It's hard to believe that the term "serious games" was coined just a few years ago.  Now, the "Serious Games Summit" is the preferred gathering place, conference, trade show, and showcase for interactive video games that have been developed with the goal of providing simulation, training, role-playing, and problem-solving for numerous areas of study.

The Serious Games Summit 2006 will take place in October in Washington, D.C.  It is expected to be even larger than the SGS 2005, which included 77 conference papers, which are archived here: https://www.cmpevents.com/GDsg05/a.asp?option=C&V=1&SB=1&AdS=0 

While many of the serious games revolve around readiness for war, others include simulations and problem-solving for fields ranging from nursing to community development. 

A good example of a serious game in action was presented by Justin Roche, director of the U.N. World Food Programme.  Using the program, "Food Force," located at food-force.com (http://www.food-force.com) individuals are able to "save and rebuild the island of Sheylan" (http://www.food-force.com).  The game also points out the reality of getting food to victims. 

The latest example was the earthquake in Java, which Food-Force profiles in an article, "Biscuits and Noodles" detailing the approach the U.S. World Food Programme takes, which delivering 60 tons of high-energy biscuits are fortified with vitamins and minerals, which will allow the programme to feed 20,000 for 7 days (http://www.food-force.com/index.php/reality/news/java-earthquake).  The immediate benefit of using a real-life example in one's online course is instant engagement on the part of the students who immediately realize that if they have special insights or arrive at an excellent solution, they are free to communicate it to the U.N. World Food Programme, where it could potentially be implemented and save lives.

Examples of fields represented by “serious games” include:

• Health Management
• Leadership
• Humanitarian Aid
• Management
• Community Development
• Language
• Strategic Problem-Solving
• Conflict Resolution

While most of the serious games are not as specific as food-force.com, the benefits are very pronounced.  Some of the positive outcomes of role-playing simulations and eLearning include being able to work in a virtual group or with an automated interactive program to:

• develop critical thinking skills;
• develop familiarity with some of the major issues and concepts;
• help introduce people to some of the most likely challenges, problems, and issues;
• maintain positive motivation by entertaining and stimulating the senses;
• stay motivated by connecting concepts to one’s experience.

The two most common types of e-learning simulation are:

• Immersion experience (adaptive simulation experience);
• Multi-player (MMORG) – massively multi-player online role-playing game.
• Keys to successful implementation in attaining learning goals:
• How closely does it approximate one’s actual life?
• Is the game important?  Does the activity it simulates matter?
• How closely does the role approximate the player’s actual or anticipated actual life?

Many colleges and universities are already incorporating simple to complex role-playing and "serious" games in their online courses.  There will undoubtedly be more examples of this the future.

In fact, it has been anticipated that some simulations and serious games could connect with psychological assessment instruments, such as a self-esteem test.  Currently, self-esteem tests and other psychological tests are offered online at places such as queendom.com (http://www.queendom.com).  However, researchers such as Mark Baldwin, an associate professor of psychology at McGill University (Toronto) have suggested that these psychological tests could be enhanced with simulation and role-playing.

At the Serious Games Summit 2005, Baldwin suggested that:

Psychology games could be powerful tools for enhancing people's well-being. This presentation reports research evaluating a game designed to train psychologically beneficial habits of thought. The game attempts to counteract a self-defeating tendency displayed by sufferers of anxiety and low self-esteem, in which their attention is unconsciously drawn to social threats. In the game, the player repeatedly instead locates a single smiling face in a matrix of frowning faces. Results of controlled studies show that after playing the game, people with low-self-esteem no longer show biased attention - erasing the mental habit that usually leads them to perceive the world as threatening. (https://www.cmpevents.com/GDsg05/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=1036)

While there is clearly a danger of overusing serious games, particularly if they are not quite relevant to the coursework and if they distract from learning objectives, as time goes on and the games are refined, they will undoubtedly be used with increasing frequency in online courses.

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