CSI

February 2011
Region-VII Student Convention
Date : 17 February, 2011
Organized by : CSI Coimbatore Chapter and CSI Amrita Student Branch
For details contact : Amirta Vidya Peetam, Coimbatore
CONSEG-2011 : International Conference on Software Engineering
Date : 17-19 February, 2011
Organized by: CSI Div. II (Software) and Bangalore Chapter
For details contact: Dr. Anirban Basu, anirbanbasu@qualityplusindia.com
EAIT 2011: The 2nd International Conference on Emerging Applications of
Information Technology
Organized by: CSI Kolkata Chapter
For details contact: Mr. D P Sinha, csieait2011@gmail.com
National Conference on Emerging Trends in Information Technology
Organized by : CSI Indore Chapter
Host by : IPS Academy, Indore
For details contact :
Anita Mahajan, omuma18@gmail.com; Dr. Durgesh Kumar Mishra
mishra_research@rediffmail.com
Region-II Student Convention
Date : 25 February, 2011
Host by : Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
For details contact : Dipti Prasad Mukherjee, dipti@isical.ac.in;
Dr. Sib Daspal sibdaspal@gmail.com, Dr. Phalguni Mukherjee
CSI Kolkata, csical@gmail.com
Two day workshop on “Data Mining with Case study”
Host by : Mumbai Chapter, CSI
For details contact : csimumbai@vsnl.com
The 1st CSI Madhya Pradesh State IT Convention
Date : 26-27, February 2011
Organized by : CSI Bhopal Chapter
Host by : MANIT Bhopal
For details contact : Dr. R P Singh, info@csibhopal.org, Website: http://
csibhopal.org/
March 2011
The 1st CSI National Science and ICT Quiz (Finals)
Theme: Discover Thinking
Date : 4th
March 2011
Organized by: CSI Coimbatore Chapter and other Host Chapters
For details contact: Mr. Ranga Rajagopal (E-mail: ranga_gopal1@
rediffmail.com). www.csidiscoverthinking.com
The 1st CSI Pondichery Student Convention
Date : 5th March 2011
Organized by: CSI Coimbatore Chapter and other Host Chapters
Hosted by: Rajiv Gandhi College of Engineering & Technology
For details contact: Mr. S Ramasamy E-mail: srsamy@hotmail.com
27th CSI National Student Convention
Date : 9-12, March 2011
Hosted by: ITM Gwalior
Organized by: CSI ITM Universe Student Branch and CSI Gwalior Chapter
For details contact: pallavikhatri.csit@itmuniverse.in
Region-V Student Convention
Date : 17-19, March 2011
Hosted by: Guru Nanak Engineering College, Ibrahimpatnam, Hyderabad
Organized by: CSI Hyderabad Chapter and CSI Guru Nanak Engg. College
Student Branch
For details contact: Prof. D D Sarma, E-mail: csignis@gmail.com,
Prof. K Rajasekhara Rao, krr_it@yahoo.co.in
The 2nd CSI National Student Symposium
Date : 18-19, March 2011
Hosted by: KLEF University,Vaddeswaram
Organized by: CSI Koneru Chapter and CSI KLEF Univeristy Student Branch
For details contact: Prof. Praveen Krishna, praveenkrishnacsi@gmail.com,
Prof. K Rajasekhara Rao, krr_it@yahoo.co.in
Region-III Student Convention
Date : 26-27 March 2011
Hosted by: Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur
Organized by: CSI Jaipur and Udaipur Chapters
For details contact: Naveen Hemrajani (naven_h@yahoo.com),
Dr. Dharm Singh, dharm@mpuat.ac.in, Dr. M Chandwani, rsc3@csi-india.org
April 2011
NCVESCOM - 11 : 4th
National Conference on VLSI, Embedded Systems,
Signal Processing and Communication Technologies
Date : 8-9, Apr 2011 at Chennai
Organized by : Department of Electronics & Comunications Engg., Aarupadai
Veedu Institute of Technology, Vinayaka Missions University and supported
by CSI Div. IV (Communication), IEEE madras Section, IEEE COMSOC, IEEE
CS, IETE, BES(I).
For details contact: D Vijendra Babu, Conference Co-Chair, NCVESCOM-11,
HOD & Associate Professor/ECE, Aarupadai Veedu Institute of Technology,
Paiyanoor-603104. Email: ncvescom2011@gmail.com
Tel. : +91 9443538245 or Mr. H R Mohan, Chair, Div II at hrmohan@gmail.
com Website: www.avit.ac.in
International Conference on Emerging Trends in Networks and Computer
Communications
Date : 22-24, April 2011
Organized by : CSI Udaipur Chapter and IE-I Computer Engg Division and
Udaipur Local Centre
For details contact: Dr. Dharm Singh, dharm@mpuat.ac.in
May 2011
Seminar on Advances in Information Systems
Date : 17th May 2011
Organized by : CSI Vellore Chapter
Hosted by: Academic Staff College, VIT University
For details contact : pkalyanaraman@vit.ac.in; gjagadeesh@vit.ac.in;
mrajasekharababu@vit.ac.in
June 2011
Research Symposium on Information and Communications Technologies
Date : 3-4 June 2011
Organized by : CSI Vellore Chapter
Hosted by: School of Information Technology & Engineering
For details contact: : pkalyanaraman@vit.ac.in; gjagadeesh@vit.ac.in;
mrajasekharababu@vit.ac.in
July 2011
ACC-2011: International Conference on
Advances in Computing and Communications
Date : 22-24, Jul 2011 at Kochi, India
Organized by: Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology (RSET)
in association with Computer Society of India (CSI), Div. IV & Cochin
Chapter, The Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers
(IETE),The Institution of Engineers (India) and Project Management Institute
(PMI),Trivandrum, Kerala Chapter.
For details contact: Dr. Sabu M Thampi, Conference Chair - ACC2011,
Professor, Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, Rajagiri School of
Engineering and Technology, Rajagiri Valley, Kakkanad, Kochi 682 039,
Kerala, INDIA. Email: acc2011.rset@gmail.com
Website: http://www.acc-rajagiri.org
M D Agrawal
Vice President & Chair, Conference Committee, CSI
February 2011.indd 51February 2011.indd 51 2/7/2011 4:30:24 PM2/7/2011 4:30:24 PM

CSI COMMUNICATIONS | FEBRUARY 2011 1
Volume No. 34 Issue No. 11 February 2011
President
Prof. P Thrimurthy
president@csi-india.org
Vice-President
Mr. M D Agrawal
vp@csi-india.org
Hon. Secretary
Prof. H R Vishwakarma
secretary@csi-india.org
Hon. Treasurer
Mr. Saurabh H Sonawala
treasurer@csi-india.org
Immd. Past President
Mr. S Mahalingam
s.maha@tcs.com
Regional Vice-Presidents
Mr. M P Goel (Region I)
rvp1@csi-india.org
Dr. D P Mukherjee (Region II)
rvp2@csi-india.org
Prof. S G Shah (Region III)
rvp3@csi-india.org
Mr. Sanjay Mohapatra (Region IV)
rvp4@csi-india.org
Dr. D B V Sarma (Region V)
rvp5@csi-india.org
Mr. C G Sahasrabuddhe (Region VI)
rvp6@csi-india.org
Mr. S Ramanathan (Region VII)
rvp7@csi-india.org
Mr. Jayant Krishna (Region VIII)
rvp8@csi-india.org
Division Chairpersons
Dr. Deepak Shikarpur Division-I
div1@csi-india.org (Hardware)
Dr. T V Gopal Division-II
div2@csi-india.org (Software)
Dr. S Subramanian Division-III
div3@csi-india.org (Applications)
Mr. H R Mohan Division-IV
div4@csi-india.org (Communications)
Prof. Swarnalatha Rao Division-V
div5@csi-india.org (Edu. & Research)
Nominations Committee
Dr. Shyam Sunder Agrawal
Prof. (Dr.) U K Singh
Dr. Suresh Chandra Bhatia
Publications Committee
Chairman
Prof. S V Raghavan
svr@cs.iitm.ernet.in
Chief Editor
Dr. T V Gopal
gopal@annauniv.edu
Director (Education)
Wg. Cdr. M Murugesan (Retd.)
director.edu@csi-india.org
Resident Editor
Mrs. Jayshree Dhere
jayshree.dhere@gmail.com
Executive Secretary
Mr. Suchit Gogwekar
hq@csi-india.org
Published by
Mr. Suchit Gogwekar
For Computer Society of India
Executive Committee
2010-11/12
CONTENTS
Theme Section : Computer Games
04 Brands and the Blindfolds they wear
Alok Kejriwal
09 Games-based Learning – a serious business proposition
Helen Routledge & Helen Axe
1 6 Casual Games : Security and Cheating -
A Technology Overview
Ideas & Opinions
20 Gigabits and Gandhi – A Realistic Model
S V Raghavan
Special Feature Section
21 Preamble : Nature Inspired Machine Intelligence
Ajith Abraham
21 Parallel Bioinspired Optimization Algorithms
E-G Talbi
24 A Biologically Inspired Computational Model of Language Cognition
Hongbo Liu, Ajith Abraham & Wei Wang
26 Nature Inspired Schedulers in Computational Grids
Fatos Xhafa & Ajith Abraham
Article
29 IT Market Predictions 2011 - India
Springboard India Analyst Team
Departments
02 Community Talk
03 President’s Desk
31 ExecCom Transacts
CSI Topics
32 CSI BIG-2011 – A Report
Dr. Dharm Singh
34 Div III (Applications),
SIG on e-Governance and Allahabad Chapter
D K Dwivedi
35 Science & Technology EXPO-2010:
Dr. Dharm Singh
36 CSI-45th Annual Convention 2010 at Mumbai – A Report
Jayshree A Dhere
44 From CSI Chapters
CSI Calendar 2010-11 (2nd Cover)
CSI Election 2011-2012 /2013 (Back Cover)

