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Resources
Presentations> http://www.dmill.com/presentations/serious-games.ppt
http://www.dmill.com/presentations/games-for-health.ppt> http://www.dmill.com/presentations/serious-gamers.ppt
Games for Health Trailer> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjGJTST8DSg
Our sites> www.seriousgames.org> www.gamesforhealth.org
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Some Quotes
>“Real progress in desktop computing always stems from gaming.”
- John Dvorak
> “the smartest programmers don't work for Uncle Sam anymore -they develop video games.”
- Tom Clancy
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The Serious Games Opportunity
> To apply a 30 year pool of talent & technology to other problem spaces that can benefit from cutting-edge technologies & design practices proven in entertainment & key demographics.
> Potential creative ways to solve existing/new problems with agreed upon comparative advantages games/game devs, & technologies readily supply.
> The creation or re-creation of a new field of game development with revenues already in the millions.
> Changing the nature of e-learning and making it much more about the power of computers vs. the power of a new transmission method.
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What is Going On?
> Serious Games is growing from a grassroots to a branded movement
> Growth over the last two years has been nearly 100% per-year
> Three years back our meetings were 30-50 people now they’re 300-700+
> More people are plugging in Both existing and new
> However, still experimental, and emergent
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What’s Going On?
> Funding is increasing but market is still not huge (~$70M Worldwide) 30-60% of that is military depending on how you measure
the market.
> Field is diversifying and growing critical segments: Education Military First Responders Corporate Training Games for Health Games for Science Advergaming
> Field is Internationalizing Serious Games Japan, meetings in Europe, Canada, etc.
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What is going on?
> The serious games community Our listserv, grassroots, and meetups
• Splinter groups> Games for Health> Games for Change
• Regional Activities: Europe/Asia/Sub Regions
> Research venues Lots of programs starting up
• Cross discipline> Research oriented & engineering oriented
> How the field is shaping...
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Problems…
> Solving problems is what humans do> Entertainment is a solved problem> There are other problems…
Teaching People
Figuring out the Right Policies
Putting Robots on Mars, Venus and Mercury
Overthrowing Dictators
Responding to Threats
> Problem solving is a big business!
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Games are Solutions
> Play has been used since dawn of mankind> Playing is problem solving> At times we’ve even been very deliberate in
what and why we play Chess, Checkers, Go
The OlympicsWar Games
Roleplaying
Simulations
Game Theory
> And now… computer games
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So What are Serious Games?
1. Serious Games are Solutions to Problems
2. Serious Games =“Any meaningful use of computerized game/game
industry resources whose chief mission is not entertainment”
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What are serious games?
> Serious games are simply solutions to problems that utilize assets developed by the modern day computer and videogame industry
> The serious in serious games refers to the purpose and nothing else
> Many serious game projects do not result in the creation of a game
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The Definition & Qualifications for Serious Games
> Must solve a problem other then entertainment> Must tie to game development in at least one of
three ways: Application is a game
Application was in part or whole developed or designed by game developers precisely because of skills unique to their occupation
Application utilizes technology or development tools originally created for games
> COTS titles used in non-entertainment settings are also qualify but… Traditional drill & skill edutainment titles are something we’d
prefer to leave behind and disassociate ourselves with
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About our Work…
> Serious Games Initiative> Games for Health Project
Baltimore, MD Conference (9/28-9/29)
> Serious Games Summit Washington, DC (10/30-10/31)
> International Efforts Serious Games Summit Lyon, France (12/06)
> Games for Health Contest> Organizational Audits/Speaking> PR efforts> Budget Game & PHR Ideas> New round of planning…
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A History of Games
-8000 -7000 -6000 -5000 -4000 -3000 -2000 -1000 0
"Bocce"
Senet
Backgammon
Go
Olympics
Chess
Monopoly
Space War
Pong
Atari
Energy Czar & Scram
Balance of Power
SimCity
We’re just getting started!
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What can we do with games?
> Interface challenges & design> Collective intelligence> Data visualization> Content production> Communications> Therapeutic tools> Computer science> Generic software engineering> Cultural Outreach
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Uncommon Examples of Serious Games
> Game developers redoing the interface for a vehicle
> Using consoles as low-cost video-conferencing devices
> Pain-distraction> Lan-parties as team building exercises> General purpose programming on GPU
architectures> Machinima (movie making in real-time game
environments)> As polling methodology by logging in-game
choices of participants> Economic research in online worlds> Exergaming> PTSD & ADD treatments> Phobia treatments
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Why use a game at all?
> Games are growing media form There is little doubt that people are
increasingly allocating time from other media to games
> Games may offer better forms of educational experiences (at times) Researchers are trying to figure this out and
early returns are promising
> The technologies & talents housed in the games industry have proven capabilities beyond games Exploit technologies and techniques honed by
millions if not billions of dollars
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Why games???!!?!?
> Good games… map to how our brain actually works
• Chunking, associative memory, patterns, more senses involved at one time.
motivate us through a variety of media specific capabilities
• Interactivity, flow, emotion, carrots/sticks, mastery, challenge, pacing
Provide us a “thoughtspace” a way to view and interact with information in an augmented fashion
• Puts us at the center, gives us control, increases views, manipulation
Abstracts things so we can understand them as systems vs. as disparate parts
Are themselves augmented by other resources• Player guides, p2p discussion, & more…
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Lessons Thus Far…
> Serious games apply game resources to broad array of problems in creative ways
> Serious games don’t always mean games are the end result
> Games have some great media-specific positives that we’re just getting the means and understanding to exploit
> Our case is driven primarily by: Demographic trends +
Emerging supportive cognitive research +
Ever-more capable hardware & software
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More on Learning...
> Lots of Noise!> A few points: Elasticity, Interface,
Complexity, Of/on Syllabus, What are the acceptable measuresments
> Some research... Whitepaper: wwics.si.edu/subsites/game/Serious2.pdf
FAS: http://fas.org/gamesummit/
FutureLab: http://futurelab.org.uk/
Specific Papers...• Aqua Moose
No Magic Bullet: 3D Video Games in Education
Jason Elliott, Lori Adams, Amy Bruckman
College of Computing, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, USA 30332-0280
{jlelliot, lori, asb}@cc.gatech.edu
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/elc/aquamoose/
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More on Learning...
> COTS in games Over 100 citations: 2/3 were learning
oriented cites
Working towards releasing as paper
> Informal vs. Formal> Lower Hanging vs. Deeper> Need for more studies
Jan Cannon-Bowers/UCF (training / transfer)
DiGRA, MacArthur, RWJF, DoD
> Hidden Agenda> The last mile issues
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Summary Points...
> We've come a long way in a few years> The research agenda is still being set, and
barely is being met but momentum to do so is building
> We can't just research, or build, we must do and respect both needs equally.
> We can have an effect but the strength, size, and pervasiveness are questions Defining the usage space, do's, don'ts,
strengths,etc.
> For what we gain... can we actually measure?
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