my phone rang, i took my eyes off the road. It was the researcher calling, asking how long it would take to get there, and she was looking for the other contestants too! Gamers at heart.
When i started calling the contestants, and asked where they were i got a typical 'PRE LAN' answer. "In the supermarket, buying cookies, chocolate and of-course energy drinks!" 
Neccesaties of a gamer. |
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I started laughing, and my companion started shouting in the car, 'get some for me too! and loads of cookies!' On that moment, All stress fell off me and i felt like a real Gamer again! Have you ever seen gamers on a 'lan event' without any energy drinks, enough smokes or snacks?
I know, we miss beer in this line of 'essentials' but we thought that would be a bit inappropriate on a dutch military base.
Eventually, we noticed we were close to our destination due to the increased 'military' vehicles on the street. This area contains several army bases, as well as shooting ranges for both personnel and armored vehicles. Thanks to our 'navigation chick' we found the street where the base should be located.
in our excitement we jumped out of the car, to check-in at the gate. The officer at the gate told us, that this was the WRONG base! - stressed to hear this, we asked directions, and called the other guys.... 
no guts, no glory!
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Are we bulletproof? Driving in this 'no-mans' land, surrounded by shooting ranges we passed signs that said : "DANGER SHOOTING RANGE DO NOT ENTER" this is where i got a little nervous, and it reminded me that this was not just a 'lanparty'
We decided to turn around, when the other guys on the phone asked if our car was bulletproof.
with their directions we managed to find the right base.
Old material on the base |
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The officer at the gate, welcomed us friendly and wished us luck. This was it, we entered the home of the lion.
Our 'bragging' attitude cooled a bit down when we drove over the base, passing by army vehicles, and a lot of guys in uniform and barracks. The military terrain is quite big, and has several old 'weaponry' displayed. ranging from artillery, tanks and several other vehicles. Later that day i would learn that the 'Artillery' museum is located on this base. We called the researcher for directions toward their location, who came to welcome us. while calling she said : do you have a silver car, that's just passing the corner? i said yes and at the end of the street, we saw a person jumping and waving to us, which realized that I'm not only a celebrity on Sahrani, but here too! 09:45 We were finally there, WE MADE IT! At this point, the gamer attitude dimmed. We met up with the researcher and walked to the coffee machine. Once there surrounded by uniforms all BIG guys, the 'great' Jerry felt quite small. My companion didnt had much problems with that, and made jokes where the army guy were quite entertained with. I was thinking - if these are the guys we have to fight, then I'm glad we do it from behind a pc :) we got our coffee, and went to a room, filled with about 15 computers. What directly catch-ed my eye was 'the rest of our Gamer team' and the the typical gamer's desk.
packed with cookies, snacks and energy drinks. This felt like home! the room was divided in two spaces, with one for the soldiers and one for us. All the gamers quickly met and shacked hands and sat down for some formalities.
We signed some papers about 'non disclosure' and agreed to allow the military to document this special event. Just before i signed the documents, i took some pictures of the documents that were lying on the desk. - Apologies for the bad quality. In the introduction, we were told what the schedule was for today, and what we could expect from this research. we were asked to participate in a photo-session, and they explained the situation we would face today in VBS2. From Capt. Roos,We got some prints of the situation, with which we could plan the mission before executing it.
We were asked to fill in some questionnaire after each round, an we were introduced to our 'enemies' who look a lot more Bad-ass than us usual gamers.
The mission. 
Cpt. Roos |
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Finally, Capt. Roos from the Army sat down behind his desk, loading up the mission.
We sat down behind a machine with VBS2 loaded up.
Due to the fact that we were a 'little' too late, Michel and me had to skip the 'warm up rounds'
The other guys, Jefke, Marceland Tiemo already tried playing it before Michel and me arrived.their direct statement to us was : Dont worry, this just like arma. you'll be fine! For me, this was a comforting thought, as i myself don't play that much.
Of-course we played the last days, but I'm definitely no 'pro' and in these last days, the Gamers team played 'Igor Drukovs' Black Sword to practice on our skills.
This choice of a training mission eventually came in very handy as all our mission today will be played in the dark. With the paper map of the environment, and a print with the face of the ambassador we had to rescue. This scenario was quite doable, and our team started plotting our plans. I noted the bizarre coincidence of the face of the 'ambassador' with a certain notorious person with the initials O.B.L. and shared it with the gamers, who agreed and had a good laugh about it.