COMMUNITY TALK
“Man is a game playing animal and a computer is
another way to play games”
- Scott Adams
A few years after Desmond Morris laid bare our
animal nature in The Naked Ape, Alvin Toffler’s 1970
book Future Shock questioned our species’ ability to
adapt to rapidly changing technology. Forty years
later, the question remains. In What Technology
Wants, Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired magazine,
considers it from the viewpoint that technology
accelerates human evolution, creating order and
complexity in the face of entropy’s rule.
According to Kelly, we have accumulated
technology since the dawn of humanity because it
increases the opportunities for each of us individually.
We have a moral duty to further increase the amount
of technology in the world because as we do we
increase the options and opportunities for others. An
innovative and optimistic guide to how technology
can give our lives greater meaning.
It is time that we ask ourselves the following critical
questions.
1. What would our research, technology design,
and thinking look like if we took seriously the
momentous opportunities and challenges for
learning posed by our digital era?
2. What happens when we stop privileging
traditional ways of organizing knowledge (by
fields, disciplines, and majors or minors) and turn
attention instead to alternative modes of creating,
innovating, and critiquing that better address
the interconnected, interactive global nature
of knowledge today, both in the classroom and
beyond?
HASTAC /”haystack”/ [http://www.hastac.
org/about-hastac] is a consortium of humanists,
artists, social scientists, scientists and engineers
committed to new forms of collaboration across
communities and disciplines fostered by creative
uses of technology. HASTAC identifies “Computer
Games” as one of the domains that attempt to answer
the question, “What Technology Wants” to celebrate
the immense power of technology as a very positive
force in the world.
Once the late-night amusement of nerds and
hackers, “Computer Games” and Interactive Media
have emerged as one of the most vibrant elements
of today’s entertainment and military industries.
Massively multiplayer games bring into contact
players from many countries, cultures, and age groups,
challenging players to individually and collaboratively
contemplate and manipulate the history and future of
virtual worlds.
Militaries are using similar platforms to develop
strategy and train troops and ultimately create change
in the real world. Despite the growing popularity and
legitimacy of these games, the importance of the
medium has all but eluded notice by most scholars.
This project explores and documents the development
and impact of such networked, interactive, massively
multiplayer virtual worlds.
Gaming both video and computer has become
more than a fad, it is a part of life. Griffiths a professor
at Nottingham University wrote in a medical journal
that playing games could help children with attention
deficit disorders. Research indicates that the children
could gain social skills. Many medical departments
are using computer games as a form of physiotherapy.
The current focus is on the following three
research and development frontiers related to
“Computer Games”.
1. To expand the technology frontier in terms of
both hardware and software for games
2. To validate innovative procedures including
algorithms and architectures for games
3. To explore novel applications of games
technology both for entertainment and serious
games.
In a relatively short span of time, “Computer
Games” have caught the imagination of one and
all and there many National and International
Conferences and Journals in this area. NASSCOM
says that India’s gaming industry (computer games
and mobile games) is expected to generate $424
million by the 2010.
NASSCOM has also projected a creation of an
additional 300,000 jobs in this sector in next few
years. Indian animation industry though a late starter
is on the threshold of a boom period and so has a
great career potential. India has great mythological
stories and characters, good artists and technicians.
“The future masters of technology will have to be
lighthearted and intelligent. The machine easily masters
the grim and the dumb.”
- Marshall McLuhan, 1969
Mr. Alok Kejriwal is the CEO and Co-Founder
of Games2Win which is in the Top 20 of the global
online games businesses. On behalf of CSIC, I thank
Mr. Alok Kejriwal for readily agreeing to compile the
theme section of this issue.
Dr. Ajith Abraham, has been the Guest
Editor for the theme issue on “Nature Inspired
Computing” published in December 2010. Special
thanks are due to him for sending three more
articles on this innovative topic for inclusion in the
“Special Feature Section” of this issue.
Dr. Gopal T V
Hon. Chief Editor
gopal@annauniv.edu
Please read inside:
IT Market Predictions 2011
- India by Springboard India
Analyst Team, India

From : president@csi-india.org
Subject : President’s Desk
Date : 1st February, 2011
Over the past 16 years, I have been fortunate
to interact with many eminent academicians and
professionals from the Industry both from India
and Abroad. Interacting with enthusiastic young IT
professionals has been a source of motivation for me
all these years. There is plenty of talent in the IT sector
but there is a perceived gap in the way the skill sets
map to the workplace. This problem of “Employability”
has been deliberated upon by many policy making
bodies and I had the pleasure of participating in many
deliberations at this level.
I am convinced that an integrated approach that
blends the Computer Science related competencies
with those of Arts and Management is necessary to
improve the employability.
CSI has embarked on an ambitious plan to
provide continuing education programmes for
working professionals, industry-oriented professional
development for new college graduates and entry-
level engineers, faculty development programmes,
technology appreciation workshops and finishing
school programmes for students.
The CSI Research Mentors Network consisting
of more than 700 Ph. D qualified members help in
promoting research on a continuous basis. CSI is also
exploring the possibility of forming a virtual university.
This Virtual University is expected to:
 Expand Access to IT Knowledge Repositories
 Serve Underserved Populations
 Increase Communication / Collaboration
 Tailor the IT Education to suit the needs of a
Given State
 Provide a single – window for IT Skills
Decentralization is the goal of the Virtual
University being envisaged by the team at CSI.
I invite all the members to send their ideas and
suggestions on strengthening the Education activities
of CSI.
Prof. P Thrimurthy
President, Computer Society of India
PRESIDENT’S DESK
About Prof. P Thrimurthy
[Profile Compiled by the Honorary Chief Editor]
“Dr. P Thrimurthy was the founding father of computer education in this University. By his sincere efforts, he
instituted courses like MCA, MSc (Computer Science), PhD (Computer Science) and conducted various Teachers
Training Programmes for MCA and PGDCA with the financial assistance from the Department of Electronics (DoE),
Government of India and the UGC. He established the University Computer Centre and raised it to the Highest “C”
level centre by acquiring infrastructure from the Government of India, state government and also major donation
from an International philanthropist. Dr. P. Thrimurthy produced the first seven PhDs in Computer Science in the
state of Gujarat during his tenure at the Department. He has been the pioneer in initiating computer courses and inter-
disciplinary courses in various colleges and schools in this part of the country.”
Prof. V S Patel
Former Vice-chancellor, Sardar Patel University, Gujarat
As Research Director, Dr. Thrimurthy has produced a dozen PhDs in Computer Science & Engineering.
Author of FOUR books and over 50 Research papers. Member of Editorial boards of FIVE International
Journals .Contributed for promotion of research as Chairman of Programme Committee for over 30 National
& 10 International Seminars . Coordinated several Teacher Training Programmes. Prof. Thrimurthy has been
the President of Computer Section of the Indian Science Congress Association for 1996-97. He has been
associated with UGC, NAAC, AICTE & DOEACC and Several Universities in the country on different technical
and academic committees. Prof. Thrimurthy has developed original software which obtained patent rights
for him. He had served Armed Forces Head Quarters (Indian Army) Delhi, Gujarat University, Sardar Patel
University and Acharya Nagarjuna University.

4CSI COMMUNICATIONS | FEBRUARY 2011
GUEST EDITORIAL
Brands and the Blindfolds they wear
Alok Kejriwal
CEO and Co-Founder, Games2win - a global top 20 online games biz, Personal Social Network -
Therodinhoods.com 42, Film Center, 4th Floor, 68, Tardeo, Mumbai – 400034, India
E-mail: alok@games2win.com
[Twitter @rodinhood ; Facebook - facebook.com/rodinhood ; Company - c2wgroup.com
Blog - rodinhood.com]
The four women in my life – my mom, my two
girls and my wife are all crazy about this application
called Café World on facebook. They play incessantly
and ‘virtually’ invite each other to their cafes and help
out in serving dishes. Also, they are not alone - approx
2 crore women play Café Mom a month. These
women are loaded - my mom and my wife control the
family household spends at home, and my kids have
digital wallets linked to my wife’s credit card. All four
of them buy (yes buy) virtual goods each month to
decorate their cafes and then boast about it on their
facebook profiles. Just so that you know, the most
popular game on the planet today – Farmville rakes
in approx 100 crores a month from sales from items
like seeds, decorations and ‘pink tractors’. And you
guessed right, the majority of players are housewives
and women.
My question is – why aren’t the real brands in the
real world that women buy everyday present in these
virtual apps? And it’s not only women! Men spend
another 100 crores a month on apps like Mafia Wars
and Texas Poker – buying gifts for their friends on the
poker table. This is serious money exchanging hands
in the virtual world.
This is why brands must immediately rip off their
blindfolds and get their cash registers clinking:
 2 crore Indians are playing these kind of apps
each month (comScore) and the number is
galloping. These are the most influential and fat
walleted consumers in India – since they have
computers and broadband to play these apps. So
numbers and spending power is established.
 Consumers buy brands they ‘know’ as their first
choice. Since the regular brands are not available
in these apps, consumers are settling for vanilla
branded goods. For example, in café world, you
can buy 14 kinds of floorings or 14 kinds of stoves.
Women buy stoves and floors in their homes.
Just let them buy the same brands here!
 A lot of my ‘nostalgic’ brands aren’t available
anymore. I would do anything to buy a real
Campa Cola or Binaca toothpase – if not in the
real world, sell it me virtually. Now, even brands
that have recollection but no physical products
can resurrect and monetize themselves. There
can be no better way of earning an ROI on legacy
branding.
 Pricing of these virtual products can be very
interesting. Since brands aren’t selling ‘real’
goods, they can price vitual goods with complete
flexibility! My wife just bough a ‘Kent’ water
purifier for the house for Rs 16000. But in café
world it could cost 16 Rupees!! The killer? Profit
margins on virtual goods are massive - since it’s
a one time cost of creating a ‘picture’ and nothing
more.
 Like retail malls sell brands on a % commission,
so will the game publishers. Zynga which runs
Farmville and Café world would have no problems
riding on a local brand’s popularity to earn some
extra bucks! So distributors with millions of ‘click
thru’s (a la walk in’s) will come!
This is a serious and literally new ‘world’ that has
opened up for brands. I used to joke that the only way
established brands can either grow exponentially or
beat a 100-year-old competitor is to go out in space,
discover a new planet and then start selling there. The
virtual world of Internet apps is just that, and on planet
earth itself!
Fast Moving Consumer GAMES - The New FMCGs
are here!
They sell millions of units every day. They are
priced at a few bucks and are impulsively bought. They
are consumed voraciously & repeatedly. They come in
lots of sizes, variations and flavors. Consumers - both
old and young love them. If you were thinking Chips
or Cola, think again. I am talking about Fast Moving
Consumer Games - the ‘new’ FMCG.
Digital consumer entertainment: be it games or
apps, are here to stay and there is synergy amongst
the new and old FMCG brands to leverage each other.
Consider:
Who?
India has a demographic of over 700 million
consumers who are under 30 years old. The Indian
youth adapts to technology like fish to water (or rather

