J-Fall 2022: Tom Eugelink – Very serious gaming

The recording starts after 11 minutes due to technical issues. War fighting in the modern navy is completely software based. No analog bleeps or pings; every weapon and sensor on a navy ship nowadays has a UTP connector. The operators that work in the CIC, the Combat Information Center deep inside the ship, see a digital abstraction of the world outside. In order for the operators to be prepared for real world engagements, it is important they have trained how to react over and over again, so no time is lost figuring out what “that button does exactly”. But it is dangerous and costly to use actual radar and weapon systems for training. An active radar while in port will fry people in the surrounding buildings, a 127mm gun moving around will make people nervous, and a missile can cost millions – not something you just fire off. So training for the most part is done inside a virtual world, not unlike 3D shooters. Friendly and enemy units are present in this virtual world, behavior is scripted or AI, and weapons and their impact are simulated, but the operators cannot tell the difference. A prime example of serious gaming… Or maybe even Very Serious Gaming, because it involves protecting our way of life and not some clever marketing ploy. The session will be fairly light on the Java technical knowledge. The goal is to introduce a domain where Java is used that not many developers know of, something completely different from the traditional corporate world that usually fills conference sessions. But also the fact that these fairly unknown simulation standards can be used to simulate other domains as well, which may give developers an unexpected tool on their tool belt.