We all realized that now, might not be the best time for jokes like that, and agreed to start planning our approach.
The situation we had to face today.
Task #1 : Humans versus AI.
Night mission - rescue a ambassador from his captivity in a city in Iraq, with as less collateral damage as possible. OPFOR Equipment : m4 aimpoint , nvgoggles, m4-m203, grenades, smoke grenades and a silent handgun.
REBEL equipment : 4x ak74, 1x akSD , 1x NVgoggles, grenades, handgun.
The OPFOR has all night-vision and silent guns which gives them the advantage.
After this first round, the teams would switch sides. 
Task #2 : Humans versus Humans. Night mission - rescue a ambassador from his captivity in a city in Iraq, with as less collateral damage as possible.
Same equipment as first mission. 
Task #3 : Humans versus Humans. Night mission - keep a ambassador in captivity in a city in Iraq, stopping any rescue attempt that is made with as less collateral damage.
Same equipment as first mission. | 
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Task #1 - Gamers versus AI.
During planning Task #1 - we all got our 'Gamer' attitude back, where my companion got back his 'clownish' jokes, Jefke from ShackTac plotted out some smooth tactics to make sure we come in and out clean.
Once the mission stared, i faced a healthy dose of stress. this was FUN!
with in your back of your head, the pressure of performing good enough, and not letting down your mates and maybe most of all - the ArmA community! - with sweaty hands i did the best i could. 
VBS2 Keycard |
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The mission went quite smooth, and VBS2 shows an amazing similarity with ArmedAssault.
A little misjudgement on distances for our over-watch positions forced us to change the plan during the mission.
The fact that we were all in one room, communication wasn't the best thing due to the surrounding noise. yet i was amazed with the minimal communication, and the maximal effectiveness of cooperation within our team.
Within 30 minutes we tasted success. Mission #1 was succeeded, without any losses and the AI wasn't real different with ArmedAssault. Quite happy with the result of the first match, became confident that we could pull this off with real soldiers too.
After the first match, we filed a questionnaire with some questions regarding the mission and team-behaviour. We celebrated this victory with some 'energy-drinks and cookies' and did some 'pep-talk' for our next assignment. Michel, who came back from a restroom break, and informed us that he has been 'snooping' around on the 'military' plans. he noted us that they have numbered the buildings around the objective building, and created 'zones'. something inside said "your in deep trouble!"
Task #2 - Gamers versus Real Army
Despite this little information we found out, we decided not to change the plans for this round. Again we would have to rescue that ambassador ( codename Osama for us gamers ), but now it was guarded by REAL soldiers.
Before the match started , both sides said some 'intimidating' phrases towards eachother, something that's commonly dome in a healthy competition..
this behaviour was of-course also being practised through the chat channel of the game.
Our team, Michel, Tiemo, Marcel, Jefke and myself sat down behind the machine, a quick last look to each-other said more thank thousand words. With fire in our eyes, and our heart pounding like a madmen we began. Directly when it started, we heard sounds from the other side of the room. these military guy were speaking code language! we heard short messages like '#1 in position' '#2 moving to red-zone!' which got me even more stressed. the only thing that went through my head was 'we have to succeed - we just have to succeed!' What exactly happened that mission, i cant recall exactly. Michel and Marcel would do some distraction with cars, while Jefke, Tiemo and me, approached the building.
The distraction tactic worked like a charm. the two cars driving north of the enemy, attracted their attention and two guys went investigating. Jefke took a overwatch position, taking out the first enemy. I managed to sneak through small alley's looking for some higher ground, which i found quite quick.
once up there, bingo! i had contact and neutralized it. By that time, Michel has reached the room with the hostage. He called for backup, on which i responded. I ran to the ladder, pressed the button and : i fell down, DEAD! i cursed everything around me. Defeated by a ladder! When Michel heard this, he rushed the building ending up with a nice bullet up his forehead. Tiemo took care of the guy that just popped Michel, and grabbed the hostage.
With all this commotion, Jefke took cover at a position north of the house, waiting for those 2 other soldiers that were coming back after being distracted to the north.
