Using a Modified Video Game to Train Marine Corps

Posted on 2026-09-08

Prof. Brandon Booth is involved in an interdisciplinary research project using a modified version of the video game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to help train students in the Marine Corps University's Sergeants School.

Game scenarios are specifically designed to test planning and execution effectiveness, coordination, communication and contingency response.  Preliminary results show that students participating in these scenarios are improving their scores in their usual evaluations.

The project is joint work with principal investigator Louis Hickman, assistant professor of industrial-organizational psychology at Virginia Tech, and Ryan P. McMahan, director of VT's Center for Human-Computer Interaction.  More information can be found in this press release.