Barcamp Derry (Side B) - Serious Games

Covering...
SIDE A:
> A Brief History of Video Games
SIDE B:
> Serious Games
> My Work at University of Ulster, Coleraine

What is a Serious Game?
A game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment.
Can be any sector: medicine, education, military, exercise, business.
May be a simulation with the look and feel of a game or using game engines or virtual reality.

What Can Game Tech Be Used For?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Video Unavailable - Difede et al. "Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for World Trade Center Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Report" Cyberpsychology & Behavior 5(6) 2002

Triage Training
Trusim (Division of Blitz Games) – “Triage Trainer” (Prototype) - http://www.trusim.com/

Re-Mission (HopeLab)
Kids can learn & fightagainst cancer.
Hopelab – “Re-mission” - http://www.hopelab.org/

Phobias
Rothbaum et al., 2001
Images courtesy of Albert ‘Skip’ Rizzo

Business Process Management
IBM – “Innov8” - http://www-01.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/innov8/index.html

Education
Sonica Spanish
Brain Training (DS)
Alphabet Circus (PS2)
Spelling Challenges (DS/PSP)

Why Use Games For Serious Purposes?
Engage
Fun means they may even forget they are learning or training!
Motivate
Maintaining motivation is important for persistent training.
Encourage
Handle failure conservatively – don’t dishearten but instead encourage with positive feedback.

Reward reached goals.
Long-term goals can encourage replayability.
Challenge the player at their level.
Too easy = boring!
Too difficult = frustrating!
Personalised & tailored experience.
Provide a player with meaningful feedback (visual, audio, haptic).

Because everyone likes to play.
“[Play is] a free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life as being ‘not serious’, but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly.”(Huizinga, J. “Homo Ludens”, 1938)
Because games are fun.
Fun is the act of mastering a problem mentally.
Our brains crave new patterns to absorb. Good games feed us those patterns and our body rewards us with the feeling of fun. If we are no longer being fed new patterns, we become bored.
“That’s what games are in the end. Teachers. Fun is just another word for learning.”(RaphKoster, “Theory of Fun”, 2004)

What Technology Can Be Used?
Virtual Reality
e.g. Electromagnetic sensors, data-gloves & head mounted displays.
Expensive, cumbersome, specialist, require expertise.
Webcams / Imaging
Visual tracking of a player’s movements.
Controllers
Haptic devices, e.g. Falcon.
Joysticks.
Custom-built controllers.

What Technology Can Be Used?
Metaplace
Custom-built (D.I.Y.)
Open Worlds
Second Life, Metaplace, etc.
Game Engines
E.g. Unreal engine, Source, Quest3D, Unity3D.
Unity3D

My Work at University of Ulster, Coleraine
Games for Stroke Rehabilitation
The Problem: Stroke therapy is typically intensive, repetitive and boring, and thus difficult to maintain patient motivation.
Proposed Solution: Games may be effective in motivating a patient by optimising engagement.
Low-cost equipment gives opportunity for home rehabilitation.
Following on from previous group work with Virtual Reality 3D games.

Previous Work at University of Ulster, Coleraine
Virtual Reality 3D Games

My Work at University of Ulster, Coleraine
Webcam Games for Stroke Rehabilitation
Simple 2D games which use a webcam image as input.
Game library where all games share patient profile.
Games adapt to player ability dynamically.
Played with coloured gloves or any single coloured object.
No attaching of wires required – untethered movement.
Games can be played standing up or seated.
Potential for home rehabilitation.
No expertise required.

Video of UUC Stroke Rehabilitation Games:
http://www.vimeo.com/4279126

Thank You for Listening!
James Burke
PhD Candidate
University of Ulster, Coleraine
@Burkazoid
james@burkazoid.com
www.burkazoid.com