Re: [huml] FW: The Serious Games Summit at GDC, Ben Sawyerinterview

[Rex Brooks <rexb@starbourne.com>]

Thanks Len,

Other than the obvious liabilities of introducing the term "Serious" 
as an indication of interest level, this is exactly what we need to 
focus on with both our now clear basis for a kinesic and emotion 
vocabularies and our soon to be enfranchised CogEnv SC. The ability 
to categorize and tokenize gestures and expressions gives us a leg up 
on this work in the RPG world. And simulations can be greatly 
improved with the application of some of Rob's work, which he can 
contribute as if from a black box if needs be. That would mean that 
we would need to run our own server, but that can be arranged if we 
can field a grant or two.

Ciao,
Rex

At 8:54 AM -0600 12/18/03, Bullard, Claude L (Len) wrote:
>Earlier this season, we had a thread on the application
>of games technology, specifically RPGs, to business
>applications and decision systems.   The following is
>relevant to that thread and indicates that this 
>indeed is a 'serious' market for our technologies.  
>FYI.
>
>len
>
>
>From: GDC Update 2004 [mailto:gdcupdate@info.gamanetwork.com]
>
>The Serious Games Summit is a two-day event covering the
>intersection of games, learning, policy, and management. Today,
>major corporations, government and military institutions,
>foundations, educators, and non-profits are turning to
>interactive technologies as an approach to problem solving.
>
>The result is a new field where computer and video games are
>applied to "serious" purposes rather than entertainment. This
>represents a growing financial outlet for game developers, where
>projects can produce a social return in addition to an economic
>one.
>
>The Serious Games Summit agenda is designed to address areas of
>concern to: professional developers who want to develop new
>business in this emerging market; educators and gaming advocates
>looking at new ways to utilize interactive game technologies;
>and representatives from corporations, the government and
>non-government organizations who are looking to fund and utilize
>game projects to advance specific needs.
>
>Attendees of the Serious Games Summit will learn how extensive
>the application of games and game technology is and can be
>outside of the traditional use of entertainment. Attendees will
>also gain considerable hands-on insight on how to successfully
>launch new serious game projects and advance things beyond the
>experiments and pioneering endeavors that have taken place so
>far. This includes developers learning how to attack new markets,
>and potential users obtaining a much deeper level of understanding
>on how to make their projects, past, present, and future much
>more successful.
>
>Ben Sawyer was the producer for The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's
>Virtual U project. He is the co-leader of the Serious Games
>Initiative, and works on a number of game-based projects via his
>Portland, ME based firm Digitalmill. His Op-Ed piece, "Gaming Our
>Way to Our Better Future," appeared in the June 2003 issue of
>Game Developer magazine. Sawyer is also the volunteer producer of
>the Serious Games Summit.
>
>Q. What kind of interactivity applications will attendees be
>seeing at the Serious Games Summit?
>
>Ben Sawyer: I think people will be very surprised at the range
>of applications that have been developed or are in the process.
>We've collected a number of products from one on building homes,
>to another that helps people overcome phobias. The range of
>budgets, production values, content, and time-to-build is amazing
>and I think when developers see the opportunities that have
>happened and will happen they'll find a lot to be excited about.
>
>Right now we're planning on showcasing five or six products
>during a show-and-tell session. More importantly, in between
>sessions there will be a lot of laptops open on tables with
>people demonstrating their products and ideas.
>
>The Summit aims to do four things. First, we're throwing down
>the gauntlet. Games are here and they're capable of making this
>non-entertainment segment a true industry. Second, we're going
>to educate developers about how they can become successful
>serious game developers. Third, we're going to educate the
>customers. We're going to show them what games can do, and do
>really well, and we're going to show them past efforts that
>successfully solved problems. Finally, we're going to use this
>opportunity to not only make the industry healthier, but to make
>a better world.
>
>Q. How do these games differ from entertainment products?
>
>BS: Serious Games have a mission entirely apart from
>entertainment. The motivating factor can be to learn something,
>to analyze and explore an idea, to improve a skill, or to get
>healthier. This can involve entertainment as well but that's not