like friends to facebook). Hence consuming
tech entertainment is native to them.
Armed with a phone and the ‘Indian’ version
of the iPad (think of Micromax attacking
this category and selling a Rs 5000 ‘carry
anywhere’ screen with a sim card inside),
the prime target audience of FMC(G)ames
is a very large. Remember Indian Idol &
KBC when they first launched? Their SMS
versions were mobile games and raked in
big moolahs.
Where?
Digital FMCG are being created in the
mobile and online realm. With over 500
million mobile handsets and 50 million
PCs, the ‘mid and small’ screens are now
ubiquitous. These screens are the new ‘POS’
or point of sale for the digital FMCG brands.
Consumers are carrying distribution outlets
in their pockets or sitting smack in front of
them and staring at them all day long. So
the digital screen is the new influencer and
point of communication. No longer is a ‘pull’
required to get the consumer to a store to
buy. The store lives with the consumer all
day long!
Why?
Games are entertaining and social.
That’s the time-tested formulae of creating
impulsive consumption. What can beat
sitting down in a College canteen and
sipping Chai with Chips and playing mobile
Teen Patti with 5 friends? The large pack
of chips can come bundled with a mobile
game. Today in India, if you pop open a Coke
bottle, unpeel the crown and sms the code
inside, you can win instant mobile airtime
top ups. This gratification happens before
you can even finish the bottle. Both FMCG
brands are in full play synergistic play here!
How?
The mobile phone is the new wallet.
You can pay via the operator or instantly
by debiting your pre-paid sim card. This is
the foundation of instant consumption. The
ability to pay with least ‘friction’ (as easy as
taking money from your wallet and paying)
allows easy and micro payments. This is the
digital translation of the sachet economy
– pay a tiny amount for a tiny piece of
entertainment just like you would pay a tiny
amount to enjoy a single hair wash!
From a career and professional
perspective, for the first time, rather than
working for an FMCG Company – you can
create one!!
7 Myths of Starting Up – Busted here!
Posted on December 2, 2010 by Rodinhood
Myth 1 – I have a great idea but I can’t share it coz someone will
steal it.
Oh man, if that were the case, then dreams would be the
most expensive commodity on the planet.
Salvador Dali- the father of Surrealism slept on a couch with
a spoon in his mouth. He would start dreaming up crazy ideas and
as he would drift into his sleep, the spoon would slip out of his
mouth, fall on the floor and wake him up. He would immediately
get up, rush to his canvas to paint what he had just dreamt. The
million $$ Dalis that exist today are paintings, not dreams.
Truth – An idea is worth nothing. Execute. Execute. Execute to make
it valuable.
Myth 2 – When do I approach the investors? Hmmmm…
What’s the best ‘timing’?
Huh?? Were you Sleep Walking?
If only investors were like the Black and Yellow Mumbai
cabs that you can hail and get into any time you want!
No VC or Investor is waiting with bated breath biting her
fingernails for you to call! It’s quite the opposite scene actually. In
a booming Economy (like India), investors are deluged with lots
of high quality and established business investment options, so
you have to fight hard to get into the VC’s visitor’s area to begin
with!
Truth – Capital Chases Entrepreneurs, not the other way around.
Invest all your energies in building a GREAT business. Everyone will
be ringing your doorbell.
Myth 3 – I have no money to start. (Sniff Sniff).
Most new business ideas today really need very little capital.
If you are thinking of starting an Internet enabled business, the
cloud takes away all the pain of investments. Domains cost less
than 20 US$, and the rest of it is almost free. Sites like WordPress
and their plugins can get you a fully loaded website up and
running in a few thousand rupees spent.
Sure, if you have a more Capital Intensive business idea,
then think really hard. Start Ups don’t survive on Love and Fresh
Air. They need real hard cash. If you are on the Poverty Line,
don’t attempt to start up. There will be better times to be more
adventurous.
Truth – Be ready to sacrifice a good couple of years’ earnings into
starting up and not looking like someone who lost all her baggage
after a 24 hour flight. Once you have the cushion of 2 years’ savings, a
lot more confidence will seep into your decision-making and improve
your risk taking capabilities. Also Budget your Burn to say last for a
year or whatever be your test horizon. That discipline will go a long
way even after you get funded.
Myth 4 – Let me Grow First. Revenues can come Later.
Oops. That’s the spine breaker.
Unless you have a massive, massive overnight hit like a
Twitter or Facebook, tread the ‘growth first, revenue last’ road
with caution.
You may be suffering from a deep-seated insecurity to
generate revenues and conveniently shoving that fear under
the carpet by postponing revenue generation. It’s like
hiding a body in the deep freezer and hoping that it will never be
found.
Generating revenues is a real PAIN. And it’s best confronted
in parallel to building your business. In fact, so many extra
features of your service or enterprise may never be needed if
From “Rodinhood.com” -
Alok Kejriwal’s personal blog

you listen to the fat men with the cheques
books early on. Also, as investors, partners,
and potential acquirers start noticing
your business, they look your Generating
Revenue Experience (GRE) scores. If you
didn’t apply for the exam, you wont get in.
Truth – Get that begging bowl out. Try and
test (if you want to maintain Facebook like
early start up Virginity) what people will pay
for – but make sure that you know where the
light switches are when the darkness arrives.
Myth 5 – I’m a techie – I don’t know
anything about business. I am a business
guy, I don’t know anything about
technology!
Then learn!!
The demons of the mind that say that
you don’t know how ‘business’ works need
to be exterminated on day zero of starting
up. Look all around you – the greatest
geeks in the world – Steve Jobs, Bill Gates,
The Google Twins, Marc Z – all have
understood the science of business better
than anybody else.
Also, for a M.Com dud like myself,
today, technology and self -serve platforms
have become so easy to understand
and implement, they are like those do it
yourself Lego Puzzles. All you need is the
patience to sit down and assemble the
rocket you are trying to build step by step.
Read the instructions carefully and you will
be set.
Truth – No entrepreneur can be in-complete.
This is actually also the first step in becoming
an entrepreneur – understanding a domain
that you otherwise had no clue of.
Note – I am not suggesting mastering all
domains, but rather just understanding them.
Get Out there and Figure it out!
Myth 6 – Professionals whom I want are
too expensive to hire.
Did you ask them? Did you look into
their eyes and explain your invention and
what can happen with it?
So many of the ‘been there, done
that’ types are so bored and stuck en-
cashing salary cheques every month.
They are waiting for folks like you to go
up to them and redeem them! I meet
so many professionals (earning much
more than me) ever so often who say
‘Wow Alok, I wish I could be doing the
exciting and innovative things you and
your Company do’!
Truth – Professionals with big compensation
packages may not quit their job in a hurry for
your Love Songs, but they can certainly begin
associating with you. Start meeting them
and burrow into their experiences. Shed a
few shares and get them on your board. You
may even realize that you never needed them
full time!
Myth 7 – I HAVE TO make this work.
(Stomping of feet on the floor heard).
Once in a while, when you sample
a new restaurant or cuisine, you do risk
getting in there, and ordering a meal you
have never tasted before. In the first few
bites, you know if it is a ‘disastrous’, a ‘will
do, let’s get this done with’ or a ‘wow’
meal.
In a start up land, while your dreams
may have taken you to heaven in a first
class seat, when you actually implement
the idea and hit execution, you may land
up in rubble, deep under the ground.
Do not deny the ‘badness’ of the idea
or the common sensical fact that ‘this was
a bet that should not have been played’.
Enterprises are built on hypothesis. If even
a couple of assumptions or facts (which
are crucial to business) don’t turn out
the way as per your expectations, ditch
the business, kill all engines, sit back and
revise the learnings earned.
Truth – Get out, as soon as you see smoke.
Don’t put on a mask and enter the fire
pretending to be a firefighter. You will not
come out alive and your soul will be too
charred to boot up again.
Origin of Video Games
[Excerpted from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games]
The origin of video games lies in early cathode ray tube-based missile defense systems in the late 1940s. These programs were later
adapted into other simple games during the 1950s. By the late 1950s and through the 1960s, more computer games were developed
(mostly on mainframe computers), gradually increasing in sophistication and complexity.arcade, mainframe, console, personal computer
and later handheld games. Following this period, video games diverged into different platforms:
The first commercially viable video game was Computer Space in 1971, which laid the foundation for a new entertainment industry in
the late 1970s within the United States, Japan, and Europe. The first major crash in 1977 occurred when companies were forced to sell
their older obsolete systems flooding the market. Six years later a second, greater crashNorth America to Japan. occurred. This crash—
brought on largely by a flood of poor quality video games coming to the market—resulted in a total collapse of the console gaming
industry in the United States, ultimately shifting dominance of the market from
Editor’s Choice

