GAME MODES
The project embeds four separate highly immersive and attractive “gaming modes”, aiming to assists LEAs to provide dedicated training to police officers and measure their proficiency in:
- conducting forensic examination,
- effective questioning, threatening, cajoling, persuasion, or negotiation,
- recognizing and mitigating potential terrorist attacks;
- Car accident analysis.
The Law-Game modes that will be developed within the project duration are briefly described below.
CSI Game: To train police officers on forensic examination
Players of the CSI game will participate in the game through the role of a forensics expert. The players will complete a forensic examination on both real and hypothetical scenarios and will be able to walk through the crime scene, interact with the environment and objects and catalogue the evidence found. The game offers the option to utilize forensics tools, as these are used in real life, and the player can evaluate and inspect the inventory used. To make matters more challenging, the human instructor has the option to alter the scenario or increase the difficulty level of the player during the game to evaluate the player’s various skills and abilities.
Players are assessed with the end of the game and receive a final score based on the evidence collected, procedures followed, mishaps, chain of evidence produced and other key findings and features. Ratings and scores are used to identify performance level and weaknesses to be addressed at the next trainings.
The game uses procedural content generation to create a realistic game play and automatically create the virtual crime scene setting while the AI engine integrates a detailed knowledge base of crime scene forensics.
Police Interview Game: To train police officers on interrogation and negotiation techniques and protocols.
The Police Interview Game offer two game modes.
In the first mode, the players are presented with a virtual suspect who refuses to share valuable information with the authorities. The game creates a VR police interrogation room and the suspect’s 3D avatar.
Players are required to try, using their cognitive background, methods to persuade the suspect to cooperate, using various skills and/or techniques they may be aware of. They are required to observe the body language of the suspect and other signs that indicate the suspect’s psychological state, to interpret the suspect’s willingness to cooperate. Based on the player’s emotional state, the avatar will be responsive in the same manner by humanizing it, setting the level of difficulty much higher. With the end of the game, the system rates the overall performance and points out the player’s errors, as areas for further improvement.
In the second mode, the negotiation scene takes place in more complex situations, including suicide attempts, terrorist attacks or robberies with hostages involved. In this mode, the game creates a more complicated VR environment of the crime scene and the negotiator may not be able to see the suspect’s 3D avatar. The lack of visual sight with the suspect requires the player to use emotional intelligence skills and psychoanalyze the suspect. Additional factors may alter the game plot (such as gunshots, screams etc.), creating an even more difficult and complicated situation for the player.
With the end of the game, the system rates the overall performance and points out errors that could lead to failure.
Terrorist Attack Prevention Game: To train officers in identifying and preventing terrorist acts
The Terrorist Attack Prevention Game is a multi-player game, requiring at least two teams to participate, in a version of LEAs vs terrorists. A team can take the role of citizens, which the LEAs are required to identify and protect during the game duration. The goal is for the LEAs to prevent a terrorist attack planned and organized by the terrorists team.
The setting takes place in an urban environment within which the trainees, with the assistance of technologies such as virtual sensors and cameras, need to discover potential suspicious terrorist actions and prevent their attack.
As part of the game configuration the game scenario can set the rules that signify the successful conclusion on an attack. These rules are typically set in line with the relevant checklists prepared on scientific research and literature.
Car Accident Game: To train police officers on vehicle dynamics and car accident scene analysis
In the Car Accident Game a specific car accident analysis module will be designed to provide a serious game immersed environment to train inspectors and police officers. When playing the game, inspectors/police will face a virtual car accident and are required to discover the causes of the accident. The officer can interact in the virtual environment with three different toolkits:
- Visual image analysis;
- Computation of deformation maps (heatmaps);
- Automatic vehicle speed estimation.
Each of the toolkits available to the player includes all the information needed for the officer to prepare his report and make a statement as to who is responsible for the accident. During the game play, the officer must ensure they follow all safety and investigation procedures, as per real life protocols.
