Re-Inventing the Flash Card
by Eric Preisz · 01/14/2006 (9:55 pm) · 2 comments
I've been working on two things lately. 1) Serious Games Magazine and 2) A program manager trainer for NASA. The later inspired me to write this and post it here and on Serious Games Magazine.
Re-Inventing the Flash Card
Are serious games better, or just different? Many of us have passed our design plans to a meddling supervisor, who, in contrary to your 10 hour design, rips it to shreds after a 5 minute review. It's hard to tell, when attached to your concept, if your supervisor has added value, or just made it different.
Those who employ serious games are often progressive thinkers, searching for the new (virtual) silver bullet. But often, the true advantage of 3D media is often overlooked or misapplied. A flash card in 3D is still a flash card.
I have seen many serious games applications overlook some of the most useful aspects of 3D interactive media. My list includes:
Immersion
Visual Acuity
Applicability to young thinkers
Immersion
The most incorrectly applied aspect is immersion. Walking though a 3D hallway in order to view your 3D flash card is hardly immersive. There are two types of immersion. The most popular is visual immersion. Your eyes are the eyes of the surgeon as you clamp the aorta and apply a graph. But that is not the only type of immersion.
I had to repeat something to my girlfriend three times last night before I got the automatic response, "I'm sorry, I'm listening". Obviously she wasn't. Ok, so my story about my day was not as immersive as SVU, but it illustrates a point. Immersion is not a trait that is unique to 3D. Don't assume that it is.
Also, it is important to illustrate that immersion is not a trait unique to first person shooter games. There are websites dedicated to the adventures of individual's Sims experiences. Would you suggest that those gamers aren't immersed in their worlds? I'd bet a few of their sick days we spent catching up on their latest game.
One example I've seen that illustrates the usefulness of an immersive environment is foreign language trainers. I was once told that the best way to teach Spanish is to dump someone in Spain. They will learn or go hungry. It would be an anxious affair, especially since the locals can not always be helpful to outsiders. In a 3D world, you can be immersed without the fear of sleeping on a bench because you aren't sure how to ask for directions.
Visual Acuity
So now that we've determined that books, TV, or even a story can immersive, let's move to those applications that truly exploit the usefulness of 3D the things that books, TV, and stories cannot do. They cannot display dynamic interactive visuals cues. The National Fire Academy and US Forest Service understand the importance of training with visual acuity. They both have student/instructor stations that enable an instructor to change parameters such as wind direction. I've read some pretty dynamic choose your own adventure books, but you can hardly read a book fast enough to train split second decisions.
Applicability to Young Thinkers
Are serious games only for training? Not necessarily. America's Army employed the concepts of serious games for advertising. Over 3 million people, many within the Army's core demographics, completed America's Army's basic training. Food Drop, a game that creates awareness for the UN has had over 2 million downloads in over 6 months. According to GameAdvertising.com, 60% of all gamers are 25 to 44. Those are key commercial demographics. Microsoft has plans to tap into this market with the Xbox 360's ability to update game content automatically.
Conclusion
Serious Games have serious issues with misapplication. Over time we will find out what works and what doesn't. There will be those who continue to shoehorn the wrong application into the wrong media. My guess is that they will follow a similar path to those who tried to shoehorn a business plan into a web site in the late 90's.
A request: Don't choose serious games because of the "cool" factor. Adapt, adopt, and embrace the strengths that 3D interactive games provide other wise, please move on. You are making it hard for everyone to take serious games...uh...seriously.
Re-Inventing the Flash Card
Are serious games better, or just different? Many of us have passed our design plans to a meddling supervisor, who, in contrary to your 10 hour design, rips it to shreds after a 5 minute review. It's hard to tell, when attached to your concept, if your supervisor has added value, or just made it different.
Those who employ serious games are often progressive thinkers, searching for the new (virtual) silver bullet. But often, the true advantage of 3D media is often overlooked or misapplied. A flash card in 3D is still a flash card.
I have seen many serious games applications overlook some of the most useful aspects of 3D interactive media. My list includes:
Immersion
Visual Acuity
Applicability to young thinkers
Immersion
The most incorrectly applied aspect is immersion. Walking though a 3D hallway in order to view your 3D flash card is hardly immersive. There are two types of immersion. The most popular is visual immersion. Your eyes are the eyes of the surgeon as you clamp the aorta and apply a graph. But that is not the only type of immersion.
I had to repeat something to my girlfriend three times last night before I got the automatic response, "I'm sorry, I'm listening". Obviously she wasn't. Ok, so my story about my day was not as immersive as SVU, but it illustrates a point. Immersion is not a trait that is unique to 3D. Don't assume that it is.
Also, it is important to illustrate that immersion is not a trait unique to first person shooter games. There are websites dedicated to the adventures of individual's Sims experiences. Would you suggest that those gamers aren't immersed in their worlds? I'd bet a few of their sick days we spent catching up on their latest game.
One example I've seen that illustrates the usefulness of an immersive environment is foreign language trainers. I was once told that the best way to teach Spanish is to dump someone in Spain. They will learn or go hungry. It would be an anxious affair, especially since the locals can not always be helpful to outsiders. In a 3D world, you can be immersed without the fear of sleeping on a bench because you aren't sure how to ask for directions.
Visual Acuity
So now that we've determined that books, TV, or even a story can immersive, let's move to those applications that truly exploit the usefulness of 3D the things that books, TV, and stories cannot do. They cannot display dynamic interactive visuals cues. The National Fire Academy and US Forest Service understand the importance of training with visual acuity. They both have student/instructor stations that enable an instructor to change parameters such as wind direction. I've read some pretty dynamic choose your own adventure books, but you can hardly read a book fast enough to train split second decisions.
Applicability to Young Thinkers
Are serious games only for training? Not necessarily. America's Army employed the concepts of serious games for advertising. Over 3 million people, many within the Army's core demographics, completed America's Army's basic training. Food Drop, a game that creates awareness for the UN has had over 2 million downloads in over 6 months. According to GameAdvertising.com, 60% of all gamers are 25 to 44. Those are key commercial demographics. Microsoft has plans to tap into this market with the Xbox 360's ability to update game content automatically.
Conclusion
Serious Games have serious issues with misapplication. Over time we will find out what works and what doesn't. There will be those who continue to shoehorn the wrong application into the wrong media. My guess is that they will follow a similar path to those who tried to shoehorn a business plan into a web site in the late 90's.
A request: Don't choose serious games because of the "cool" factor. Adapt, adopt, and embrace the strengths that 3D interactive games provide other wise, please move on. You are making it hard for everyone to take serious games...uh...seriously.
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#2
01/16/2006 (7:11 am)
I agree Daniel. The project that we are working on now will hopefully lead to more. If it does, we plan to bring on a professional producer of some sort to work on the flow of gameplay in order to facilitate learning and imersiveness.
Torque Owner Daniel "opcode" Arnold
I tend to really appreciate games which can invoke an emotional response. A game which takes me through a series of emotions beyond the usual ones of fear and anxiety. For instance, let's say in an rpg you fight your way through some dungeon experiencing fear of your character dying and worrying about what is around the next corner. It's always nice to emerge from such a place to a nice little town where you can relax for a bit and feel the goodness of being safe for a bit while you resupply. Movie makers rely on emotional situations as well as special effects to give life to their creations, serious games should too.