"Booze Cruise" simulates what it's like to drive drunk, and the U.S. Army has injected somewhere between $10K and $100K (creators would specify) of funding into the game in an effort to counteract a growing drunk driving problem among soldiers returning from war zones, Globe and Mail reports.
University of Calgary professor Jim Parker, who led development of the sim, said, "What we're trying to show them is it's not possible to think yourself sober. Some people believe that if you just focus, you can drive really well."
It's certainly not the first drunk driving "game" or sim to be released, but that it got the attention of the military is noteworthy. Parker and his students released the game in 2007, and found the U.S. Army to be a good "sugar daddy" to finance more improvements. The final version of the game may not see official release until a month from now.
The Globe and Mail said that in the past five years, between 14 and 27 Army soldiers have been killed each year in vehicular drunk driving accidents.
"The goals are pretty pure here. They're trying to keep their guys from getting hurt," Parker said.
Meanwhile, Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada issued its disapproval of the sim. "We've spent decades telling people not to drink and drive, and this simulator, one of the skills it teaches is to drink so much, and then drive," said MADD CEO Andrew Murie.
Pic: Booze Cruise creators from left: Nooshin Esmaeil, Nathan Sorenson, Lori Shyba. Courtesy U of C On Campus Online.