US Army Seeks to Prevent Suicides by Deploying Video Games

Posted by Nelson Williams | November 30, 2008

The high-stress environment of the Iraq occupation, combined with longer tours of duty, has taken a deep toll on US soldiers. One grim result of these unfortunate conditions is the suicide rate among personnel, which has jumped up over 45 percent since 2003.

The Army has responded with various measures, but the most interesting is a program called Beyond the Front, a sort of role-playing video game, designed to encourage at-risk soldiers to seek the help they need. The game presents situations and scenarios that might affect the mental health of a soldier; a “Dear John” letter from home, a roadside bomb that kills a friend, and other stressful events that are part of the military life. How the player reacts to these events in the game determines the ending of the scenario, be it happy or deadly.

WILL Interactive, the creators of Beyond the …

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