Putting Games to Wo rk

1. Putting Games to Work Diane Pozefsky 15 November 2012

2. The Questions • What do we learn from games? • What are serious games? • Why are they important? • Why do they work?

3. Games have ALWAYS been used to teach • What kinds of games do young children play? • Role modeling! • How do young animals learn skills? • Playing! • What do you learn from Hide and Seek? • Hunting, tracking, hiding, observation

4. What can we learn from video games? • Visual selective attention: focus on what’s important • Situational awareness: absorb what’s happening around you • Are those contradictary? • Mental mapping: create a mental picture of what you have learned • Inductive discovery: learn by trial and error • Multitasking • Collaborating Marc Prensky

5. Driving: Visual Alertness • Improve visual attention • Over space (useful field of view) • Over time • Number of objects • University of Rochester study of action games • Unreal Tournament • Medal of Honor • Call of Duty

6. Gamification • What is it? • What could it be? “What we're currently terming gamification is in fact the process of taking the thing that is least essential to gamesand representing it as the core of the experience.” Margaret Robertson

7. Serious Games

8. They are • games with a serious purpose beyond entertainment • built for serious purpose • used for serious purpose

9. What is a serious purpose? • Education • Training • Social change • Health education • Pain control • Rehabilitation • Science and Knowledge (GWAP) • Business • Art Learning!

10. Educational Games

11. Evolution • Games to teach individual concepts • Multiplayer classrooms • Schools structured as games • Quest to Learn(NPR story)

12. Dimenxian • First person shooter teaches algebra • Average pre-test/post-test increase one grade level (75 students) • Underachieving students up to 3 grade levels.

13. River City • Middle school students • Scientific inquiry • 19th century illness detectives • Improved success of lower achievers

14. What’s the idea? • Games engage people • Engaged people work longer, learn better • Along with a learning curve, there is a forgetting curve • People forget slower with games • … because they learned it better? But is there science behind this?

15. Learning Theory Support Experiential learning Inquiry-based learning Authenticity Self-efficacy Goal-setting Continual feedback Cooperation

16. Biology Support • Brain retains only the important • Important = emotionally significant • Releases dopamine in amygdala • Game playing increases dopamine But what about studies?

17. University of Virginia Studies Business Economics Means of Test Scores Management

18. Virtual Cell Games or Multimedia? North Dakota State University Geology Explorer Lecture baseline Web-based presentation No significant increase Virtual world game 15-40% increase • Lecture baseline • Web-based presentation • 13-30% increase • Virtual world game • 30-63% increase New generation, New paradigms …

19. Digital Natives (vs Digital Immigrants) • Receive information rapidly • Parallel process • Multi-task • Prefer graphics first • Prefer random access • Thrive on instant gratification and frequent rewards • Fundamentally think and process information differently

20. Training

21. Military: Tactical Iraqi • Military • Teach language and culture • In use for several years • Expanded to additional languages

22. Skills: Jet Simulators • Training done on simulators • First time a pilot flies a Boeing 777 is WITH PASSENGERS • Microsoft Flight Simulator effective

23. Businesses • Cold Stone Creamery • Hilton Gardens • IBM

24. Population Changes Lancaster & Stillman

25. Health

26. Asthma Bronkie the Bronchosaurus 45% reduction in crises Diabetes Packy and Marlon 70% reduction in crises Managing Illness

27. Pain Management Free Dive SnowWorld

28. Rehabilitation: PTSD • Tailor environments to traumatic experience • Relive as much as can tolerate • Significant results Full Spectrum Warrior

29. Physical Therapy • Injury • Surgery • Stroke • Alzheimer • Parkinson’s • Burns More fun = more time

30. New Healthier Behaviors • Treatment for obesity • West Virginia • Workout mode • Track calories burned • Phys Ed classes • Universities (Brandeis, Mt Holyoke, Caltech) • High School in New York • Growing…

31. Exergaming • One of the hottest areas • Driven by Wii • Wii Fit • EA Active • Better than videos? • Are these games? • Does it matter?

32. Games With A Purpose

33. Jane McGonigal Gaming can make a better world TED talk

34. The Big Idea • There are things that people can do better than machines • There are lots of people with a bit of time • The more people, the more diversity, the more different approaches • Crowdsourcing!

35. Two Examples FoldIt GWAP • Folding Proteins • Goal: to fold a protein according to constraints at the lowest energy level • Recent: Misfolding and Alzheimer’s • Knowledge Gathering • Various Games • Human association • Image tagging

36. Social Impact Games

37. Letters to the editor Articles Books Television shows Documentaries Movies Web Sites Blogs Radio shows Music Paintings Sculptures Photographs Signs Social Change: Opinions

38. Social Change Transform Awareness Commentary • PeaceMaker • Garbage Glut • 3rd World Farmer • Darfur is Dying • Waco Resurrection

39. Art Games

40. Art Games • Artists, sculptors, writers, musicians, photographers • … and game developers • What if the purpose of the game is to • delight? • make you think? • Example: Winterbells

41. Business

42. Advergames • Casual games • Viral advertising • Draw to • get people to web sites • Increase brand recognition

43. Facebook Games • Why? • Earn money • Market research • Promote other games • EA significant presence • Madden • Spore Island • Pet Society (acquired Playfish in November)

44. Resources

45. Web Sites • http://www.seriousgamessource.com • http://www.socialimpactgames.com/ • http://www.marcprensky.com/writing • Look at “The Classics”