Well, we told you this was going to happen, but the Army just announced that it was setting up a presence in the Second Life virtual world.
As the Virtual Worlds blog reports:
The U.S. Army will open up two islands in Second Life in the next 30-45 days aimed at recruiting new soldiers. The plans were announced at the Army Science Conference this week, which has a heavy focus on immersive technologies. The project sounds similar to the current implementation of the Air Forces MyBase, which opened in Second Life yesterday. Users will find a welcome center with information and links to contact a recruiter on one island and military-themed activities like rappelling, shooting, and parachuting on the other. Completing the activities will earn users points toward free Army-branded virtual goods.
You'll remember that we reported in a preview of the Army Science Conference that the service was planning to enter massively multiplayer online games with virtual humans to try and trick real ones into believing the digital Soldiers were made of more than 1s and 0s. Well, don't look now, but that digital dude in the cammo pants and jaunty beret could be giving you a virtual pitch to be an Army of One.
-- Christian
