It’s no secret that the US Government and Military have been investigating virtual environments for some time, and Second Life has been a popular playground for both simulation research and recruiting. In an interview on Second Life’s blog, Douglas Maxwell from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) talks about how they’ve integrated Second Life into their environment.
Amanda: How does NUWC use Second Life?
Doug: We use Second Life and the Second Life Enterprise in a number of ways. The virtual NUWC campus in Second Life is composed of 13 sims, all named for classes of submarine. The easternmost sims are dedicated to public outreach and recruiting of scientists and engineers. Our visitor’s center has representative information from all of our various divisions, including Combat Systems, Sonar, Ranges, Unmanned Vehicles, and more. The real NUWC campus is located in Newport, Rhode Island, so we had to put in the Newport/Pell bridge spanning two sims as a symbolic landmark of the area. There are also docks with accurately scaled models of a Virginia Class submarine and an Australian Collins Class submarine.
