For years, the U.S. Army connected in-person with high school prospects through an obstacle course program. But it had room to improve, as it gave students a taste of challenges, not rewards.

So, the U.S. Army did an “about face” and built an unprecedented metaverse experience, Pathfinder Arena, from the ground up. The entire program ran as a live career event several times a week with a rotating roster of inspiring soldiers. Over the course of the program, students were able to interact with white hat hackers, microbiologists, optometrists, astronauts in training, pilots, and many others. Through the magic of real time, green screen compositing, the soldiers and host interacted on a virtual stage, even though some were thousands of miles apart.

Pathfinder Arena was not only successful for a virtual event; it outperformed all prior program benchmarks. Students from around the country were able to engage in live Q&A and their participation far exceeded expectations. In the end, Pathfinder Arena was more entertaining, more scalable, and even more human than the in-person recruiting programs it replaced.