Archive for the 'Serious Games' Category

01
Nov

IBM and Serious Games

By Sebastian 0 Comments
Categories: News Clips and Serious Games

The video and computer games are gaining traction in the enterprise and educational arenas as a means to teach new skills to a generation of young adults raised on video games. According to marketing consultancy The Apply Group, between 100 and 135 of the Global Fortune 500 will use gaming for instructional applications by 2012. [citation]

IBM has quite a bit of resources in Serious Games, if one know where to look.

19
Oct

Foundations of Digital Games 2009

By Sebastian 0 Comments
Categories: Education, News Clips and Serious Games

CALL FOR PAPERS (PDF Version)

FDG ’09, the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, is a focal point for academic efforts in all areas of research and education involving computer and console games, game technologies, game play and game design. Previously known as Academic Days on Game Development in Computer Science Education (GDCSE 08), this year’s conference expands its scope to encompass all aspects of Computer Science focused game research, along with game-oriented education research, and game studies and game design research. The goal of the conference is the advancement of the science of digital games, including new game technologies, capabilities, designs, applications, educational uses, and modes of play.

FDG 2009 will include presentation of peer-reviewed papers, invited talks by high-profile industry and academic leaders, hands-on tutorials and topical panels on a range of subjects related to games research and education. We invite researchers and educators to share insights and cutting-edge results relating to game technologies and their use.

Theme Area Topics

Authors whose papers align with a particular theme area should choose to submit their paper under that theme. Theme areas for FDG 2009 are defined broadly using the descriptions here:

Artificial Intelligence

We solicit papers on artificial intelligence research that provides novel solutions to traditional game AI problems (e.g. path planning, camera control, terrain analysis, user modeling, tactical/strategic decision making, etc.), supports novel game concepts or gameplay elements (e.g. interactive drama, narrative/character development, NPC belief/attitude/emotion modeling, etc.), provides automated or semi-automated solutions to game production challenges (e.g. game design, content creation, testing, prodcedural animation, etc.), or describes the integration of AI technologies (e.g. machine learning, logical inference, planning, etc.) into game AI architectures.

Computer Science and Games Education

The Computer Science and Games Education Theme Area invites researchers and educators to submit papers illustrating the latest advances and innovation in curricula for games and computer science, in both formal and informal educational contexts. All papers must show rigorous and compelling evaluation. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: game design and development curricula, effective practices and infrastructure for the use of games and game technologies in Computer Science courses and programs, Web-based (adaptive) educational games and interdisciplinary collaboration among computer scientists and others to create games in educational contexts.

Databases

The database track is soliciting papers with either novel applications of database techniques to computer games or with novel database techniques especially designed for digital games. Topics include database engines, query processing, and query optimization for games workloads; declarative languages for game programming; distributed database techniques and consistency models for networked games; data management for games that cross physical and virtual worlds.

Game Studies | Game Design

The Game Studies | Game Design theme seeks reports of creative design practice and methods, as well as the exploration and development of innovative gameplay forms and mechanics. Research on new models for player involvement, design as co-construction with players and their communities, and iterative player-centered design are also very welcome. Within the domain of game studies more generally, submissions are welcome in the areas of player experience, game ontology, the social and cultural aspects of gameplay, cross-cultural analyses, networked play (including consoles), casual and serious gaming. Submissions that provide a rigorous analysis of new or emerging phenomena are of strong interest.

Graphics and Interfaces

The graphics and interfaces theme seeks papers on all aspects of computer graphics and user interfaces that are specifically related to digital games, including but not limited to: animation; modeling; rendering; 2D and 3D user interfaces; collaborative user interfaces; mobile user interfaces; tangible user interfaces; design of (interfaces for) Web 2.0 game focused web applications; integration of web-based and computer/console based game worlds; augmented reality and virtual reality; and novel interaction devices and displays.

Networks and Security

We invite submissions that focus on the many aspects of constructing networked games and networked game services. Submissions that fall under the following areas are encouraged: networked game architectures, network protocol design for games, latency issues, lag compensation, and synchronization methods, mobile and/or resource-constrained games, software and middleware support for developing networked games, content delivery and adaptation, services for supporting networked games, cheat detection techniques, cheat prevention via secure game design and the networking and security aspects of Web-based games and game portals.

