Project Combat will be an interactive video game which will be aimed at helping soldiers quit tobacco and help them manage the extreme stress levels they are forced to bear.

"The tobacco use rates in the Army are alarming – 38 percent of service members smoke cigarettes and 15 percent use smokeless tobacco," said Alexander Prokhorov, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in M.D. Anderson’s behavioral science department who is already in the process of developing the aforementioned video game.

Around 2,000 soldiers in Fort Hood, Texas will be the first to test the prototype of Project Combat, which is modeled after "Escape with your Life" another tobacco-cessation video game developed by Prokhorov.

Project Combat will feature a custom-Avatar modeled after the user and the player will battle through conflicts such as resisting peer pressure, coping with withdrawal symptoms and preventing them falling back into the habit of smoking. Also there will be a prevention feature which soldiers can play through when they feel they are close to relapsing.

"Tobacco is typically regarded by young people as a dull subject. The video game-based education program is anything but boring," said Prokhorov. "It provides a highly interactive, engaging and exciting experience."

"When the demands of combat duty increase the soldier’s level of pressure and stress, smoking becomes more tempting to both the former smoker and the soldier who has never smoked," explained Prokhorov. "The prevention aspect of the game will address this."

It is not the first time a computer game has been designed for the U.S. Army, America Army an FPS was developed to help recruit potential soldiers by sending an invitation to players who received exceptional scores, and is now in its third installment.

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Texas Medical Center via Joystiq
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