The “Serious Games” LandscapeBen Sawyer

bsawyer@seriousgames.org

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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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All Games Are Serious!

(applause)

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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...

Searching for a Definition

What are serious games?

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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?