19
Oct

Games For Learning Institute (G4LI)

By Sebastian Closed
Categories: Assessment, Education, News Clips and Serious Games

There will be a new Games for Learning Institute (G4LI) in New York University. The institute is a new joint research endeavor of Microsoft Research, New York University, and a consortium of universities, including: Columbia University, the City University of New York (CUNY), Dartmouth College, Parsons The New School for Design, Polytechnic Institute of NYU, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Teachers College at Columbia University.

Microsoft Research is providing $1.5 million to the Institute. NYU and its consortium of partners are matching Microsoft’s investment, for a combined $3 million. Funding covers the first three years of the G4LI’s research, which will focus on evaluating computer games as potential learning tools for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects at the middle-school years (grades 6–8). The institute will work with a range of student populations, yet focus on underrepresented middle-school students, such as girls and minorities.

The aim is to identify which qualities of computer games engage students and develop relevant, personalized teaching strategies that can be applied to the learning process.

Effectiveness of Video Games. Again!

“While educational games are commonplace, little is known about how, why or even if they are effective,” said John Nordlinger, senior research manager for Microsoft Research’s gaming efforts. “Microsoft Research, together with NYU and the consortium of academic partners, will address these questions from a multidisciplinary angle, exploring what makes certain games compelling and playable and what elements make them effective, providing critically important information to researchers, game developers, and educators to support a new era of using games for educational purposes.”

How do they plan on doing it?

The G4LI also will evaluate game prototypes and introduce them, along with accompanying curricula, to an existing network of 19 New York City area schools; results in the classroom will be tracked. Based on the findings, the institute’s goal is to expand its research and game development to all K–12 grades. Resulting scientific evidence will be shared broadly with researchers, game developers and educators.

Original article: here.

I am one who don’t think qualitative tracking will work. So I can only hope they are not going down that path. I can only guess (since it is NYU) at what methodology they will be using…

17
Oct

ModSim World conference

By Sebastian 0 Comments
Categories: Assessment, Education, News Clips, Serious Games and conference

Come across a ModSim World Conference: Decision Making in Complex Environment [http://www.modsimworld2008.com] from September 15-18, 2008, at Virginia Beach, VA.

The conference looks to be small to medium size (as compared to AECT and AERA, of course). But I wonder how is it when compared to Ed-Media and E-Learn? No doubt the computer science and engineering people are getting into these kind of things fast! (Selected presentations will be published in ACM digital library, so go figure.) :mrgreen:

And something new for my radar: there is Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) at Old Dominion University, perhaps I should “look around more”? The VMASC is a multi-disciplinary modeling, simulation and visualization collaborative research center managed through the Office of Research at Old Dominion University.

There are several tracks in the conference. but the tracks include:

Education & Training

This track focuses on the development and preparation of modeling and simulation professionals and specialists, and issues related to the development and enhancement of the 21st Century modeling and simulation workforce. This includes high school, community college, undergraduate, and graduate level education; modeling and simulation as content and methodology; professional development; and continuing education.

Education and training are broadly defined to include instruction, instructional-related issues and techniques, curricula, standards, certification, accreditation, and resources.  The education and training track serves as a forum for (1) the exchange of knowledge; (2) interchange among individuals and parties; and (3) for the presentation, discussion, and resolution of issues pertaining to pedagogy and modeling and simulation.

Day 1: M&S in Engineering & Technology 1: Aerospace (Charles Camarda), M&S in Engineering & Technology 2: Science (William Dunn), Emerging M&S Capabilities in 2030,

Day 2: Vertical Panel on M&S in Eng & Tech: K-12, CC, University, Industry; M&S in Engineering & Technology 3:  Civil & Naval Design (Alexander Kott), Game-Based Learning,

Day 3: M&S in Program & Project Design & Management - Part 1

And, no kidding! They have a track for serious games, too. This is getting really “serious”…

Cross-Cutting Track - Game-Based Learning (Serious Games)

In addition to the core areas of concentration, MODSIM will explore some of the conceptual and technological threads that run between these various disciplines. Our cross cutting secessions will focus on the exciting world of Game-Based Learning (serious games) as it applies to each of the focal tracks. By exploring these topics we will begin opening the door to revolutionary new solutions.

