Training for emergency response with RimSim:Response!

Since developing and promoting a Pacific Rim community emergency response simulation software platform called RimSim, the PARVAC team at the University of Washington has developed a variety of first responder agents who can participate within a response simulation. Agents implement response heuristics and communications strategies in conjunction with live players trying to develop their own heuristics and communications strategies to participate in a successful community response crisis. The effort is facilitated by shared visualization of the affected geographical extent. We present initial findings from interacting with a wide variety of mixed agent simulation sessions and make the software available for others to perform their own experiments.