Do you eat Rice and Curry Sambhar with Chopsticks?
Do you eat Rice and Curry Sambhar with Chopsticks?
First examine the rice.
A few months ago, two very senior professionals from a
leading digital agency came over to Media2win (digital agency) to
meet KK (CEO of media2win) and me.
They were examining the possibilities of a Joint Venture,
given that they were keen to start up in India and had no local
partners here.
Within a few minutes of speaking about Mumbai’s traffic and
Indian food, the older gentleman (in his 50s), looked and me and
said ‘Alok, I am really disappointed that you don’t do any offline
(print, TV, radio) advertising business in Media2win. The new age
digital agency in the UK does everything and that allows them to
retain clients who like to deal with only one advertising agency.
You better get that business started up or you will perish very
soon’.
Hearing this, I was first shocked (at the suggestion), then
dismayed (there went the JV) and then humored (on how
ignorance was bliss).
I went up to the white board and drew this grid box:
There was such a startling difference between the UK and
India in each additional row that I kept adding on and on…
I bluntly told the visitors that they had no clue of what India
was. Reading news headlines and watching snippets of India
meant nothing. Especially, if they were flying into India for the
first time and then telling local folks like me and KK how to run
an advertising agency! I patiently further explained that India had
many Indias within it; rural marketing was another animal – it was
not akin to ‘countryside marketing’ in the UK; millions of people
here could not read or write and in villages fairs, Bollywood songs
were the route of marketing – not multimedia, Internet and Mobile
Barcodes. Hence 360-degree marketing campaign (involving all
mediums with one message) that made so much sense in the UK
had little mass applicability in India.
In short, a digital agency in India was supposed to do only one
thing – Digital – and not just to survive (a problem in the UK) but
to actually thrive (the opportunity in India)!
This meeting was a classic case of trying to eat Rice and
Sambhar Curry with Chopsticks. Barely anything would enter your
mouth.
Are you eating rice and curry Sambhar with Chopsticks?
Curry is hot. Don’t eat it fast.
A couple of years ago, my Co-Founders in Games2win – MK,
Dinesh and I were at the Games Developers Conference in San
Francisco. The city was buzzing, we were having lots of fun and
were in that dreamy, ‘let’s change the world’ frame of mind.
Dinesh and MK decided that we should change the Mumbai
office timing from the regular 10 am – 7 pm routine to a new 8 am
– 5 pm one. The inspiration, of course, was the glorious USA that
we were in at that time but also because we wanted our colleagues
to come in early so that they could also leave early and ‘get a life’.
Once back in Mumbai, we implemented the change.
For me, it was quite an experience. It meant sacrificing my
morning yoga and meditation and also hurrying through breakfast.
I guess for the rest of the Company also, there was a bit of
adjustment required.
A few weeks later, we observed a rather strange phenomenon.
Most of the folks were managing to tumble in by 830 am, but were
still hanging on till 7 pm!!
No one actually left at 5 pm. May be it was very odd to just
get up and leave given the earlier routine or just because work was
not finished.
The idea of ‘importing’ the American office timetable had
backfired badly – we were now on the verge of burning out our
people.
A few weeks later we reverted back to the ‘Mumbai’ routine.
What went wrong? I think, this time we were trying to eat
Rice and Curry Sambhar with a knife and fork. Example – unlike
the US where folks typically hop out of the office for lunch, our
people who brought lunch from home had to now wake up at 4
and 5 am to make their food and bring it along. That was wrecking
their family time. And despite the sacrifice, they were still reaching
home at almost the same time they used to reach home when the
office had regular hours!
Sometimes Rice doesn’t need Curry.
Almost every week I get questioned by investors and
International players about the opportunity of the online gaming
market and why hasn’t there been an explosion in India yet… like
China!
Large Gaming Companies officials fly down wearing suits
and jackets and present their massive multiplayer games on
their micro-mini laptops to me. Others speak about billion dollar
From “Rodinhood.com” -
Alok Kejriwal’s personal blog

About the Guest Editor
ALOK KEJRIWAL is a serial digital entrepreneur and is currently the CEO and co-founder of Games2win –
his fourth company. His previous ventures include contests2win.com – one of India’s best recognized Internet
brands, Mobile2win – acquired by Walt Disney in China and Norwest ventures in India and Media2win – one
of the top 3 Interactive agencies in India. Alok is a child of the Internet and has built companies in India,
China and the US. He has vast fund raising experiences, having raised VC money from the likes of Softbank,
Siemens, Clearstone Venture, and Silicon Valley Bank. Alok collaborates with like-minded partners to start up
companies and pavement pounds himself to create rapid business traction. His signature is the ability to create
companies that capture tremendous value with minimal capital investment. Outside of work, Alok is an avid
yoga practitioner and attempts to write haiku poetry. He also blogs passionately at rodinhood.comand operates
a social network called therodinhood.com.
revenues in virtual goods and how they believe that their games
can generate almost hundreds of crores of revenues in India just
by launching them here!!
Again, these folks are trying to ‘cut paste’ a business from one
market to another. It just doesn’t work.
I patiently explain to them the uniqueness of the Indian market
– we release almost 3-4 new movies every week, so entertainment
is more prolific ‘wide screen’ than ‘narrow screen’ as viewed on a
PC or a mobile. India’s climate is temperate – so we don’t have to
get cooped up inside our homes for many months (Europe, China)
– hence entertainment is outside (friends, malls, etc), not inside
(gaming). Indian parents, who determine Computer time at home,
‘over police’ their kids. We play and watch lots of Cricket and yet
don’t play too many online Cricket games! We are just uniquely
Indians!!
Sigh…
To all these aliens who drop in from the Sky, I reveal to them
that Rice and Curry Sambhar is neither eaten with Chopsticks nor
with a fork and a knife, but with the humble hands – coz that’s
when it actually enters your mouth and also tastes the best!!
Description UK India
Population 60 million 1100 million
Internet users 40 million 40 million
Non Internet Users 20 million 1060 million
Internet penetration amongst users 66% 4%
Major Languages spoken 2 18
Major Newspapers Brands sold 20 120
Youth under 15 9 million 225 million
Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics that is used in the
social sciences, most notably in economics, as well as in biology
(particularly evolutionary biology and ecology), engineering,
political science, international relations, computer science, social
psychology, philosophy and management. Game theory attempts
to mathematically capture behavior in strategic situations,
or games, in which an individual’s success in making choices
depends on the choices of others . While initially developed to
analyze competitions in which one individual does better at
another’s expense (zero sum games), it has been expanded to
treat a wide class of interactions, which are classified according
to several criteria. Today, “game theory is a sort of umbrella or
‘unified field’ theory for the rational side of social science, where
‘social’ is interpreted broadly, to include human as well as non-
human players (computers, animals, plants)” .
Traditional applications of game theory attempt to find equilibria
in these games. In an equilibrium, each player of the game has
adopted a strategy that they are unlikely to change. Many
equilibrium concepts have been developed (most famously
the Nash equilibrium) in an attempt to capture this idea. These
equilibrium concepts are motivated differently depending on
the field of application, although they often overlap or coincide.
This methodology is not without criticism, and debates continue
over the appropriateness of particular equilibrium concepts, the
appropriateness of equilibria altogether, and the usefulness of
mathematical models more generally.
Although some developments occurred before it, the field of game
theory came into being with Émile Borel’s researches in his 1938
book Applications aux Jeux de Hasard, and was followed by the
1944 book Theory of Games and Economic Behavior by John von
Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern. This theory was developed
extensively in the 1950s by many scholars. Game theory was
later explicitly applied to biology in the 1970s, although similar
developments go back at least as far as the 1930s. Game theory
has been widely recognized as an important tool in many fields.
Eight game theorists have won the Nobel Memorial Prize in
Economic Sciences, and John Maynard Smith was awarded the
Crafoord Prize for his application of game theory to biology.
Game theory
[Excerpted from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory]

THEME ARTICLE
1. Introduction
Serious Games are not about using simplistic
‘Pong’ or ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ type
applicationsasameanstoteachpeoplerawfacts.They
are not about using games as a reward mechanism for
correct answers. That was the approach adopted by
edutainment in the 1990’s and which, by and large,
failed for all except, perhaps, primary school level.
Serious Games are designed to realistically represent
a complex environment, system or process that is
intrinsically relevant to the learner because it is what
they recognise as being relevant to their personal,
vocational or career aspirations.
The intention of this paper is to show that the
application of Serious Games should not be dismissed
as being a gimmick or frivolity, but rather they are a
serious business application for solving problems and
unlocking opportunities for organisations of all shapes
and sizes.
2. The difference between computer games and
traditional e-Learning & multimedia learning
experiences
Typical e-Learning content involves heaping
reams of mainly text-based information upon learners,
dropping in some small multimedia elements and/or
simplistic Flash movies and then bolting on a simplistic
drag ‘n’ drop quiz or Multiple Choice Quiz assessment
whereupon the user receives some notional feedback
along the lines of:
“Congratulations user, you scored 64.7%...we suggest
that you revisit chapters 3,5,6,9 & 11 (which you have just
read) and then retake the (same) test.”
The majority reaction would be to answer that
with a resounding; “No thanks!” The content is not
going to react differently to using it the second time
around. The ‘experience’ will be exactly the same
each and every time it is ‘replayed’. This is not an
engaging experience, it is not interactive and why
should a busy individual feel compelled to commit
their time and effort to it. This is a classic (automated)
“Tell, Test” approach to instruction. The „gamer
generation’ – which we will expand on further down –
are increasingly frustrated by this.
HTML ﬁles (web pages) use hyperlinks to allow
the user to jump from one page to another. Hyperlinks
are frequently referred as being ‘interactive’ when in
essence clicking on a hyperlink is nothing other than an
electronic version of turning a page in a book. Modern
PCs, even bog-standard £299 bargain examples,
possess the processing power and multimedia
capabilities to deliver so much more than this. If we
don’t utilise this existing resource to its potential then
it may be a valid argument that you would be better
off simply giving learners a good book!
Whilst this is a somewhat over simpliﬁed
caricatureofe-Learningitisnotinaccurate.E-Learning,
in the majority, does not provide a truly interactive,
experiential level of learning. It is characterised as
Games-based Learning –
a serious business proposition
Revised by Helen Routledge, Instructional Design Manager and
Helen Axe, Project Manager
PIXELearning Limited, The Serious Games Institute, Unit 6, Coventry Innovation Village, Coventry University
Technology Park, Cheetah Road, Coventry, CV1 2TL. E-mail: helen.routledge@pixelearning.com
Original Text By Kevin Corti, Founder, PIXELearning Limited, CEO Soshi Games.
Games-based Learning or ‘Serious Games’ leverage the power of computer games
design techniques and mechanics to captivate and engage end-users for purposes
beyond pure entertainment. While ensuring learners are challenged and motivated
the main purpose of a Serious Game is to develop new knowledge, skills and to
ultimately produce a behaviour change. Serious Games enable learners to undertake
tasks and experience situations which would otherwise be impossible and/or
undesirable to practice in the real world for reasons of cost, time, logistics and safety.
This paper serves to introduce Serous Games, to review their potential benefits as
well as provide advice on common implementation issues.
This white paper is
reprinted with special
permissions granted
by Richard Smith, CEO,
PIXELearning Limited, UK.