This track embraces the full spectrum of thought from theory and practice, research and experimentation, development, to test and evaluation of game-based learning (GBL) and its application across a variety of disciplines and communities of practice.

Topics of interest include learning theory; comparative research in human and synthetic learning; the application of GBL to the “teaching and learning” of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at all levels; and the technical, social, and logistical challenges associated with implementing GBL.

This track is also a forum for fostering research, information exchange, and for individuals and groups interested in curriculum and professional development, tools and user applications, infrastructure and integration, and assessment and evaluation.

No presentation???

Took a quick look at their contacts: Alicia Sanchez.

 

16
May

Book Chapter on Game Modding

By Sebastian 0 Comments
Categories: Education, Modding, Neverwinter Nights, Publication and Serious Games

I have finally sent off the book chapter I co-wrote with JaeHwan Byun for the Gibson-Baek’s book.

Book Title: Digital Simulations for Improving Education
Editors: David Gibson & Young Kyun Baek
Chapter 18 - Making Video Game By Modification (Game Modding): Lesson Learned

Apart from the regular “fix this”, “change that”, I am actually very pleased with the reviewers’ feedback:

  • There are very few chapters that I know of that walk a reader through the mod process.  As such, this was not only entertaining, but also informational.

  • …this would be potentially one of the more widely used chapters!

  • …the chapter will be widely used by designers and educators.

30
Mar

Virtual Hereos & Unreal

By Sebastian 0 Comments
Categories: News Clips and Serious Games

The interview of Virtual Heroes by Serious Games Source yielded some good information about what VH planned on doing to further their “learning with video game” technology and in making a name for their company. They have developed an assessment component called “Advance Learning Technology” for use with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine (VH licensed the U3 as their in-house game development tool).

SGS: Why choose the Unreal Engine?

VH: Our team has worked extensively on the America’s Army game project. Because of this experience, we have seen the power of Unreal technology as it is used in the serious games space for strategic messaging and training and education applications. Many of our clients are asking for UE3 technology by name…

[So, AA was powered by Unreal? I am skeptical about the next sentense, how may education application out there are powered by Unreal? Honestly, I haven't heard of any. Name please?]

By leveraging COTS (commercial-off-the-shelf) technologies, we can focus on challenges specific to serious games. These include the creation of instructor authoring tools, after-action-review technologies, the integration of biometrics and human physiology engines and SCORM compliance etc.

We feel that our arrangement with Epic provides us with a competitive advantage in the serious games market. This approach will enable us to creative premium immersive experiences which provide the means to train and educate while measuring task related skills-proficiency along the way.

SGS: Recently the engine has come under scrutiny over its complexity and alleged support issues. Does this concern your company in developing future serious games and other learning products?

VH: Not at all. We’ve been part of the Unreal Developer network since January 2004 when we began developing for the America’s Army game project. We chose UE3 in large part because of helpful support available from UDN.

[Ah! So Unreal was difficult to use and perhaps have many bugs. It appeared that UDN will handle all the problems related to Unreal engine.]

SGS: Can you give us some examples of the types of products that Virtual Heroes will look to develop using this technology?

VH: We will use UE3 for our Advanced Learning Technology (A.L.T.) platform. We are currently developing HumanSim for medical education and training. We are also developing Virtual Astronaut for STEM education and SIMWARS for Federal Systems training. We will be building applications to “open standards” established by the DoD like DIS/HLA, SCORM, OneSaf etc.

[The military is certainly driving SCORM. So any games that wish to make it into the military playground will have to be SCORM compliant, too. This has been proven in I/ITSEC.]

SGS: How with UE3 be integrated into the Advanced Learning Platform? How will this platform be bettered through this middleware?

