Serious Games for Teaching

There are several strategies that can be employed to educate users or clients. In some settings, traditional methods might not work. This is often the case when teaching unwilling participants. Ideally, a training medium should be:

• engaging in itself, regardless of the material or “lessons” being taught, and
• non-intrusive – the material or “lessons” should not try to guilt users into better behaviour; users should not even realise that they are learning!

A game, as a training medium, satisfies these requirements very well. Games are very engaging, and indeed appeal to a children and adults alike. With careful design, the learning material can be made part of the game in such a way that the users internalises knowledge without realising it. By focusing on a younger audience, the game can also educate parents indirectly through their children.

Games have been used successfully to educate children and adults in various fields:

• Games such as Monopoly and the Tycoon series (includes Zoo Tycoon, Lemonade Tycoon, and Transport Tycoon) have been used to teach kids about business and its principles. (See http://www.sparkplugging.com/sparkplug-ceo/14-educational-games-to-teach-your-kids-about-business/).
• The American military developed America’s Army specifically to aid in training soldiers. The game was very successful outside the military as well – some 3.4 million players registered to play it. Since then the Pentagon has opened its own game development studio, where new games are designed and built. (See http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2004/06/63911).
• The Entertainment Technology Center worked with the Fire Department of New York City to develop Hazmat: Hotzone, a game used in training firemen. The game is especially helpful in training situations that are hard to emulate in real-life, and is aimed at their younger firemen. (See http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0606/p11s01-legn.html)

Currently we are engaged in the development of computer games to assist users and decision makers to provide energy efficient solutions at home and in communities. Here, choices are made about energy efficient end-user equipment and generation technologies, and the benefits of changing human behaviour regarding energy usage are highlighted in a fun way through gaming.