Serious about Serious Games!

Manuel Fradinho (Sintef)Bjorn Andersen (Sintef)

Asbjorn Rolstadas (Sintef)Joao Pereira (INESC-ID)

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commuity's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 231717 (TARGET project)

What is a Serious Game?

A serious game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment

wikipedia

The use of a game that facilitates the learner to achieve particular desired learning outcomes

Key Challenges

Sense MakingTrust BuildingConflict ManagementDecision MakingStakeholder InvolvementLeadershipComplexityMulti-culture…

The very nature of integration is pulling together disparate elements of knowledge, skills, and experience, and in this

process – because it takes place within the mind of an individual – is, at its heart, unteachableRichard Barker, HBR, September 2010

Digital Natives Tyler (10 year old) learnt:

Supply chain logistics Division of Labour Added value Supply and demand Business Structure Control Full employment Vertical integration Wealth building Dealing with corruption Making difficult decisions Ethical behaviour Good communication Loneliness of command Compassion

Stop Disaster (Awareness)

•Theme: Build awareness to disaster management• Tile based game, freely available online • Face particular disaster and minimize number of deaths/injured and structural damage • Build defenses and training• Have a budget so choose wisely• Game sessions aimed to last less than 20minutes

Virtual Leader (Training)

•Theme: Leadership training simulation • Meeting with other stakeholders to reach a consensus• Have a set of possible answers (current dialogue) and triggers (new actions), other stakeholders respond• Better than tree based (possibly graph based), but can become repetitive• Supports tailorability: content change

Infini Teams (Hiring)

•Theme: team skills building/assessment • Team of users stranded on deserted island, must go through set of collaborative tasks to escape• Pre-defined stages of problem solving (precedence)• Isometric view• Game is supported by methodology and used as consultancy tool

America’s Army (Recruitment)

•Theme: US army from boot camp to special operations• Developed by the MOVES institute at the NPS• First person shooter• Started just boot camp, evolved into multiplayer experience with missions and tournaments• Game is free – a recruiting tool• Rich community support

“The empirical research of the instructional effectiveness of games is fragmented, filled with ill defined terms, and plagued with methodological flaws.”

Robert T. Hays, The effectiveness of instructional games: A literature review and discussion. (Tech Report 2005-004). Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, FL, November 2005

“There appears to be a consensus among a large number of researchers with regard to the negative, mixed, or null

findings of game research, suggesting that the cause might be a lack of sound instructional design embedded in the

games” O’Neil, H. F., Wainess, R., and Baker, E. (December 2005) Classification of learning

outcomes; Evidence from the games literature. The Curriculum Journal. 16(4), 455-474.

Are Serious Games Effective?

• Dr. John Dunning, professor of Organizational Behaviour at Troy University noticed that knowledge and theories acquired in class were not applied in the real world by students– 2 classes: one traditional curricula, the other on

serious game– 15 students in each– Average age: 38

• Min : 27• Max : 53

However...for example

Results

Yet another example

• Richard Blunt (Advanced Distributed Learning)• Three Studies

– Case 1 : Business : Industry Giant II– Case 2 : Economics : Zapitalism– Case 3 : Management : Virtual U

• Results

1 2 3

Traditional• do I care if my pilot had fun

when he learned to fly a plane?• learning doesn’t have to be fun

to be successful (but we should try)

• also need interesting, engaging, useful, challenging, fulfilling, motivating…

• pedagogy is not a “noose”.• doubts game designers will

make right decisions all the time – why risk it?

Cannon-Bowers

• “instructional designers suck the fun out”

• 12 activities learners need to do (trying, deciding, observing, creating, etc.)

• “negative training” is an instructional designers way of instilling fear

• need “good” instructional strategies (that leave the fun).

• build, eval, repair… don’t try it all at once from the beginning

Mark Prensky

Right – Let’s Build a Serious Game

Revolutionary

Don’t Forget the CostGenre Cost (person month)

Branching story (simple) 5

Branching story (complex) 10

Interactive spreadsheet 5

Game-based 5

Virtual product 8

Virtual lab 10

Marketing game 2

Microworld 5

Virtual experience space 10

Next generation simulation (simple) 180

Next generation simulation (complex) 360

Key Challenges

Sense MakingTrust BuildingConflict ManagementDecision MakingStakeholder InvolvementLeadershipComplexityMulti-culture…

Transformative, Adaptive, Responsive and enGaging

EnvironmenT (TARGET)

A FP7 Integrated Project in Technology Enhanced Learning

Project ManagementProject management is the task of directing a project from start to finish, with on-time, on-budget delivery of

the planned outcomes.

• PM one of the more challenging tasks in business and requires multiple competences to master.

• Cross-cultural projects (“globally-based projects”) step the challenge up further.

• Milosevic (2002): Most project managers recognize that managerial styles in their own culture are difficult to handle effectively, let alone reflect upon and externalize and share with people in one's own culture.

• Enshassi (1994) claimed that when ignored, cultural diversity causes problems that diminish the project team’s productivity.

Example of Competences• Sense Making• Trust Building• Conflict Management• Decision Making• Stakeholder Involvement• Negotiation• Role Reversal• Political Intelligence• Emotional Intelligence• Leadership

• Complexity• Communication• Cost/Benefit Analysis• Interested Parties• Risk Management• Engagement and

Motivation• Relaxation• Personnel Management• Cross-cultures

“In French and Spanish offices, it takes the first hour to kiss everyone, the second to discuss local gossip and the third to pop out for a

coffee and croissant. In Britain, these activities would count as sexual harassment, time-

wasting and absenteeism.” (Reeves, 2003)

TARGET Integrative Framework

TARGET Learning Process

TARGET Platform

TARGETComponents

TARGETKnowledgeRepository

HRM DataRepositories

Competence Profiles

Performance Data

Social Data

Stories Narrative Building Blocks

Users

Learning Plans

TARGET NavigatorHRM IntegrationKnowledge Services

and Tools

Knowledge Ecology

Navigator

Didactical Modeller

Learning Strategy

TARGET Manager

Competence Analyzer

Serious Game

Non-Player Character

Narrative Game Engine

VBE

Virtual Worlds

Artificial Mentor

Competence Performance

Analyzer

Social Services and Tools

Overload Manager

Thank you!www.reachyourtarget.org