For years there has been a debate about whether video games are the next great learning tool, or gateways to desensitization due to violence and a lack of face-to-face interaction. The debate rages on, but regardless of the long-term side effects of video games, there are scenarios where they are being put to use in practical ways as it relates to military training,“The idea of training soldiers using computer games was like, ‘There’s no way a computer game can train my guys how to shoot. You have to go out into the mud and do it for real.’ And while there’s some truth there, what we offered was like an accelerator for decision-making processes.”
Mark Dzulko had been serving in the military for 13 years when he recognized the potential that computer-based simulation tactics could have in the military. As the CTO and Director at Bohemia Simulations, Mark is now turning the potential into something practical. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Mark breaks down the difference between traditional consumer-based video games and Bohemia’s simulation device, plus, he explains how the company scaled despite having a limited customer base.
Main Takeaways
- An Open World: By using open source tools, engineers are able to quickly draft up different scenarios to fit a potential need rather than completely build a model from scratch. This gives simulation a sense of agility and scalability that traditional training models, such as pre-built flight simulators, do not have.
- Game vs Reality: Video games are built with an end goal in mind: to achieve the highest possible score. Simulations are designed to recreate actual life tactics. By being put in a simulated scenario, soldiers can hone their response times and get a better sense of how to react before being deployed.
- How to Make It: When you bring any product to market, it’s important to have an understanding of if you have product-market fit first. But when your customer base is limited it’s even more important to know that you will solve a problem for that base of customers in a reliable way, which will help ensure your success from the start. Constantly testing and gathering feedback from potential buyers before you hit that market is a strategy to put in place so that when you are ready to launch your product, it’s already set up for the customer to succeed.
For a more in-depth look at this episode, check out the article below.
Article
For years there has been a debate about whether video games are the next great learning tool, or gateways to desensitization to violence and a worrying descent into a lack of face-to-face interaction. The debate rages on, but regardless of the long-term side effects of video games, there are scenarios where they are being put to use in practical ways as it relates to military training,
“The idea of training soldiers using computer games was like, ‘There’s no way a computer game can train my guys how to shoot. You have to go out into the mud and do it for real.’ And while there’s some truth there, what we offered was like an accelerator for decision-making processes.”
Mark Dzulko had been serving in the military for 13 years when he recognized the potential that computer-based simulation tactics could have in the military. As the CTO and Director at Bohemia Simulations, Mark is now turning the potential into something practical. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Mark breaks down the difference between traditional consumer-based video games and Bohemia’s simulation device, plus, he explains how the company scaled despite having a limited customer base.
Founded in 2006, Bohemia Simulations is a software company at the forefront of simulation training solutions for defense and civilian organizations. The company uses game-based technology that creates cost-effective simulation practices for defense teams around the world.
“When I talk about training, it’s not that we are creating the training itself,” Dzulko said. “We’re giving our customers a tool to create training on their site. What we produce is an open world where you have all the assets like vehicles, you can be an individual, you can be a helicopter pilot, you can be in a plane, everything you can imagine down to UTVs, to build their scenarios for training.”
Dzulko said he and his team of engineers use open source tools to help construct various simulations for its customers based on need. Those simulations could last hours and include simple things such as driving a car to safety, while others could be more intensive and involve a soldier performing tasks such as raids.
“You need to give them all the tooling and all the content to actually put together very different training scenarios,” he said. “An important part of training is something we call AAR, which is after action review.”
After action review is the part of the simulation process that Dzulko said separates Bohemia’s device from consumer video games such as Call of Duty. In a traditional game, a player might play for a set amount of time while trying to capture a certain score. In Bohemia’s simulation, once the course is completed, the player is then walked through the entire scenario once again in an effort to educate them on where they could have been better, a step Dzulko said is critical and could save a soldier’s life.
Simulation tools are not new and have existed for a number of years. And while Bohemia Simulations has been around since 2006, Dzulko said one of the hardest obstacles the company had to overcome during the early 2000s was getting defense teams to trust that Bohemia’s product could make a tangible difference in a cost-effective manner.
There was a big barrier because some Majors or Lieutenant Colonels liked the idea of training, and soldiers using computer games were like, ‘There’s no way, a computer game, can’t train my guys how to shoot,”’ Dzulko said. “Entering this market was actually quite difficult at the beginning because for people who attended these conferences, a simulator was a plane and a big dome and I’ve got a cockpit and a lot of expensive hardware. This is what a simulator was. And we are coming up as no, all you need is a keyboard, mouse and monitor, and you can train your soldiers doing this.”
Today Bohemia Simulations works with defense teams across the globe and Dzulko said that the company was able to penetrate the market because defense teams started to understand that Bohemia’s software could be used as an additional tool to defense training and not a replacement
“We’re definitely not replacing life training,” he said. “That’s not the goal, but in training and learning, it’s all about repetition and putting you in similar but slightly different scenarios.”
To hear more about Dzulko’s own life journey and what other simulation products and services Bohemia Simulations has to offer, check out the full episode of IT Visionaries!
To hear the entire discussion, tune into IT Visionaries here.
