Serious Games: Engineering Education
By Spencer Gold
Phone Number: (201) 446-5845
E-mail: sgold@usc.edu
Bio: I am a junior majoring in Computer Science (Games). I am originally from New Jersey and
came all the way to USC for its comprehensive game development programs and classes.
Tag/Keyword Suggestions: serious games; academics; simulation; training; virtual reality
Multimedia Suggestions: A video of gameplay from America’s Army, Language Trap, or any of
the games mentioned in the source articles.
Abstract: Over the years, gaming has become an industry that holds a lot of weight. It has taken
its place right alongside music, movies, and literature as a media giant. But gaming has evolved
past pure entertainment. Many games are inherently educational, but serious games (created with
the primary goal of educating) are proving extremely valuable to academics and professionals in
many fields [1]. These games have shown that they can be more than “just a new round of K-12
‘eduware’” [2]. They are important tools that can be used to train and educate new employees or
graduate level students. Their advanced application of scientific methods in an entertaining
package gives serious games the potential to be more effective and efficient than traditional
learning, even when covering highly advanced subject matters [3].
Spencer Gold
11/30/11
Serious Games: Engineering Education
Introduction
Beauty can be found throughout the natural world: sunsets, the night sky lit with stars,
forests filled with towering green trees. But, from an engineering perspective, the universe has
beauty beyond its aesthetics. Everything works. The universe is filled with galaxies which are
made up of many solar systems, each with its own star. In our solar system, our earth rotates
around the sun at a distance perfect for supporting life. The gravitational force between these
giant masses keeps them in place. Physics, chemistry, and all scientific properties of the universe
just work.
By creating a game one creates a new universe with a new set of rules and boundaries.
Game design is considered by many to be a form of art. However, when we go beyond
storytelling and aesthetics, and really think about what it takes to create a new universe, we
realize there are many design choices that need to be made to create balanced, interesting
gameplay. These choices, when approached with a scientific mindset, allow game designers to
more effectively interact with players, thus making it possible to teach the player. So, one could
argue that creating fun and interesting games requires not only artistic creativity, but scientific
creativity as well.
Fun and Learning are Inherently Connected
In order to create engaging serious games that are actually effective, one must first
understand how the brain works. In Raph Koster’s “A Theory of Fun for Game Design,” Koster
explains and examines how our brains process information [4]. By learning about how we learn it
becomes easier to create tools for teaching. Luckily for serious game developers and engineers,
Koster found that learning is inherently fun.
According to Koster, the brain loves patterns. The brain interprets most information
through pattern recognition (the same way computer algorithms are designed to follow the same
patterns every time they are fed the same data). For example, if one were to write a sentence and
rearrange the letters in the middle of each word without moving the first and last letter of each
word, the sentence would still remain mostly readable. “The qicuk borwn fox jpmued oevr the
lzay dog.” Or, with correct spelling, “the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.” Your
brain, having seen these general patterns of letters before, is able to piece together the intended
meaning of each word despite all of the misspellings.
Not only does the human mind operate and learn through pattern recognition, but such
activity can create a response in the brain that allows people to experience a sensation of fun [4].
When we consider the theory of evolution, this makes a lot of sense. Human beings can only
serve to benefit from recognizing patterns, solving problems, and learning new things. It helps
keep us alive. Surely our species would be extinct by now had we not learned how to discern
poisonous berries from non-poisonous berries. Pattern recognition is vital for intelligent beings.
With all of this in mind it is important to understand that all games (not just serious
games) are composed of patterns waiting to be recognized. Although the exact wording for the
definition of a game is debatable, in general a game is typically some sort of challenge (solo or
competitive) with a set of rules and a goal [4]. The player is tasked with overcoming the
challenge and reaching the goal while abiding by the rules. These rules restrict the player from
doing just anything. For example, in golf the goal is to get the ball in the hole at the end of the
course. Logically speaking, the simplest solution would be to pick up the golf ball and place it in
the hole. But the rules of golf require the player to think and act in a more focused manner by
only allowing the player to hit the ball with a club. As a result a player must identify their
objective and restrictions. Then the player must create and execute a plan that conforms to the
presented restrictions and allows him or her to complete the objective. Games are essentially an
exercise in problem solving [5].
Although games all have the inherent ability to train your brain to some degree, this does
not mean all games are academically valuable. For example, Tetris can do a lot to help improve
spatial reasoning, but it certainly won’t teach the player everything they need to know to become
an architect [3]. Considering that most mainstream games (Tetris included) are made solely for
their ability to entertain, this makes a lot of sense. However, if one were to create a game such
that the rules and objective directed the player to think in a very focused and specific manner
about an academic subject, one could theoretically create a game that is both fun and
academically useful. This is the concept behind serious games.
