1. The Future of Serious Games and
their Impact on Corporate Learning
and Development
2. Today's Key Message
Immersive Technologies, Serious Games and
"Gamification" are likely to play a vital role in
addressing some of the most important
challenges in business and society.
5. The Way we Were
Teachers transferred knowledge
We knew all our neighbours
We rarely travelled outside our community
Banks were banks, Grocers were grocers
We built a career in the same company
We dated and married within our community
Individual Choice and Power was limited
13. The Way we Are
Teachers are coaches and mentors
We know none of our neighbours
We travel and live outside our community
Record companies become airlines, Grocers become
banks
We change jobs and companies often
We date via the Internet and don't marry
Individual Choice and Power is unlimited
19. The Networked Society
The unprecedented levels of choice and power
delivered to every citizen by technology makes
us the most connected society in history yet
there is a disconnect between choice and
consequence, power and accountability and
rights and responsibilities.
It is this disconnect which creates many of the
challenges we face
43. Visualisation of sensor data tracking our
lives linked to games and simulations will
provide the feedback and control
mechanisms that will reconnect our society
48. The tools are maturing - we need
Gamification strategies to build winwin relationships
49. The Corporate Challenge
Technology is making learning and development
increasingly engaging and accessible but staff
recruitment, development and retention requires
sustainable relationships where gamification
strategies will play a key role
50. The Future of Serious Games and
their Impact on Corporate Learning
and development
Hinweis der Redaktion
Earth is traditional the playground of the Gods
My message for today is that developments in emerging, converging and maturing technologies make serious games, immersive technologies and gamification very relevant to addresssing some of the mos important challenges we face in business, the environment, health and society generally.
The changes during my lifetime have been dramatic. It is only 60 years since most citizens had no access to any kind of communications technology.
In those days, society and daily life was very different
Many of the influences in our lives were shaped by games
Society was very structured and hierarchical and those who had acquired knowledge tended to have most power
It took years of training to become a knowledge professional and these people were the sole providers of our key services
Digital technologies changed everything – the image is of a IBM 5120, forerunner of the IBM PC circa 1980
Early computers used digital storage and applications to mimic books and simple quizzes and computer based training was born
As technology matured, the games industry pushed bac the boundaries of technology to produce more ad more realistic simulations that could be used to train people – the example is a simulation called “Dying Dave”, developed by UK company Trusim
Today’s Digital Natives only know a world where information and knowledge is accessible 24/7 and as a consequence the nature of education has been totally transformed.
Today our world is more like this !!
These changes mean that knowledge is no longer power and individual citizens have a disproportionate influence on the world.
We have personal agents on mobile phones and iPads that greatly empower us and give us more control over our daily lives
New interfaces create opportunities for innovative applications where we can control technology with our minds and our gestures.
What was science fiction soon becomes science fact.
Serious games like Triage Trainer have been researched to demonstrate that well designed games can be more effective that traditional methods
The networked society creates a paradoxical situation where there is a disconnect between action and consequences. It is a very unstable and unsustainable situation, creating many of today’s problems
The whole of life and almost every human activity can be regarded as a game or can be turned into a game.
Every parent has used gamification to achieve an outcome e.g. Pretending that the mouth is a tunnel and the food on a spoon is a train.
Emerging immersive technologies, especially interfaces and sensors provide the means to transform spectators into players by making the game more accessible to everyone.
Floodsim was developed by Playgen and funded by UK Govt and Aviva – it was played by over 100k people and Climate Change is a BBC game developed by Red Redemption
When it comes to Digital Earth ad the Environment, the main challenge is to engage citizens in positive actions.
Here are a couple of examples. In the developed world we expect to receive healthcare as a right without any responsibility for self-inflicetd problems like obesity that arise often from our lifestyles.
If we are to tackle these problems, we need to train, orientate and assess staff in a fats moving environment.
Some games for entertainment can also provide serious benefits.
Many games also encourage behavioural change
Cities like Stockholm encouraged physical exercise by gamifying the stairs to make them an attractive option to the escalator
Games based learning projects are becoming more sophisticated and personalised.
Interface devices like Microsoft Kinect and applications developed for entertainment are proving very effective for serious adaptation in both diagnosis and treatment.
To illustrate how this is possible, I use an example from another domain where Society faces a growing problem – how to engage citizen in positive action to change behaviour. This is a picture of the presenter at the end of May 2013, weighing 106.7 kg – within the obese range
A chance look at a BBC website introduced me to the Jawbone UP bracelet with the technology to measure my physical activity and sleep patterns and track and measure many factors that influence my health and weight. It provided me with the tools and controls I needed to gamify my weight.
I used the device and its iPad applications to explore how I could lose weight and the result was a reduction of 15Kg in 10 weeks
It is devices like the Jawbone UP and similar technologies that have the potential to reconnect society.
I was able to do this through the tools now accessible to me that helped me to understand and manage the factors responsible for my weight and health.
If I am any example, the results can be very impressive
Sensors and visualisation technologies have matured a long way since the barometer which used to hang in the hallway at home.
Through the “Internet of Things” we now have the tools to visualise real world data at a granular level relevant to citizens
What is needed now is the vision and will to adopt gamification strategies that use these technologies to engage citizens and multi-sector partners in win-win relationships that sustain our future
My message for today is that developments in emerging, converging and maturing technologies make serious games, immersive technologies and gamification very relevant to addresssing some of the mos important challenges we face in business, the environment, health and society generally.