Tiemo and Marcel smoked up the place, and left with the ambassador. Just a second later, Jefke reports contact, and neutralizes the last 2 targets.
VICTORY! - We jumped in the air, cheered and shaking eachother's sweaty hands on the success so far. 
'Lets call him Osama....' |
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We unanimously decided that this was the best game we ever played. with real tension, expectations and fear. until now i never experienced a game of Arma THIS intense. in one word : Shacktastic!
I told the guys, that this was a BIG weight off my chest. after all it was me bragging about how that we would smash them!!
As you can imagine, after such a match many needed a smoke and some food. with an ego that has just had its adrenaline shot, we moved outside for a smoke, and talked about the next task. Back inside, we ate and talked with the soldiers about VBS in general. There we sort of 'told them' our strategy and tricks we use while playing Arma.
from this conversation we learned that these soldiers were actually not yet thoroughly 'trained' with VBS2.
The Dutch Army, has been using VBS1 for a while, but its not on a very big scale. The successor of VBS1, VBS2 was recently acquired by the dutch army and a real 'training' schedule for VBS2 hasn't been realized yet. The soldiers we had to face, clearly showed some problems adapting to the situation.
Nevertheless, we were participating in this 'pilot' to find out if both parties learn from each-other's tactics on the virtual battlefield.
Our chat with the soldiers was disturbed, when a researcher told us that we could talk about tips, tricks and strategics after all matches, not during them.
Task #3 - Real Amy vs Gamers.
It was time for the next session. We Gamers, had the task to keep the ambassador hostage, and kill any infidel that tries to defy us. The Army guys, had to free the ambassador, same location, same time at night.
Again, stressed out but confident we planned our strategy on the little paper map.
Then, Capt Roos told us that as 'terrorists' we only had 1 silenced gun and 1 NV goggles.
That was something we didn't accounted for in our plan -oh shit!! When we started the mission, and were trying to take positions, VBS2 started to play tricks on us. a familiar looking text on the screen told us 'Player Jefke is loosing connection' - oh no!
Ok, Jefke was sitting not quite close to us, but lagg or network timeouts on a LAN was a bit too far fetched. Capt Roos decided to restart the mission, and so we started again.
At that point, just when started, several chatlines appeared in my lower corner '3 whats your position' about 25 lines passed and it stopped. Michel seemed not able to move, and requested another restart. and again, Michel who was on the fifth position couldnt play.
Capt roos decided to create a new player with the RTE, and Michel was trying to join.
during all this, we decided to go on with the match, and so did the army-team.
This was not without problems, when a player on their side was also loosing connection. 
Hunted by real soldiers.... |
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Our turn : Babysitting! Tiemo was playing the babysitter, guarding the infidel ambassador - A man with a mission : Fire at ANYTHING that tries to enter. sounds simple - right?
Jefke chose the silenced kit with the NV goggles, He would try approach the enemy when spotted, and was in for some Shacktacktical guerrilla tactics. Marcel, would be guarding the south road of the objective, ensuring that all south, southwest and east angles were covered.
Iremember that during this match, we sometimes spammed the global chat channel with 'allah akhbar' statements, intimidating the enemy and boosting our moral. Why? don't ask! - this just happens as we are gamers at heart. For us, gaming equals fun in all its facets. - Or, it could also be our nerves that were going berzerk by the thought that we are hunted by real soldiers..... In this round, i took position on the north of the objective, this time not on the roof, but covered by some rubble, tree-leaves and a little ahead: a car.
In gamer terms, this was pure camping. But what can you do? - Run around without NV goggles while you know there is a threat? I decided to stay there, and check with my teammates while laying there. It took quite a while untill i saw some soldiers running on the east. 2 men approaching from the northeast. As they came closer, i took the shot. Which didnt kill the guy! The other soldier took cover while the one being shot was scanning where the heck that shot came from. I fired a few more shots, some of them hitting the car while the soldier was hitting the floor to evade more bullets. Whatever happened. i DIDNT want to stand up and blow my position. And what was worse, i had to reload. Without thinking i reloaded my gun, and fired shots at the second soldier. I've got them both - wow! I quickly raped them from their silenced gun and their NV Goggles, as they didn't have use for it anyway. I decided to move to the other side of the street, hiding and scanning the street. after all, 1 team was down and we were pretty sure they wouldn't come from the northeast anymore. Not long after that, i spot 2 soldiers, coming from the west, on the street north of the perimeter. I fired a few shots, but missed when they evaded and vanished in the maze of alleys.