offering rapidly developed, low budget
content (as opposed to powerful software
applications) which deliver fundamentally
shallow learning experiences.
Now compare that with a game (which
is a powerful software application), Games:
 Have realistic and relevant
environments and systems which users
can ‘explore’.
 Have clearly defined (overt) rules: “If
your wings break you will crash”, “If you
step on a landmine it will blow up”, or
“if you run out of cash you will go bust”.
 Have clear objectives – “save the
princess from the big scary monkey”,
“double turnover in 3 years”.
 Are truly interactive; every thing that
the learner does, or does not do, has an
effect and are thus highly experiential.
 Have clear outcomes; “You were shot…
you are dead”, “You have run out of
cash and have been closed down”.
They provide meaningful and relevant
feedback (e.g. because of your actions
or lack of actions, the plane crashed,
the cash ran out, the employees quit)
to show the learner the consequences
of their decisions and actions. This is
important because the user knows
explicitly why a particular outcome
happened and allows them to assess
different approaches to the problem in
an informed manner.
 Are adaptive; they automatically track
the user’s progress and performance
to maintain a careful balance between
boredom (because it is too easy) and
frustration (because it is too hard).
Static content (e-Learning) cannot
be easily designed to achieve this and
is therefore customised to a specific
audience and of very limited use
elsewhere.
 Require (and foster) a level of
cognitive application from the user
that far exceeds reading text and then
regurgitating facts. Gamers analyse
huge quantities of information from a
variety of sources. Games encourage,
for example, problem solving, creative
thinking, lateral thinking, investigation
and trial and error all of which are
valuable in the workplace.
 Are genuinely enjoyable. This leads
to longer attention spans, improved
attentiveness and positive feelings.
If you want to explore these themes
further (or if you remain sceptical) we
strongly suggest that you beg, borrow or
steal “A Theory of Fun” (Koster) and/or
“Digital Games-based Learning” (Prensky).
3. Serious Games as a Serious Option
Serous Gaming has the potential to
significantly improve the quality of training
activities and initiatives in relation to digital
training. One of the main factors e-learning
is currently facing is very high drop out rates,
up to 70% in some organisations. If you look
atthefiguressurroundingthegamesindustry
alone one can see the significant appeal of
this medium. The computer & videogame
industry has more or less mastered the art
of using computer technology to not only
captivate its audience but to also persuade
it to spend approximately $10bn a year
(2009) in the US alone.
If we compare a typical entertainment
games technology-based experience
with a typical learning technology-based
experience the contrast is glaringly obvious.
When was the last time you had to drag a
learner from their PC at 11 o’clock at night
whilst they pleaded; “Please…just another
hour…I really want to finish this level”?
Entertainmentgamesaredemonstrably
‘engaging’. In comparison when the training
industry uses the word ‘engaging’, there is
an all too obvious incongruity.
The motivational virtues of videogames
are what initially entice Learning and
Development professionals to look to
games-based approaches. At first glance,
the users appear to be having fun, enjoying
themselves, why else would someone
dedicate 40+ hours of ‘grind’ to defeat
the evil villain and rescue a fantasy world
from certain doom? It is a common
misconception to say that if you were to
make training fun, people will engage with
the medium and therefore learn more;
but there is a lot more going on in a game
than fun. There is a complex blend of game
mechanics, narrative, and challenge which
keeps the learner coming back for more.
The same is true for Serious Games; there
is a lot more to a Serious Game than simply
using fun as a means to engage learners,
especially busy time pressured individuals
who in some cases have not chosen this
course of training. The following section
outlines several genres and design elements
typical to entertainment games that can
also be applied in Serious Games.
Simulation and Role Play are two key
genres of entertainment-orientated games
that many people deem to be particularly
appropriate for adoption as training tools.
A simulated environment (e.g. the user
support desk), a simulated system (e.g. a
production line) or a realistically recreated
role play scenario (e.g. a sales meeting) can
allow learners to experience something that
is too costly, too risky or even physically
impossible to achieve in the real world. You
would not let your new trainee managers
run your business but you would like them
to fully understand every facet of your
business as early as possible.
Replayability is a key advantage
of Serious Games. Learners play out a
particular strategy or adopt a certain
approach, they may fail or not quite deliver
the desired outcome; however they just
need to press the reset button and try a
different approach, no harm done, only
positive reinforcement of best practice.
‘Learning by doing’ and ‘experiential learning’
are possibly overused terms in this
industry, but the practice of repetition with
varying inputs and outputs is very
pertinent to building a deep understanding
of scenarios, concepts, processes and
systems.
Games engage people psychologically-
they can be very emotional experiences-
and they also engage people physiologically.
What is going on beyond the peripheries of
the TV screen or computer monitor ceases
to register to the user. Their heart rate
increases, the hair on the back of the neck
stands up and they may well end up laughing
out loud at (or furiously cursing at or crying
over) a virtual character who is actually
nothing more than a collection of pixels
and programming code. Games are very
good at using drama, storyline, humour and
deep characterisation to create a compelling
experience. We know that when other forms
of media, such as movies, books, or plays
have a similar mix, they stay with us, they
hold a special place in our memories and we
remember far more of the experience, this
is due to our personal emotion engagement
with the subject and personal investment.
From a training point of view, these same
techniques, when used well, can develop
memory hooks and mean that learners not
only remember what happened but also why
it happened and the impact of the event.
Combining these activities with rewards
and achievements also provides learners
with a personal investment in the training,
something which can then ‘be their own’; in
recent years virtual items have been shown
to be incredibly powerful mechanisms
for ensuring repeat play. Games such as
Farmville and World of Warcraft, use
virtual objects, which are earned by the
players. These objects provide players with
a sense of status to which they can compare
themselves to other players, but they have
also been used by designers to build a sense
of personal improvement amongst players.
Ifyoustripawayallthetechno-wizardry
ofthediscussionandmovetoapsychological
perspective, games are essentially highly
experiential software applications which
foster deep levels of cognitive activity, e.g.
higher-level thinking skills such as conflict
resolution or negotiation, emotional and
physical responses.

Games are nothing more than a vividly
recreated environments or systems in which
the user has a meaningful objective; be it
‘how to kill 100 aliens as fast as possible
without dying yourself’ or ‘how to settle a
contractual dispute with a fictional client’.
It is these meaningful goals that derive
satisfaction for the learner. And ultimately
if the application enables the learner to
solve that same problem effectively back in
the real world then doubtless the learner’s
employer will also derive satisfaction!
The ability to assess progress and the
ability to track real understanding is an
area where most people doubt the power
of Serious Games. During a well designed
serious game learners should be making
decisions frequently, and receiving feedback
directly linked to their decisions. We are not
referring to a decision such as turn left of
right, go forward, shoot, etc, but meaningful
and consequential decisions; decisions that
will effect the outcome of the simulation;
what strategy did the learner adopt, how
well did he/she analyse the information
and how well did he/she explain and justify
their decisions. Serious Games provide the
opportunity to see into a learner’s decision
making process and understand a learner’s
strengths and weaknesses in context of
a real world example. Serious Games
applications have the potential to track all of
this data in often staggering levels of detail
and, if they are designed properly, provide
this data to those that need to see it in an
appropriate manner.
4. Gamer demographics
There exists a powerful ‘gamer
stereotype’ that paints a typical gamer
as being spotty, white, teenage male, in a
darkened room, who is lacking basic social
skills.
If you subscribe to the same
aforementioned stereotype then consider
the following:
 Microsoft’s XBOX and Sony’s
PlayStation 2 games consoles, whilst
aimed at a ‘hard core’ gamer audience,
were none-the-less marketed to people
in the 18 to 35 age range i.e. adults.
 Nintendo’s Wii console is the fastest
selling console of all time and in mainly
targeted to the casual gaming audience;
including women and younger children.
The Wii brought gaming into the living
room and now Microsoft and Sony are
looking for a piece of this action with
Kinect and Move respectively.
 According to Nielsen NetRatings,
41 percent of people who frequent
online game sites such as GameSpot,
Candystand and Pogo are women, and
43 percent are ages 25 to 49.
 ScoreNetworks, an American firm
which measures online game use,
confirms players are beginning to
resemble the general (American)
population. On average, 8.9 percent
of players at the Top 10 gaming sites
are African American, 4.2 percent
are Asian and 79.3 percent are white.
More significantly, about 35 percent of
players on those sites earn US$50,000
to US$100,000 annually, while
16.2 percent take home more than
US$100,000.
There have been many studies into
the gamer demographic. The entertainment
games industry has funded much of this
because they want to know their customers
better. Lately, the rise in interest in Serious
Games has lead to studies for the purposes
of understanding what sections of the
population it can be applied to.
A pertinent quote, from USA Today in
2004 is:
“…[I]f you’re over 35, chances are you
view video games as, at best, an occasional
distraction….If you’re under 35, games are a
major entertainment and a part of life. In that
sense, they are similar to what rock ‘n’ roll
meant to [baby] boomers.”
To conclude, gamers span both sexes,
all ages and all income brackets. If senior
training decision-makers believe the ‘gamer
stereotype’ and dismiss Serious Games
on this basis then they are failing to fully
understand that their personnel are rapidly
becoming what Marc Prensky1
called ‘Digital
Natives’ and that their appetite for a diet of
traditional eLearning approaches is rapidly
diminishing.
If you want to learn more about the
‘average gamer’ the ESA’s excellent report
can be found at the following web site:
2010 Essential Facts about Computer
and Video Games
http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/
ESA_Essential_Facts_2010.PDF
5. Why should you be interested?
Some of the key potential benefits are
outlined below.
Performance improvement: If Serious
Games are used appropriately they can
directly act to improve employee skills
and knowledge and thus lead to a more
productive workforce.
Increase awareness of the importance
of employee roles: Because games
vividly bring to life the interrelated and
interdependence of different company
roles (e.g. sales and engineering) it helps
employees to understand the affect of their
decisions and behaviour on other important
business areas that otherwise seem
unconnected.
Competency testing: Serious Games
can be a very powerful tool for competency
testing. Realistic scenarios can be played
out in a risk-free environment.
Assessment/ROI: Games capture a
staggering degree of information – both
quantitative and qualitative - whilst being
used by a learner. This can be used to create
detailed reports for assessment.
Recruitment processes: Applications
can be used to test potential new hires by
evaluating how well they perform in roles/
situations that the job role will demand.
Customer & partner education: Serious
Games can be used to help your customers
and channel partners gain a comprehensive
understanding of your product and service
portfolio.
Promotional tool: Serious Games
can be used as the basis for pushing out
informational messages e.g. to highlight the
importance of good customer service.
Induction: Introduce new hires to your
company, your products and services and
the market characteristics that you operate
within.
Motivational tools: Using the
compelling power of games to engage
peopleservesasapowerfultooltoovercome
any initial reluctance to engage in training
and keeps users actively engaged for longer.
Aspirational tools: Allow employees
to try something new, to see whether they
like it and to open new avenues for both
employee and employer.
Best practice: Virtual experts or
mentors can be embedded within scenario-
driven GBL to guide learners through a
situation and to serve as a trusted source of
advice.
And finally;
It is important to remember that
games need not be a solitary, i.e. ‘single-
player’, experience! Some of the world’s
most popular entertainment games are
multiplayer games where players team
up to working together. This brings about
interesting opportunities such as, for
example, around team dynamics.
Multiplayer serious games can also
draw upon the competitive nature of games
with users being ‘dropped’ into virtual
situations with other real people with whom
they need to perfect their negotiation,
communication and conflict resolution
skills. PIXELearning recently developed an
application for a large US defence contractor
for leadership training. In this innovative
application 4 individuals, each with their
own mission, must decide how to work
together, how to lead, and how to escape
‘The Island’. The Leadership game puts
the leaders against one another to retrieve

