The so-called alternative reality game is being evaluated by the U.S. Joint Forces Command and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in a monthlong project run by Cambridge, Mass.-based contractor BBN Technologies.

In a statement, the company said a group of 124 active duty military, reservists, government staffers and university students was playing the scenario, set on a small tsunami-devastated island off the southern coast of the United States.

An unexplained illness is spreading among survivors of the storm, and the U.S. military task force formed to support the relief effort must now contend with the epidemic.

"This is the kind of situation that is most difficult to train for," said the company statement.

The games "offer the benefit of allowing trainees to practice the skills needed for such exceptional situations while they continue to do their regular jobs and to develop real relationships in a virtual scenario that will help them respond effectively when they are required to cope with" comparable situations in real life.

Because such games are "inherently distributed and built on complex, engaging scenarios, they are an effective and cost efficient way to train for long duration, large-scale problems that require individuals to respond both collectively and individually," Bill Ferguson of BBN Technologies said in the statement.