I had to find them, and went after them. During that search, i heard shots, and a lot of flaming. Marcel died from friendly fire! WTF! I panicked and started running careless through all alleys desperate to find those 2 guys i seen earlier, as i couldn't recognise the alley they went in. " damn iraq! " i thought - all those alleys look alike!
More shots were fired, it was Jefke! i ran towards the sound and was confronted with loads of smoke. Jefke managed to take out 3 of the soldiers, which makes a total of 5, and again the victory was ours! Huah shacktac!! But what the HELL happened with Marcel? why did he die by friendly fire??
This eventually seemed to be a typical 'gamer' error. With Tiemo guarding the hostage, with only 1 task on his mind - KILL ANYONE that goes through that door. Marcel, was guarding the outer perimeter, and wanted to check up at tiemo.
Whatever he wanted to do there, i have no clue - maybe he wanted to check if there were more cookies or energy drinks? While marcel walksup to the door-opening, he starts saying : "don't shoot im coming in!" - well, he would if he said that BEFORE he was in the door opening. a well aimed shot at the head was the result for his careless action.
Like i said, a typical gamer error: being careless.
Eventually, the result was that we sustained their attack, and neutralized all enemies.
For me, the day couldn't go wrong. After we filed another questionnaire, we started a discussion, led by one of the researchers.
Both gamers and soldiers were asked their opinion of what just happened. This discussion lasted for about an hour, and both sides agreed that they were satisfied with what was being done today, but could be done better in the future. We learned thay some of these soldiers also play games online. we played with the idea of 'doing some online' practising with ArmedAssault. If that idea becomes a reality, only the future will tell. In the meantime, when the discussion was over, we mingled with the soldiers, talking about certain ideas and thoughts about ArmA/VBS2.
Capt. Roos seems to be a big fan of the Shacktac group, and the other soldiers were not standing unwillingly to the 'practise' and a possible second 'session' like today.
This is Sparta! My personal view on the day is positive, but with a sidenote. 
more keyboard kilometers |
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Today we won from real soldiers, but those soldiers hardly touched VBS2. its like when you played OFP for the very first time. We must not forget, that us gamers have way more 'keyboard kilometers' that the average soldier.
Therefore the outcome of today was already predicted by not only us gamers.
We kinda felt like that movie '300' were just a few 'trained by practise' spartans bring defeat upon their enemy.
Where we gamers were the spartans, and the real soldiers as opponents in a game they dont thouroughly know.
Defeat or success, this wasn't the essence of today. Today was about the 'next gen' training methods in the army.
Does it really help with decision making? do we really learn from this? Personally, i think we do!
We have expirienced how people can be less predictable than 'AI'. the 'Human' factor in decision making is probably the most interesting thing we witnessed today. we have seen just a fraction of the possibilities that are possible in a virtual training world, and the 'real virtuality' can provide such.
But what makes us 'gamers' different from training soldiers and their superiours? We gamers see the Missile scripts from Mandoble as a nice addition for a mission, where the military see the possibility of training certain doctrines in situations that are very expensive to train on, like missile defense tactics.
Next to that, both VBS2 and ArmedAssault can assist in learning 'commanders' handle tactics from behind a pc, with no other equipment than a few VBS machines. this digital training helps decision making processes of people in the widest range of situations.
This isn't news for most of us gamers. Many people who play ArmedAssault or Operation Flashpoint are aware of the 'serious gaming' phenomenon.
For us gamers, who reading forums on a daily basis, and make their own missions these possibilities that the VBS/ARMA engine present to us, is relativly normal and public information.
Therefore the similarities in tactics, vehicles, missions and equipment from the gaming community and VBS 'real' training material are hard to miss. Jefke, who is a Belgian citizen said to me that the dutch army is really 'modern' with this thing, and that their army can learn from what has been done here today.
Personally i think the dutch army isnt that modern, but they are definitely NOT standing still.
Gaming : Serious buisiness.