a mysterious device; however along the
way all is not what it seems. By combining
leadership training exercises and a sandbox
style environment, leaders are challenged to
perform, compete, collaborate and achieve
their personal mission. A multiplayer game
was a challenging step forward for all
involved however many lessons have been
learned and the value speaks for itself.
6. Serious Games really is a hot topic!
In Section 1 of this paper we described
this area as being a ‘hot topic’ in training and
education. The proof of this is in the myriad
of publications, academic research, white
papers, books, conferences, exhibitions,
TV & radio coverage and governmental/
public sector support. This interest is also
demonstrated by the demonstrable uptake
of Serious Games applications by large well
known and global organisations which will
be illustrated in Section 6.
Some of the examples of coverage,
interest and activity are described below:
1
Prensky, M (2000), Digital Games-based Learning, McGraw-Hill
General media publications
Serious Games have been covered in many training and education articles in recent years
including The Times Higher Education Supplement, The Guardian, eLearning Age, The Financial
Times and The New York Times to name just a few. Once considered a novelty by the media,
serious games are slowly but surely gaining media trust and attention.
Academic research
The efficacy, design, assessment etc of Serious Games is the subject of a huge amount of
academic research. In the US, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State
University, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, The IT
University of Copenhagen and the Naval MOVES Institute have undertaken significant research
programmes. EA Games have funded NESTA in the UK to research the educational benefits of
commercial off-the-shelf games. BECTa have carried out several similar studies and continued
research projects entitled “Computer Games in Education Project”.
Some of the key names in the research space around games-based learning are Henry Jenkins
(MIT), Kurt Squire, John Kirriemuir, Angela McFarlane and Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen.
Blogs
Along with academic papers, journals, research groups and media publications there are a
number many of well written blog’s on the subject of serious games both from a research and
industry perspective. A sample of these are shown blow.
PIXELearnings very own blog www.pixelearning.wordpress.com
I’m Serious.net imserious.typepad.com
Serious Games Market seriousgamesmarket.blogspot.com
Serious games Blog http://seriousgamesblog.blogspot.com/
Games in schools http://games.eun.org/
Future Making Serious Games http://futuremakingseriousgames.blogspot.com/
Ian Bogost http://www.bogost.com/
White papers
The Internet is teeming with white papers a sample of articles is shown below:
Becker Bob, (2011) Interactive Games for Business Training
Derryberry, Anne (2007) Serious games: online games for learning
Kolb, Alison, (2008) This Is Not A Game: Using Alternate Reality Games in Corporate Training
Michael DeMarco, Eric Lesser and Tony O’Driscoll (2007) Leadership in a Distributed Virtual
World: lessons from online gaming.
Stitzmann, and Ely (2010) Meta-Analytic Examination of the Effectiveness of Computer-Based
Simulation Games
Seriosity Inc and IBM Virtual Worlds Real Leaders: Online games put the future of business
leadership on display (2007)
Watte, Jon, (2006) Technical Challenges of Distributed Multiplayer Virtual Environments
Ahdell, Rolf and Andresen, Guttorm Games and Simulations in Workplace eLearning Masters
Thesis, 2002
Amory, Alan, Kevin Naicker, Jackie Vincent and Claudia Adams. Computer Games as a Learning
Resource (South Africa)
BBC. Learning Games Do Not Boost Results – BBC News 11-26-01
BECTA. Computer Games to Support Learning – Information Sheet, BECTA (UK) Jan 2002
Chao, Dennis. Doom as an Interface for Process Management, U of New Mexico 2001
Deutsch, David. Taking Children Seriously: Video Games: Harmfully Addictive or a Unique
Educational Environment?. 1992
Gardner, Patrick. Games With A Day Job: Putting the Power of Games to Work (Sweden)
Grenade, Stephen. Teaching With Interactive Fiction: ESL
Grenade, Stephen. Teaching With Interactive Fiction: Critical Thinking Skills
Jenkins, Henry. A Game Theory On How To Teach Kids, MIT Technology Review April 1, 2002
Kawashima, Ryuta. Computer Games Stunt Student Brains – Description of Ryuta Kawashima’s
Research, The Observer, 8-8-01
Kafai, Yasmin. The Educational Potential of Electronic Games: From Games-To-Teach to Games-
To-Learn UCLA K•I•D•S
Keighly, Geoff. Millenium Gaming GameSpot, December 2000
Kirriemuir, John. Video gaming, education and digital learning technologies: relevance and
opportunities, lib magazine, February 2002.
Kirriemuir, John. The relevance of gaming and gaming consoles to the Higher and Further
Education learning experience, –JISC Techwatch commissioned report, April 2002
Koster, Ralph, Game Design papers
Lewis, David. Video Games ‘Valid learning Tools’ – BBC report of Sony Research by David Lewis
Maloof, Christine and Gabriel, Deborah. Bridging Schools and Homes: the Lightspan Project,
9-1-98
MacFarlane, Angela Video Games ‘Stimulate Learning’ – TEEM. BBC News 3-18-02
MacFarlane, Angela. Games in Education (TEEM Report)
Prensky, Marc. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, On the Horizon, 9:5, Sept-Oct 2001
Prensky, Marc. Do They REALLY Think Differently? On the Horizon, 9:6, Nov-Dec 2001
Prensky, Marc. The Motivation of Gameplay On the Horizon, Vol 10, No 1
Prensky, Marc. Not Only The Lonely: implications of “social” online activities for higher education
On the Horizon, Vol 10, No 4
Prensky, Marc. Open Collaboration On the Horizon, Vol 10, No 3
Prensky, Marc. Simulations : Are They Games? From Digital Game-Based Learning
Prensky, Marc. Types of Learning and Possible Game Styles Digital Game-Based Learning
Prensky, Marc. Why Games Engage Us from Digital Game-Based Learning
Prensky, Marc. Why NOT Simulation
Robson, Robby. ‘No Significant Difference’ Phenomenon – Online and offline learning have same
results
Sawyer, Ben. Serious Games: Improving Public Policy through Game-Based Learning and
Simulation, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Smith, Richard, Curtin, Pamela and Newman, Linda. The educational implications of computer
and computer games use by young children (Australia)
Squire, Kurt. Games in Instructional Technology Travis, Alan. Zap! Go to the Top of the Class –
Alan Travis, The Guardian 3-24-2001
Books
Handbook of Research on Improving Learning and Motivation through Educational Games, ed.
P. Felecia (Information Science Publishing, PA 2011)
Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane
McGonigal (Penguin Press HC, 2011)
Fun Inc.: Why Gaming Will Dominate the Twenty-First Century, Tom Chatfield (Pegasus, 2010)
“Developing Serious Games”, by Bryan Bergeron (Charles River Media, 2006)
“Learning by Doing” by Clark Aldrich, (John Wiley & Sons, 2005)
“Theory of Fun for Game Design”, by Raph Koster (Paraglyph Press, 2005)
“Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train,and Inform” by David Michael, Sande Chen
(Thompson Course Technology, 2005)
“Engaging Learning: Designing e-Learning Simulation Games” by Clark N. Quinn (John Wiley
& Sons, 2005)
“Simulations and the Future of Learning : An Innovative (and Perhaps Revolutionary) Approach
to e-Learning” by Clark Aldrich (2003)
“What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy”, by James Paul Gee
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)
“The Nature of Computer Games: Play as Semiosis”, by David Myers (Peter Lang, 2003)
“Digital Game-Based Learning”, by Marc Prensky (McGraw-Hill, 2000)
“Changing Minds: Computers, Learning, and Literacy”, by Andrea A. diSessa (MIT Press, 2000)
“Joystick Nation: How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds”,
by J.C. Herz (Little, Brown, 1997)
Conferences & Exhibitions
There are many conferences and exhibitions globally, both large scale and local. Below is
a list of the 3 major conferences.
 Serious Games Summit, March, San Jose - www.seriousgamessummit.com
 Serious Games Expo Europe, October, Lyon. - www.sgexpo.fr
 Serious Games Conference, Asia
¬ http://www.asiaevents.com.sg/seriousgames2010/index.htm
Industry Associations
Serious Games Initiative – (www.seriousgames.org) The Woodrow Wilson International Centre
for Scholars in Washington D.C. launched the Serious Games Initiative to encourage the
development of games that address policy and management issues.
ANGILS – (www.angils.org) - a new UK networking organisation tasked with bringing innovative
organisations and groups together with industry from across the interactive entertainment, CGI,
online games, learning, scenario-planning and simulation industries.
NASAGA – (www.nasaga.org) – The North American Simulation and Gaming Association is
a growing network of professionals working on the design, implementation, and evaluation
of games and simulations to improve learning results in all types of organizations. Started in
North America, NASAGA has members from more than 50 countries from around the globe.
Membership is open to all.
Govt support/backing
Governmental support for serious games is becoming increasingly prevalent at local, regional
and national levels across the USA and Europe. In the West Midlands companies such as ours
are obtaining increasing levels of interest and support from the regional development agencies,
Learning Skills Councils, UKT&I, universities and colleges which is manifesting itself as fully-
funded projects. These include Coventry University’s “Diversification of Game Industry” project
and the Serious Games Institute in Coventry (incubation, development funding and research
projects).
Sources of related information can be found at the following web sites:
PIXELearning’s resource mini-site
http://www.pixelearning.com/serious_games-resources.htm
The Serious Games Initiative
www.seriousgames.org
Social Impact Games (entertain games with non-entertainment goals)
www.socialimpactgames.com
Watercooler Games (videogames with an agenda)
www.watercoolergames.org