VH: UE3 will enable us to accelerate the creation of the A.L.T. platform and focus on the mission-critical challenges for serious games related to instructor authoring, after-action-reviews, linkages to learning management systems, AI, SCORM.

[Finally, here's the meat! But somehow, I get the naggy feeling that they are trying to make ALT the name in serious games. (You know, Tylenol (instead of analgesic), BandAid (instead of plaster), and Advance Learning Technology (instead of serious games). Why? They refer to themselves as maker of serious games and/or advance learning technologies.

While they are the maker of Advanced Learning Technology (name of a software application), they are not maker of advance learning technologies. What are the advance learning technologies out there? Nothing... unless, you rename instructional technologies as learning technologies.... The "advanced" part is obviously pointing to digital games.]

30
Dec

Consortium for IDEAS in serious games

By Sebastian 0 Comments
Categories: Serious Games

Have any new idea for serious games for the coming new year? I have one… currently in the making. :-)

I have made contact with several people to form a new Consortium for IDEAS in Serious Games. Hopefully we will come to some agreement within a couple of weeks and announce the effort. I am optimistic that Debbie Reese of the Center for Educational Technologies at the Wheeling Jesuit University and Scott Warren of North Texas University will agree to come on board with the idea (pardon me for the pun).

(Scott was once a developer on the Quest Atlantis project.)

I must thank Curtis Conkey for inviting me to join the SISO, which give me the idea to start this effort. It will be a good thing, and you should see a panel presentation, if not a Presidential Session about the Consortium at the coming AECT 2008. By the way, the conference will be held at Orlando, FL, this year.

14
Dec

Training Project Office (TPO) for gaming

By Sebastian 0 Comments
Categories: News Clips and Serious Games

There is simply an incessant stream of news about the military and serious games! Wow!

Moreover, the Army are coming up with new projects to serious looking at this new training technology. Interactive Entertainment Today reported that the US Army has founded a new project office for games that focuses on training simulators.

The new project office, Training and Doctrine Command’s (TRADOC) Project Office for Gaming (TPO Gaming), is part of TRADOC’s National Simulation Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The office is headed by Col. Jack Millar as her director.

TPO Gaming’s purpose is to develop a toolkit that soldiers will be able to use themselves to create combat training scenarios. The are interested in the visualization of the technologies, rather than the entertainment part, and will focus on FPR and RTS games initially.

While there are plenty of war videogames available to everyday consumers, TPO Gaming doesn’t believe that any fill the requirements of a true simulation.

Millar said that aside from being immersive, the simulations should be “scalable, feature an intuitive interface, model behavior at the entity level, contain an after-action review capability and allow easy distribution.”

Although not all in the army agrees. Some prefers Commercial-off-the-shelf (OTS) games, and what they lack in depth or real-world applicability is made up for in convenience.

Cool! /Cool? Half empty of half full? Kupo?

14
Dec

Serious Games research lab

By Sebastian 0 Comments
Categories: News Clips and Serious Games

I believe it was September 2004 when I first approached the School of Mass Communication and Media Arts to seek possibility in working towards having a “Serious Games degree at the place where I work, but the amount of red tapes involved in the process is simply unbelievable, especially when it is bottoms-up. This kind of ideas typically fall into the “to-down initiative” category and unless you know the chief it is really an upstream struggle. I am sad to report that the “talk” remains talk, and I know that with every passing semester I am losing the battle to make our University the first to offer Serious Games as a degree. Well, it is opportunity lost, and life have many such mis-opportunity. The right thing to do is, to learn to cut loss (on the time wasted) and quickly move on in search of new opportunity.

We then tried to create a Collaboratory for Interactive Learning Research (CILR) as a space to do such research. We can’t use Serious Games in the name because it needed to be more inclusive, and that’s okay, too. I am glad for the Collaboratory because we are really beginning to see it work, we have some showcase products and we are beginning to get into competition and showcases, the latest I/ITSEC being a good case in point. Some 16000 participants from all over the world attended the conference, and we made good contacts.