These army guys we played against today, they are 'Soldier' by profession and getting paid for that. i can say quite certain that their priority does not ly in 'checking all technologies when they come along. They serve our country and doing a damn fine job too!
For instance, look at 'our guys' in Uruzgan. they are doing an awesome job in a area that is completely different than here back in Holland.
This means that these guys face new situations which could be hard to impossible to train on here in Holland. Handling EID's, Checkpoint procedures... you name it!!
Many people have been saying this for a long time, and i think we approach the point that more armies will see that 'Gaming' is not only fun to do. you can learn from it. - just like we did today. In the last years, technology has taken an enormous jump. the current weaponry has been benefiting from this fact, and its inevitable that normal troops will be trained with special simulation equipment. this can vary from radar observance to real field duty procedures. Gaming has been around us for many years for our pleasure. But yet since a few years, many countries have learned that gaming could be more than just recreational fun.
While real exercises are very expensive, simulations are quite cheap in comparison. Although today's artificial intelligence is possibly not sufficient for proper training, todays available simulations tecnologies are hard to neglect. ArmA vs VBS Whatever game of ArmA i play from now on, today definatly changed my view on ArmedAssault and VBS2.
Today i have seen how 'we gamers' look at a game, but also how the army looks at them.
but what struck me the most, was the 'researchers' view on what this 'serious gaming' is, and could be doing for us. In this era of digitalisation, You and me could have played a big role in tomorrows warfare. For those people who enjoy playing ArmedAssault on a fun way, Please dont start 'VBS/ARMA' comparison bashing. from what i have experienced today, with a few mods, ArmA can be what VBS2 is.
I have seen bugs in VBS2 that i have seen in ArmedAssault, which brings me to the following conclusion:
Consider yourself praised as a gamer with ArmA. For 30 euro, and the help of the community you can approach the things that can be done in VBS2 on such a level of detail, that its not even worth discussing the differences between these two. From a 'Professional' point of view, like Capt. Roos from the dutch army, i can understand they choose VBS2 with its more professional support.
Most people forget that the people who experience VBS2 do that because of their profession, and that's a whole different world.
For us, the link from ArmA to VBS is just a small step and easy to talk about. Our motivations are based on fun and simulation.
For a soldier, this link between 'recreational fun' and 'reallife situations' is quite different. Their motivation is based on Learning, being prepared and doing their job with as less losses as possible.
These organisations do not 'create' their own environments, weapons or situations. And this is possibly the biggest thing that differs VBS2 from ARMA. Future role of the gamers In todays matches, it became clear to me that playing against artificial intelligence (bots) can be pretty predictable.
the tension during that gameplay isn't that much as with playing against real people and is less predictable.
Could there be a role for today's gamer? With a decent internet connection, this virtual training could easily be done with large numbers of players at low costs. A variaty of situations can be simulated and trained on, ranging from military to civilian aspects (eg: riots, firefighting or evacuations ).
With this new look on Games, Serious Gaming is something we probable hearing more from in the future. After we thanked and said goodbye to everybody, the gamers and the Research staff were agreed on one thing:
"The gamers might have won today, but when the shit really really hits the fan, we rather have the 'Real Deal' on our side."
As the day ended, with high hopes on some sort of 'revenge' for the soldiers, we left the military compound and headed homewards.
Weaponed with some email adresses we exchanged, with which we're trying to see if we can have a rerun of this event, but then online.
After this unique experience, we all went our seperate ways, towards home. Today, life has been very interesting.
Regards, 
On a final note, ilike to thank The Dutch Army and TNO Defense and Security for selecting me as recruitor for this project.
I hope this research will help the the army in the future, and the men that are serving several peacekeeping missions across the dutch borders. you have our repect!  Editors note :
If you are interested in buying "ArmedAssault", check your local pc-games shop.
Or consider buying the game online for only $24.95 at our shop.
http://shop.armedassault.eu/
ArmedAssault : $24.95
Queens Gambit expansion : $19,99
ArmedAssault Gold Edition : $39,99 ( ArmedAssault + Queens Gambit )
(C) 2007 Jerry Hopper - ArmedAssault.eu & Sahrani Radio. Contact :
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Related article : 19 Million for research - http://www.armedassault.eu/Misc.-Articles/Serious-gaming-its-getting-serious.html |