Applications of Serious Games
Serious games can, theoretically, be created to teach anyone about anything. Although
the serious games industry is already worth an estimated $1.5 billion, those involved in the
serious games initiative have only just begun to fully explore and understand the potential that
such games hold [6]. Even with many more developments to be made, serious games have
already proven to be extremely useful for a multitude of disciplines.
Given the popularity of war games, the most immediately obvious use for serious games
is military training. For example, USC’s own Michael Zyda created an online game called
America’s Army that serves to both recruit and train players for the U.S. army [7]. By creating a
realistic, tactical shooter Zyda was able to teach the common gamer what being in the U.S. army
is really like, and, as result, give people experience and preparation for real combat.
Serious games are also popularly used to teach second languages. Language Trap (see
fig. 1) is an online game that uses role-playing and interactive dialogue systems to create fun and
interesting scenarios for the player to expand upon their knowledge of another language [8]. One
of the things that makes Language Trap such an effective teaching tool is its adaptive nature.
Difficulty, feedback, and motivation systems all constantly adapt with the players abilities. This
type of automatically personalized learning experience is one of the many advantages of serious
games.
Figure 1. The adaptive difficulty in Language Trap presents players with phrases of varying
complexity depending on their progress.
But serious games can have uses beyond that of education and training. They can also
serve to treat patients. Although they can do so indirectly by training medical professionals, they
also have more direct medical uses. A group called the Virtual Reality Medical Center has
implemented both virtual reality simulations and off-the-shelf, mainstream games to treat people
with phobias such as fear of spiders, fear of driving, fear of the dark, and much more (see fig. 2)
[9]. The games allow patients to work their way towards facing their fears without any risks that
might normally be associated with such fears.
Figure 2. A patient in the Virtual Reality Medical Center playing a game to treat a fear of
driving. She’s using a steering wheel and petals for more realism [9].
America’s Army, Language Trap, and the Virtual Reality Medical Center’s
implementations of serious games are just a few examples of what is currently possible with
serious games. Despite their effectiveness, serious games have only just begun to show their true
capabilities. There is still plenty of room to create better games that are more fun, more realistic,
and more adaptive. As we get better at engineering serious games the learning experience will
become more powerful, streamlined, and fun.
Building Serious Games
The designing and programming of serious games requires serious engineering chops.
Serious game creators have a lot to consider. Optimally, they need to design systems with
varying levels of difficulty that adapt to the user. The technology behind the game has to be
sophisticated enough to facilitate such systems [10]. Additionally, the game needs to guide and
focus a player to learn about a particular subject or skill. Finally, the most important task for
serious game creators is to make sure the game is fun. The main reason serious games are so
effective is because of the connection between fun and learning. If a serious game isn’t fun,
players are probably better off sticking to traditional methods of education.
From a technology standpoint, implementing comprehensive algorithms and
sophisticated artificial intelligence is crucial. Creators of serious games don’t need to be able to
teach the player directly. They need to give games the artificial intelligence to teach [11]. Put
more simply, serious game creators need to teach their games to teach the players.
As with most design and engineering tasks, the creation of serious games should be a
collaborative effort. Although games require engineers to create the technology, and engineering
principals to design the logical systems behind the game, the creation of games is inherently
interdisciplinary [12]. Engineers need to work with artists, writers, gameplay designers, and
more to create works that excel in all categories. Through serious games, engineers have a
chance to make major contributions to the academic sector. Serious games are the future of
learning.
Annotated Bibliography
[1]
K. Corti. (2006, February). Game-based Learning; a serious business application [Online].
Available: http://www.pixelearning.com/docs/seriousgamesbusinessapplications.pdf
In his article, Corti provides an introduction to serious games and why they’re
beneficial. However, he also goes on to discuss some of the problems that exist with
implementation. This source is particularly valuable because although Corti recognizes
the good in serious games as most sources do, he acknowledges the hurdles and
problems created by turning to serious games. This view is fairly well-rounded. Corti is
the founder of PIXELearning, a company of “games-based business & management
skills development.”
[2]
B. Sawyer, “Emergent Use of Interactive Games for Solving Problems is Serious Effort,”
presented at the Game Developers Conference, San Jose, California, 2004.
In his presentation, Sawyer largely examines how serious games are expanding. There
are misconceptions that educational games are primitive and only useful for the K-12
crowd, but serious games are continuing to prove otherwise, providing useful education
and training to grad students, professionals, and more. Sawyer also discusses what can
be done to get the concept of serious games accepted by all. This is very relevant and
useful since my article is intended to educate people about serious games and the
engineering required to make such games.
[3]
C. Heeter, “Serious games – Video can do more than entertain,” The Philadelphia Inquirer,
ed. CITY-D, sec. CURRENTS, p. E01, Mar. 2007.