Manufacturing
LearningBeans® as developed by
PIXELearning. Allows the learner to play
through an extremely detailed scenario
based upon high volume manufacturing
and includes sales, marketing, HR, finance,
production, distribution and export planning
environments.
Learners implicitly understand the
interdependencies between all aspects of
the business.
h t t p : / / w w w . p i x e l e a r n i n g . c o m /
authoringtools.htm
Energy Awareness
Enercities
Enercities which is about managing a
virtual city and making choices on how to
power your city was funded by the Energy
Agency of the European Commission,
specifically the Intelligent Energy Program
of 2007. The game is run through popular
social networking site Facebook.
http://www.enercities.eu/
Energy Awareness 2
The objective of Energy Wise is to
correctly and effectively recommend
sufficient energy saving devices and
techniquesforthevirtualcompaniesthrough
conversations and tasks. This serious game
is to work alongside the course to help
reinforce key areas of energy efficiency for
Small Medium Enterprises (SME’s) such
as café or restaurant owners and is funded
by the EU’s Life Long Learning Programme,
Leonardo da vinci transfer of innovation.
www.energy-wise.eu
Technology 1
CISCO developed a Learning Game
Trilogy, a combination of three online
technology games: Rockin’ Retailer, Network
Defenders and SAN Rover.
As part of the Cisco Career
Certifications Program, these free games
are offered as a challenge to individuals who
are interested in learning while engaging in
competitive game play.
Technology 2: IT Security
HP’s entrepreneurial arm MEI-A,
commissioned an online game that blends
business and technology training to give
small enterprises in an appreciation of how
technology tools can help them to increase
productivity and to grow with a particular
emphasis on IT security.
http://www.knowledge-city.net/
FE/HE
Virtual-U
Designedtofosterbetterunderstanding
of management practices in American
colleges and universities.
Originally designed for 1,000 users it
has had well over 100,000 downloads.
http://www.virtual-u.org/

Diversity and Inclusion
Makrini™ is the first-ever gaming
simulation on the topic of diversity and
inclusion. The simulation assigns the Learner
to a position on a commercial space station
where they must learn and apply diversity
and inclusion skills to interact productively
with intergalactic associates, and to attain
better business results than competitors.
http://www.globalnovations.com/
solutions/Makrini
Telecommunications
Comcast
Putting Communication skills to Work
is a A performance improvement solution
that can be deployed at the seat avoiding
costly time away from the front line. Call
agents are immersed in a role play scenario
where they navigate through the call
ensuring customer satisfaction remains
high, whilst maximising call impact whether
that be sales or efficient service for example.
Medical
Re-Mission™isavideogamedeveloped
specifically for adolescents and young adults
with cancer. Players pilot a nanobot named
Roxxi as she travels through the bodies
of fictional cancer patients destroying
cancer cells, battling bacterial infections,
and managing side effects associated with
cancer and cancer treatment. Research
shows that Re-Mission is an effective tool
for young cancer patients, and HopeLab is
now developing a new version of the game
that builds on these positive results.
www.re-mission.net
Hospitality & catering
Hilton Garden Inn
The game was developed as an internal
training product called Ultimate Team Play.
The player is placed in various positions at
a hotel such as front desk, housekeeping,
maintenance or food service. A “unique
scoring system” that is also utilized in real
Hilton hotels to assess employees is present
to keep track of players progress.
Computer Software
“The Monkey Wrench Conspiracy”
A first-person shooter game designed
to teach mechanical design engineers to use
3-D CAD software.
A player must complete 30 CAD
tasks, including cutting through solids and
constructing new parts for their weapon, on
their way to save a valuable space station
from the evil Dr. Monkey Wrench.
NGO/public departments
UN/WFP – Foodforce
This game was commissioned by
the U.N. World Food Programme to raise
awareness of the issues around world
hunger.
It is available as a free internet
download and has been used by 3 million
people world wide since it was released in
2004.
http://www.wfp.org/how-to-help/
individuals/food-force
7. The cross-sector adoption of GBL
The examples that have been shown on
the previous pages are but a handful of the
many hundreds of examples of GBL across
the world. The Social Impact Games web site
(http://www.socialimpactgames.com) and
the Serious Games Classification (http://
serious.gameclassification.com/is) are both
excellent repositories of other examples
spanning many different industries/needs.
8. Implementation Issues
A word (or 7) of caution!
The potential benefits may make a
very compelling business case however the
design, development and implementation
of Serious Games requires very thorough
planning, piloting, testing and evaluation.
Adopters need to be aware of several issues
which are discussed below.
Technology: The creation of complex
software applications is significantly more
demanding than traditional eLearning or
multimedia content.
Tip! Don’t do it in-house unless you have
a dedicated resource and all the necessary
skill sets in place. If you decide to outsource
a solution that meets your organisational
needs, look for a specialist provider that can
demonstrate a proven track record (with
available client testimonials) and place a high
degree of emphasis upon those that have pre-
existing platforms. You do not want to pay to
reinvent the wheel.
Time: A typical entertainment-
orientated game can take up to three years
to bring to market. If you have a problem
that needs solving now you need a solution
now.
Tip! Bespoke development = long project.
Ask yourself how quickly you need to solve
the problem at hand and, if possible, seek a
specialist that has prior technology it can bring
to bear quickly.
Assessment: The whole point of even
considering this approach is to improve the
effectiveness of a training and development
programme. If you cannot evaluate, for
example, skills development and knowledge
acquisition, then you cannot build a business
case for, calculate ROI of or rationalise,
in any way, the outcomes from a serious
game (or any other) training solution.

Games can generate a huge amount of
metrics but an entertainment-orientated
games technology platform is unlikely to be
adequate for the task.
Tip! Know what performance indicators
(metrics) you need to evaluate learner progress
and performance and ensure that the specialist
can capture, track and report these to you in a
format that is appropriate.
Cost: Entertainment games cost
between £500k and £5m to develop. Serious
Games need not be as ‘hi fidelity’ as the
latest XBOX 360 game but none-the-less
development can be expensive especially if
it is a 100% bespoke development.
Tip! Work with a Serious Games
specialist to fully define the business case
(for both parties) before committing to a
full-blown project especially if this is your
first foray into Serious Games. If you have
several potential solutions then choose the
easiest one first and then break the project
down into an initial proof-of-concept (mock
up), small scale pilot and then, subject
to satisfactory evaluation, a full-blown
application.
Delivery: Your choices for deployment
are to run it from a CD/DVD, to install a
PC ‘.exe’ file or to opt for a browser-based
solution. Optical media (CDs and DVDs)
incurduplicationcosts,cangetlostand,ifthe
application is updated frequently, need to be
tracked carefully to ensure that all learners
have the up-to-date version. An ‘.exe’ file
requires for a higher level of IT literacy,
can have security issues and, for a large
implementation, can result in significant
IT administration costs. Browser-based
solutions can tend to be less ‘high fidelity’
but the quid pro quo is instantaneous version
control and maintenance/installation costs
are minimised.
Tip! Always go for the most simple
technology approach that you can; minimise
the IT burden.
Skill sets: Serious Games projects can
require a bewildering range of people and
skills including: Instructional Designers,
concept artists; voice actors; 3D modellers;
simulation logic designers; subject matter
experts; texture artists; audio engineers;
GUI designers; physics programmers; game
programmers; database designers; game
designers; level designers; script writers;
testers……and more!
Tip! Just because your in-house eLearning
or web designer thinks it would be ‘cool’ and is
convinced he/she can ‘give it a go’, consider
carefully whether your organisation really
does have the skills and experience required
and even if you do, is that resource going to be
readily available?
SCORM/LMS interoperability: It is
fair to say that some vendors in this space
may lack experience in, and awareness of,
the issues around interoperability. This is
especially true if the specialist has come
from an entertainment games background
as it is simply something that they will
never have encountered before. To be even-
handed it is somewhat more challenging to
make a highly interactive game application
SCORM-compliant than it is to give
simplistic web content the same treatment.
There are two main factors involved in
interoperability: ‘content’ identification (so
that the LMS can recognise the application);
and data exchange (so that the learner’s
assessment data can be accessed via an
LMS).
Tip! Check whether the vendor can
implement eLearning standards themselves
and if they cannot then seek to bring in an
interoperability expert into the project to
work with them.
Accessibility/usability issues: These
are some of the most challenging issues that
specialists will encounter. Static eLearning
content is easily modified ‘on the fly’ to make
it suitable for the hearing, mobility or visually
impaired and when it is not organisations
tend to offer specially designed alternative
content. The very nature of a game makes
it very difficult for vendors to achieve true
accessibility/usability compliance.
Tip! Know your legal compliance
requirements(e.g.Bobby,W3CAccessibility,
Section 508). Work with the specialist to
ensure that the solution is as compliant as
can be but be prepared to offer alternative
approaches where full compliance is too
expensive or time-consuming or where (as is
likely) compliance waters down the solution
to such an extent that it no longer offers
the benefits you required in the first place.
9. Serious Games are part of the blend
If a specialist claims that games are the
panacea for all your training needs and that
you can convert all aspects of your training
to games….thank them for their time and
walk away!
Games can be an excellent means for
letting learners put the theory into practise,
they can be a powerful means of testing
competencies, but, they are not ideal at
delivering content. Information can be
delivered ‘in game’ but only in small doses.
If there is a lot of theory to absorb (e.g. case
studies, introductions to complex concepts,
legal transcripts) then deliver that to the
learners by the most appropriate alternative
means.
10. The ‘sales pitch’; PIXELearning – what
we do and what we can do for our
clients
Our goal is to use the medium of
computer games and simulation design
techniques to create highly effective learning
experiences, which deliver measurable real
world organisational results. As experts
in this rapidly growing field, PIXELearning
deliver highly-effective: subject, sector
and organisationally-specific, learning
experiences that generic products simply
cannot match. Our technology platforms
have been designed to enable us to do this
quickly, with a minimum of fuss, and on a
cost-effective basis.
Our focus is upon two core areas:
business and management skills
development; and, business and enterprise
education. We provide solutions which are
primarily aimed at organisations who want
to ‘up skill’ their workforce at all levels,
and at educational institutions who teach
business-related subjects. We also provide
bespoke solutions to organisations that
have particular requirements for which our
underlying technology platforms are not
best suited.
We do believe that it is ‘cool’ to create
powerful learning solutions.
We do not think that it is ‘cool’ to use
technology for technology’s sake.
“You can learn more about a man in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”
- Plato, from The Republic

