Recruiters have long used video games to sell military service to young people. The armed forces also use games — er, “computer simulations” — to train troops for battle. Now the Veterans Affairs Department plans to join the fun by sending its nurses to Second Life.

According to its open government plan, VA health care providers will “virtually practice patient safety techniques” in Second Life’s online world, using alternate identities called avatars. The idea is to have providers work through scenarios before they encounter them in the real world.