Virtual Heroes - the developers behind the America's Army military simulator - have turned their hand to more socially useful, less killing-y areas with humanitarian aid simulator Virtual Peace.

Developed in collaboration with Duke University, Virtual Peace: Turning Swords to Ploughshares allows groups of students to enter a shared virtual world and take on different roles - from aid agency workers to government officials - and work with one another to tackle a humanitarian crisis.

The demo video after the jump gives a rough idea - in this case the crisis is Hurricane Mitch. While this is clearly not intended as a 'game' as such, it is interesting to see MMO-like tech being used in this way.

Virtual Peace: Turning Swords to Ploughshares [VirtualPeace.org via Slashdot]