THEME ARTICLE
Casual Games : Security and Cheating -
A Technology Overview
[Excerpted from: Casual Games SIG/Whitepaper/Technology
http://wiki.igda.org/Casual_Games_SIG/Whitepaper/Technology]
As casual games have become a more serious
business, security and measures to counter cheating
have become more important. Where once a cheater
simply boosted his high score, hacked his games with
“friends”, or disrupted game play and made a nuisance
of himself, now these activities can cost a developer
potential customers and revenue. Security is a large
discipline that spans the entire lifecycle of a product
or project and includes both technical and non-
technical aspects. This discussion will briefly review
the standard IT security technologies that are relevant
to networked games, and will focus on those that are
unique to this field.
Security is intimately tied to the operational
integrity of the game. While computer games were
once products, in many cases, casual games today
are services. This changes the essential nature of the
business - games are not just “published”, they are
“run”. Customer service, retention, and acquisition
depend more on persistent quality than on flashy
packaging and cool graphics. Development and
delivery of a game is not the end, it is just the beginning.
The security threat for traditional computer
games used to be copy protection. Various proprietary
schemes have been created with each one a balance
of protecting sales versus annoying customers.
Typically, not annoying customers has won out over
security techniques - just as with other traditional
software, the belief was that a satisfied “thief” today
may be a good, paying customer tomorrow. The
effectiveness of the available anti-copying techniques
also was (and is) an issue.
It is always important to remember - the bad guy
does not need to break the security system, they just
needs to beat the game.
The following represents a partial list of the
types of attacks and common exploits; new attacks
are devised against every new game and security
technique.
There is unfortunately a dearth of products
focused on networked game security. Rather it
falls to the developer to defend against the exploits
described below when implementing with any of the
previously mentioned toolsets. This is unfortunate,
and can significantly impact development time and
technological implementation. Some known software
solutions to these types of attacks are listed in sections
below, although each of these will require careful
integration with your game and its development
process.
Common Exploits
In the following sections, we will review the most
common methods used in Web cheating, and the
protections against them. This section is based on the
observations compiled from the sources listed in the
footnotes.
Network Game Security Issues
With the rise of casual games, security has
become a much more serious challenge. While the
game industry has always been concerned about
piracy, new platforms, new business models, and
the power and speed of networks have created new
security problems for game developers, publishers
and operators. These problems rapidly become more
serious for networked games since word-of-mouth
and long term relationships drive sales and revenue
more than just slick packaging and marketing. Network
game operators also face costs associated with
customer support and charge-backs that traditional
computer game publishers and developers have not
had to confront. The discussion that follows will try to
establish clearer definitions of game security issues.
Piracy
Piracy continues to be a problem for network
games. Digital Rights Management tools have joined
older physical media protection and various licensing
tactics to protect against unauthorized duplication.
Unfortunately,oncethesesystemshavebeendefeated,
there is no way to restore the game to a secure state.
Web game services do not have this problem as the
operation of the service provides some measure of
protection against piracy. Web game services do not
protect against duplication of legitimate copies of a
game - at best they typically prevent concurrent use
of a game account. In addition, it is also necessary to
protect not only the game itself, but all copyrighted
materials contained within the game, any and all

music, sounds, artwork, storylines, etc. that
are created or derived from copyrighted
work. A detailed discussion of these issues
as they relate to piracy can be found in our
discussion on DRM.
Ghost Servers & Doppelganger Services
Web games have given rise to a
new problem - creating pirate servers
and services, not just pirating games.
Though this problem is new, it is in some
sense worse than traditional piracy. The
game server or service operator has often
invested substantial resources in the game
infrastructure. Whether the game service
provider is trying to operate a subscription
service or simply providing a quality
Web service with marketing and license
registration features, the game service is
an important business asset. In the US, the
BnetD application that emulated Battle.
Net is an example. In Asia, the problem
has been more serious. Due to widespread
software piracy problems, subscriptions and
virtual goods are virtually the only viable
business strategies for game developers.
Unfortunately, pirates have set up alternate
game servers and hosting services
threatening the subscription revenues of
legitimate game developers and operators.
Data Spoofing
One of the simplest means to attack
games is to spoof the data passed between
participants. This is distinguished from
“State Spoofing” described below as altering
the local game state. Data spoofing may
consist of altering player actions, updates
to game state, or any other information
exchanged between game players. This can
occur at two levels: “on the wire”, after the
data has been sent; or internally, before the
data has been packaged and sent to the
remote location. Traditional security tools
such as encryption and digital signatures are
powerful methods to protect against “wire”
based or third party attacks.
Unfortunately for game developers,
these attacks are the least likely - game
players themselves are the most serious
threats to networked games. The malicious
alteration of data by a game player can only
really be stopped by effective verification
of the incoming data itself. This does have
serious design implications for networked
game programmers. If a game sends raw
game state updates to remote players, the
ability of the receiving game instance to
validate the changed state may be difficult.
Data exchanges that map to “player actions”
may be easier to validate as they correspond
to inputs to the game rules. Chess provides
a straightforward example: it is easier to
validate whether a Knight can move from
one position to another than to compare
the game board before and after the move
to determine if the new board could have
resulted from the old one.
State Spoofing & Disclosure
The local game state is inherently
vulnerable to attack. It sits on the computer
of the potential hacker and, if the game
is going to work, the game code has to
operate. The reverse engineering of the
game state and rules is virtually inevitable.
While there are tools to obfuscate code
and data, they can only delay the problem.
They may also introduce performance
and testing issues for the game developer.
The best approach is to design game
software so that the known game state
does not damage the security of the game.
This may not be practical for games with
rigorous performance requirements and low
bandwidth. As discussed above with data
spoofing, the alteration or manipulation
of the local game state should not permit
an advantage against other players. The
worst-case scenario should be the cheater
simply falling out of synch with the rest of
the players.
Net Time Manipulation
“TimeHacks”havebeenoneofthemost
persistent problems for network games.
By manipulating the apparent lag between
players’ computers, cheaters can give
themselves a performance edge. A hybrid
between time hacks and data manipulation
hacks is to overload a receiving system
with more actions than should be allowed
within a given time interval (more moves
or shots than should be permitted). Part of
the rules validation discussed above should
be temporal rules, not just state-based
rules. Maintaining time synchronization is
a problem for computer games, but actually
Web Chess faces a worse problem - trying
to control the game clock in a manner that is
fair to all players.
Score Spoofing
One of the simplest ways to encourage
participation in Web games is through a
shared high score board. Unfortunately,
some players will spoof their score to
get on the high score board. If there is no
interaction between the game application
and the game provider, it is very difficult
to detect such spoofs. Hackers will reverse
engineer the game application to determine
what they need to do to submit a high score.
If the game is implemented so that it is
completely interactive with the game host,
such spoofs can be stopped; the problem
with this approach is the bandwidth and
processing requirements to support this
approach.
Tournament Collusion & “Playing with
Yourself”
One of the fastest growing portions
of the network game business is offering
tournaments. As usual, hackers follow
the market. For tournaments, players can
collude with other players or create fake
player accounts to boost their ranking.
This problem is worst for free tournament
systems (the cost of registration and
play tends to naturally deter this tactic),
but could be a concern in games with
substantial prizes or other incentives.
Though various means can be used to
monitor who plays with whom, the best
method for official tournament games is
probably to randomly assign opponents and
change them regularly. This is well proven in
the traditional games world for card rooms.
Optimal Play
The problem of a “perfect player”
or “aimbot” is not exclusive to computer
games. In some sense, a card counter in
Blackjack is exactly the same - a player
following the rules of the game who is using
all of the information available to him to
his best advantage. This problem is more
of a game “system” or design issue than a
security problem - it would be much better
to remove optimal strategies from computer
games. It is more fun, after all if there
are meaningful strategic choices. A good
“aimbot” will be nearly indistinguishable
from a good player (barring other cheats, of
course).
Griefing
The in-game abuse of other players
has been a problem as long as network
games have. These players are carrying
out activities that are legal under the rules
of the game, but detrimental to the fun and
game experience of the other players. This
is no less important an issue than cheating
or hacking, but it does need to be countered
differently. Spawn killing (killing characters
where they enter or re-enter a game) and
camping (waiting in a location where a high
value creature or item will appear) are both
examples of the problem. Once again, good
game design practices are probably the best
mechanism to counter these issues. For
example, instead of having monsters created
at a fixed location, they could be created
through a probability model in an area
where an individual or party is roaming. By
eliminating the fixed location, the incentive
and advantage to camping goes away.
Outsourcing Play
Recent news reports have discussed
MMOG players outsourcing the “operation”
of their characters while they work or
sleep to other players in Russia and other

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