In case of emergency, play video game

Veteran New York firefighter Eddie Zagajesky is trained to handle surprises. So when he and his team of four younger fighters responded to the hazardous spill at a chemical plant, he thought he had it under control. But within minutes, he realized he had an even bigger emergency on his hands. "The [firefighter] next to me, his view through his mask got blurry," he says, remembering the moment. "That's when I knew he was overcome and we had to stop and get him out of there first."

Fortunately for both first responders, this was only a training exercise. But thanks to software based on the interactivity and storytelling tools of the video-game industry, the game called "Hazmat: Hotzone" is a highly realistic experience, one that Mr. Zagajesky says is teaching him a lot about the decisionmaking that goes on during emergencies. "It can give you different scenarios every time you run the game," says the native of the borough of Queens. "This helps you learn to make decisions on the spot, in the middle of the scenario, as things change just like they do in real life."

Video games have come a long way since the days of Pac Man. Today's multimillion-dollar games (a hit game can cost up to $10 million to produce) can simulate some environments so convincingly (think the Indianapolis 500 racetrack) that aspiring athletes now train on them. As games become more mainstream entertainment, developers are turning that knowledge to the nongame-playing world.

"There is a cultural shift happening where [designers] are using video-game principles and technology to impact culture far beyond the living room," says Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association. "Interactive entertainment is seeping through the culture in education and corporate training in ways that will impact how people learn and how they do their jobs."

"Hazmat: Hotzone" is a computer-based training program developed by the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Working with the Fire Department of New York City (FDNY), the team uses tools of the video-game world to create what the firefighters call a powerful instructional aid for those who tackle hazardous emergencies such as chemical spills or terrorist attacks involving biological weapons.

The ETC hopes to expand the software for use by a wide range of first responders, including police, medical teams, and the FBI.

The United States Army already uses "America's Army," interactive software available on its website, for both recruitment and training. This joins a growing number of games addressing social and political emergencies around the world: "Peacemaker," an interactive simulation game that allows Israeli and Palestinian teenagers to explore strategies for peaceful coexistence and "Escape from ObeezCity," which addresses obesity in children.

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