The U.S. Army is into another online gaming project again. While the America’s Army First Person Shooter Game is aimed at the civilian population as a recruitment tool, the Operation Overmatch multiplayer game taps soldiers to provide feedback to help in the development of the future force.

In a news report at the Army.mil website, Operation Overwatch’s purpose is to connect Soldiers to inform concept and capability developers, scientists and engineers across the Army.

Here is a more clearer information from the Operation Overmatch website:

This new pilot game from the U.S. Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) and Army Game Studio is an innovative approach utilizing Early Synthetic Prototyping or ESP. Players including Soldiers, research personnel, and leaders can configure future concepts of vehicles and equipment, perform missions, and complete objectives in a virtual complex operational environment. Operation Overmatch aims to disrupt the design/test/build paradigm by validating equipment, doctrines, and organization through direct Soldier and stakeholder feedback and player behavior data analysis. Innovation comes by experimentation, failure, and iteration. Operation Overmatch is serious gameplay to shape the future force.

Early Synthetic Prototyping (ESP) is a process and set of tools that enable warfighters to radically transform development and acquisition decisions by designing and assessing emerging technologies in a game environment. Soldiers and collaborators in acquisition, science, technology, and industry can virtually prototype models and scenarios for play and evaluation. ESP encourages the exploration of disruptive ideas at minimal cost by inviting warfighters at all levels to test drive and refine future systems. ESP enables the Army to learn by failing fast, a process that encourages risk taking and investigation of different ideas, but also a rigorous evaluation of those ideas to quickly eliminate failures before extensive resources are expended. Moreover, early prototyping of material solutions enables further refinement of operational and system requirements. ESP is innovation through serious games, Soldier feedback, and human behavior analysis.

The video game is an 8 versus 8 multiplayer setup with the soldiers going up against enemies with emerging capabilities in more realistic scenarios as explained by the Army.mil.  There are 100 testers of the game as it is still in development and interested members of the U.S. Army can request for Beta access. This is not limited to soldiers only but can involve civilian personnel, reservists, cadets, academe, and industry partners of the Army as well. While playing, the gamers can experiment with hundreds of weapons and vehicles in different variations and development stages. As they play, they provide insights on their capabilities and usage.

If you are a member of the U.S. Army, you can sign up for early access. The Beta testing phase will take place in October.