In her article, Heeter provides a fairly basic, surface-level summary of serious games.
Heeter, as a professor at MSU (a school with a graduate program for designing serious
games), has a deeper knowledge of the subject than the article might initially imply. For
the most part this article is not a useful source, but there is one particular paragraph that
discusses the interdisciplinary nature of making serious games that proves to be useful
for use in my article.
[4]
R. Koster, A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Paraglyph Press, 2004.
In his book, Koster explains what makes something (specifically, games) fun. He goes
on to explain how fun and learning are inherently interconnected. This holds true even
when a game isn’t overtly designed to be educational. He delves deeper into the subject
by describing what elements keep players engaged. Raph Koster’s views and theories
expressed in the book are certainly valuable. Koster has worked in the gaming industry
for years and has impressive credentials.
[5]
J. Schell. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann
Publishers, 2008, ch. 30-32.
In the chapters I chose to examine, Schell explains the effects games can have on their
players and how the people who make games can control those effects by their design
and implementation decisions. Schell is a respected professor at CMU and has a lot of
experience in the gaming industry and the source provides useful insight into what
developers can do to create games (and, indirectly, serious games).
[6]
A. Derryberry. (2009, June 17). Serious games: online games for learning [Online].
Available: http://www.adobe.com/resources/elearning/pdfs/serious_games_wp.pdf
In her article, Derryberry hits all of the main points about serious games. She discusses
their value (as tools for industry, military, education, health, etc), their current uses,
their potential future uses, and even the size of their market. She cites specific examples
of online games throughout. This source can provide useful insight since it is great
examples and it is written by someone who works almost exclusively on serious games.
[7]
S. Grimes. “Serious Games, Serious Computing,” Intelligent Enterprise, vol. 8, no.11,
p.10, Nov. 2005.
Grimes describes the connection between high-performance computing and the
“modeling, simulation, instruction, and optimization” that are integral to serious games.
From a computing standpoint, Grimes is a reliable source given his background in
computing. Although he doesn’t have much experience with games, this provides a nice
‘outsider’ perspective. He’s not completely in the dark about serious games though. He
incorporates a lot of information that he got from interviewing Michael Zyda, a
professor who founded the Gamepipe at USC and created one of the most successful
and widely played serious game of all time.
[8]
N. Peirce and V. Wade, “Personalised Learning for Casual Games : The ' Language Trap '
Online Language Learning Game,” presented at the European Conference on Game
Based Learning, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2010.
As their presentations’s title implies, Peirce and Wade discuss games as a tool for
personalized learning while examining the specific example of language teaching
games. While the examination of serious games meant to teach language skills isn’t a
particularly extraordinary concept, their study is very detailed and provides a lot of
good statistics.
[9]
A.J. Stapleton, “Serious Games: Serious Opportunities,” presented at the Australian Game
Developers’ Conference, Melbourne, VIC, 2004.
Stapleton describes serious games, examines their different target audiences, and
provides a few case studies. He gives a more varied analysis of serious games (learning
outcomes, implementation, budget, collaboration, and technology). This wide view of
serious games provides useful insight into the benefits and problems associated with the
subject.
[10] J. Bohannon, “Smarts for Serious Games,” in IEEE International Conference On
Computational Intelligence And Games, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2010, p. 31.
In his article, Bohanon discusses one man’s suggestion for solving the problems that
arise due to simple programming in games meant to educate. Essentially, the suggestion
is that improving artificial intelligence is the best way to improve serious games. This is
an extremely useful article because it focuses in on one of the problems of serious
games, provides a potential solution, and discusses it all from an
engineering/computing standpoint.
[11] R. Lopes, “Scenario Adaptivity in Serious Games,” in International Conference On The
Foundations of Digital Games, Monterey, CA, 2010, pp. 268-270.
Lopes examines the problem that currently exists with serious games: they’re
inflexible. He suggests that serious games should be designed such that they are
adaptive. He then provides a plan for researching this adaptivity. This goes well with
(but is not quite exactly the same as) the idea of personalized learning that some other
sources discuss.
[12] S. Rilling and U. Wechelsberger. (2011, February 11). A framework to meet didactical
requirements for serious game design [Online]. Available: http://www.springerlink.com.li
bproxy.usc.edu/content/762167868nn2q4l8/fulltext.pdf
In their article, Rilling and Wechelsberger examine what needs to be done in order to
create serious games that serve their instructive purposes. It does not just examine
design considerations, but technical and engineering considerations as well. It does this
largely by examining a simulation of an automation plant as an example. This is useful
because it really focuses in on the things engineers would be responsible for when
creating serious games. Riling and Wechelsberger work in computer science and
education science respectively, providing a combined expertise.