So I am happy to report that New York’s Parsons design school will be starting a new research lab to look into serious games, as well. I am seeing an opportunity to collaborate, there. Yahoo! News report: NY School Opens Lab for Serious Games

A new research lab at the prestigious Parsons design school aims to develop video games with a conscience (called “serious games”) and study whether playing them can be a force for social good. The games, which aim to educate, appeal mostly to a niche market and are used to train public officials, students and professionals in various fields. The U.S. military, for example, trains with games that model terrorist attacks, school hostage crises and natural disasters. Other serious games teach nonviolent ways of fighting dictators and military occupiers.

Director Colleen Macklin hopes research at Parsons The New School of Design’s PETLab, launched Wednesday and made up of students and faculty, will make serious games more mainstream. “Our goal is really to create intersections between game design, social issues and learning,” she said.

PETLab, in the first such effort in the country, will create models of new types of games or interactive designs that address social issues and will do interactive research on whether playing the games helps effect positive social change. It is funded by a $450,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation as part of the foundation’s study of how digital technologies are changing the way people learn and socialize.

Lab researchers hope to create more games like the popular “Ayiti: The Cost of Life,” developed by the nonprofit Global Kids and tech company GameLab, in which players manage life for a virtual family of five in rural Haiti. The object of the game is to make spending decisions (saving money vs. throwing a party vs. buying food) that keep the family healthy.

PETLab has partnered with Games for Change, a nonprofit group that supports serious game designers and provides a forum for designers to show off their work. “We’re planting seeds for the next generation of game makers,” said Suzanne Seggerman, founder of Games for Change. “How amazing would it be to have ‘Fast Food Nation’ or ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ as a video game, where players can actually learn how to make their environment better through the game?”

So far, the lab is working with Microsoft Corp., studying whether the software maker’s Xbox game development tool could be modified to create socially conscious games. The lab also is working with the social arm of MTV’s Web site, think.MTV.com, which offers information on the environment, sexual health and immigration. And it is designing tutorials on creating games for young people.

Is PETLab the first such (serious games research) effort in the country? I don’t think so. But hey, they are the first with a $450,000 grant from MacArthur Foundation, and they are the first to claim they are first. :-)

May be it’s time to see if we can ramp up some support for our lab, too.

03
Dec

Neverwinter Nights for military

By Sebastian 0 Comments
Categories: Modding, Neverwinter Nights, Serious Games and Who's Who

It was at I/ITSEC 2007 that I first heard about Shawn A. Weil from the folks from Aptima, Inc. (Woburn, MA). It appeared that Aptima (or should I say Weil?) also worked on Neverwinter Nights for a little bit, and had presented their papers at past I/ITSEC (2004/2005).

It looks like they have been busy:

  • Alexander, A. L.; Brun, T.; Sidman, J.; and Weil, S. A. (2006). From Gaming to Training: A Review of Studies on Fidelity, Immersion, Presence, and Buy-in and Their Effects on Transfer in PC-Based Simulations and Games. DARWARS research paper. (PDF)
  • Freeman, J., MacMillan, J., Haimson, C., Weil, S., Stacy, W., and Diedrich, F. (2006). From
    gaming to training. Society for Advanced Learning Technology (SALT Conference). Orlando, FL. 8-10 February 2006. (PDF)
  • Weil, S. A., Hussain, T. S., Brunye, T., Sidman, J., & Spahr, L. (2005). The use of massive multi-player gaming technology for military training: A preliminary evaluation. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 49th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA: HFES. Also found here: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting Proceedings, pp. 1186-1190(5)
  • Weil, S. A., Hussain, T. S., Brunye, T. T., Diedrich, F. J., Entin, E. E., Ferguson, W., Sidman, J. G., Spahr, L. L., MacMillan, J., & Roberts, B. (2005). Assessing the potential of massive multi-player games to be tools for military training. Proceedings of the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). Abstract (PDF)
  • Freeman, J., MacMillan, J., Haimson, C., Weil, S., and Diedrich, F. (2005). Systems, studies, and
    strategies in game-based learning. Proceedings of Training & Simulation International (TESI Conference 2005). March, 22-24, 2005. Maastricht, Netherlands. (PDF)
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