>the mission. I was once asked, why I was working on a game
>about university management? I said that if more people played
>Virtual U they might become better more enlightened managers. If
>in some way this meant that their institutions ran just that
>tiny bit better, a child would get a better education, be it one
>that was cheaper, or better run, or more enjoyable. The game was
>a means to a more purposeful end.
>
>Serious game titles have needs for different distribution
>schemes, different business models, and different features.
>Sometimes the market also requires lower-specs because many
>potential users aren't running around with Alienware desktops.
>So there are unique needs and challenges, which is fun for
>developers who want a change of pace. We'll be covering all of
>this at the summit. Developers will get a crash course in a new
>business - the serious games business.
>
>Q. Can you describe a scenario where the US government has used
>a serious game to solve specific problem?
>
>BS: Absolutely. I'll describe one short one, and a longer one.
>The short one is America's Army. The office in charge of
>developing and promoting America's Army says the total cost is
>1/3 of 1% of their total advertising budget and it's by far
>dollar-for-dollar the BEST money they've ever spent. People
>should get a true walk through of the game because until you do
>you don't have any idea how well it tells the story of what it
>means to be an Army infrantryman. The game codifies the Army's
>practices and honor principles and, as I've seen when I sat for
>a walk through, it really does make it easier for potential
>recruits to sit down and understand what is headed their way.
>Today, almost 20% of the Cadets at West Point have played
>America's Army before they got there. That's surely going up
>and I'd suspect on the regular grunt side the story is the same.
>
>The longer story I'd tell is about a new product currently under
>development at Breakaway Games which is a well known commercial
>game house based in Hunt Valley, MD. Breakaway is doing a game
>called Incident Commander for the Justice Department, which will
>help municipalities and county governments around the country
>simulate virtual incidents like a chlorine gas spill, or a
>school shooting, and they must respond. You can block roads,
>call in EMTs, evacuate areas, call in federal agencies and more.
>Think of it as SimCity's disaster mode on steroids. Unlike basic
>training, which you can do without a computer, Incident Commander
>lets you simulate things that are hard to do in real life.
>Disaster drills are expensive to do and many localities can't
>afford them. 75% of the nations firefighters and EMTs are
>volunteer departments. For the first time, these people, people
>we count on daily to keep us safe, will be able to use a product
>from a game developer and practice their decision-making response
>skills in a game-like environment. I think we'll see an updated
>version at the Summit and Doug Whatley, CEO of Breakaway will be
>speaking on the design panel.
>
>Q. What is the most interesting/offbeat use of a serious game
>application?
>
>BS: There is a very interesting game I am sworn to secrecy on
>that I hope will be announced at or near the summit. To say a
>little more, I think it has the chance to help change the world
>as we know it.
>
>I'm excited about some ideas we recently kicked around with the
>New York Fire Department which taught me how close we are to
>being able to take commercial games like Command & Conquer and
>mod them into useful game tools for various needs, be they public
>or corporate interest projects. There is an environmental
>detectives game, which is a PDA/Wi-Fi based application being
>developed at MIT.
>
>As for offbeat, I'd say Catch-the-Sperm, which was done to promote
>AIDs awareness, was pretty offbeat when I first saw it. The VR
>Phobia center has modified Half-Life where you can go around and
>attack giant spiders and they use this to help people who have
>arachnophobia. When you hear about how phobias like this can
>truly create life problems for people, and how a game can change
>that, you realize offbeat to you and I is like a nail-on-the-head
>for someone else.
>
>Let me finish with yet another story... Barry Joseph from
>Global Kids told me when he asked a bunch of kids to think of
>some serious games, one kid wanted to do a game about racial
>profiling at airports. That isn't offbeat but it definitely made
>me realize that the ideas people have can envelop so many
>diverse perspectives. In a time when people are concerned about
>the originality in games, maybe it will be serious projects that
>will give us games that strike new chords in our minds and
>hearts.
>
>
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-- 
Rex Brooks
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