This document provides an orientation to serious games. It begins with definitions of games in general, describing their essential elements such as goals, rules, challenges, and player involvement. It notes that while games do not require technology, most game-oriented learning initiatives are technology-based. The document then introduces the concept of "serious games", which are games designed for non-entertainment purposes like education, training, advocacy and problem solving. Examples of serious games are discussed and essential game terminology is outlined.

1.
AN
ORIENTATION
TO
SERIOUS
GAMES
Fall
2011
by
Anne
Derryberry
Analyst,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons
Producer/Designer,
I’m
Serious

2. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
2
Table
of
Contents
Sec@on
1:
What
Is
a
Game?
Sec@on
2:
The
Serious
Side
of
Games
Sec@on
3:
Examples
of
Serious
Games
Sec@on
3:
Essen@al
Terminology

3. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
3
WHAT
IS
A
GAME?
Sec@on
1

4. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
4
Common
Game
ARributes
• No
single,
unified
defini@on
of
“game”
• Essen@al
elements
include:
• Bounded
game
space,
including
ar@facts
• End-­‐state
goal
=
winning
• Conflict(s)
or
challenge(s)
• Rules
• Player(s)
• No
technology
requirement.
Most
game-­‐oriented
learning
ini@a@ves
are
technology-­‐based.

5. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
5
A
Game
Is
a
Complex
System
• Rules
• Variable
and
quan@fiable
outcomes
• Content,
context,
goals
are
factors
each
@me
game
is
played
• Outcomes
“economy”
• Both
posi@ve
(harder
to
reach)
and
nega@ve
(easier
to
reach)
• Reflected
through
levels,
points,
badges,
grades
• Player(s)
and
player
work/effort/investment
• Players
must
do
things
(e.g.
complete
tasks),
cannot
be
passive
• Player
aRached
to/invested
in
outcome
• What
the
player
does
influences
outcome,
not
just
chance
• Nego@able
consequences
Adapted
from
Jesper
Juul
hRp://www.@sch.nyu.edu/object/juul_gamectr.html
Danish
School
of
Design
and
NYU

6. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
6
A
Game
Is
a
Closed
System
• A
game
is
self-­‐contained
• It
doesn’t
require
or
rely
on
external
input
• It
doesn’t
provide
output
(e.g.,
a
student
record)
to
external
systems

7. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
7
Games
Are
Classified
by:
Approach
Purpose
Genre
Technology
to
Play
• Entertainment
• Role-­‐playing
• Solo
• Plaiorm
• Serious,
i.e.,
all
• Strategy
• Parallel
• Hardware
non-­‐ • Puzzle
• Social
• Sojware
entertainment
• Simula@on
• Coopera@ve/
• Hybrid
purposes,
e.g.,
collabora@ve
• First-­‐person
• Augmented
• Learning
shooter
• Compe@@ve
reality
(educa@on,
• Hidden
objects
• Alterna@ve
training,
reality
lifelong)
• Transmedia
• Advocacy
• Collabora@on
and
problem-­‐
solving
• Physical
fitness

8. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
8
Entertainment
Games
Are
Changing
Our
Lives
and
Culture
in
the
US
250"
145
47
215
29
21.6
26
200"
150"
100"
50"
0"
%"who"spend"money"on"games"
%"game"players"over"50"y.o."
Ac(ve"gamers,"in"millions"
Total"hours"played"per"day,"in"millions"
%"Internet"(me"playing"online"games"
Total"es(mated"spend"in"2011,"in"billions"
Sources:
US
Na6onal
Gamers
Survey,
conducted
June
2011
by
Newzoo
(www.newzoo.com/
ENG/1589-­‐Infograph_
US.html),
and
Humana
Games
(www.humana.com).

9. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
9
THE
SERIOUS
SIDE
OF
GAMES
Sec@on
2

10. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
10
“Entertainment
Games”
Make
Sense.
What
Are
Serious
Games?
• “Serious
games”
first
introduced
by
Clark
Abt
in
1970
in
book
of
same
name.
(hRp://www.abtassociates.com/page.cfm?PageID=452)
• Brought
to
wider
use
by
Woodrow
Wilson
Int’l
Center
for
Scholars
with
2002
launch
of
“Serious
Game
Ini@a@ve”
to
encourage
development
of
games
that
address
policy
and
management
issues.
Subsequently,
included
Games
for
Change
and
Games
for
Health.
(www.seriousgames.org)

11. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
11
Serious
Games
Meet
Computers
• Updated
defini@on
by
Mike
Zyda
in
2005*:
• a
mental
contest,
played
with
a
computer
in
accordance
with
specific
rules,
that
uses
entertainment
to
further
government
or
corporate
training,
educa@on,
health,
public
policy,
and
strategic
communica@on
objec@ves.
• NOTE:
Computers
were
“necessary”
because
this
defini@on
was
derived
for
use
by
the
Ins@tute
of
Electrical
and
Electronics
Engineers.
*
Zyda,
M.
2005,
From
visual
simula@on
to
virtual
reality
to
games.
IEEE
Computer,
Sept
2005.

12. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
12
Gartner
Hype
Cycle
for
Emerging
Technologies
Includes
Games
hRp://www.gartner.com/hc/images/215650_0001.gif

13. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
13
Many
Industries
and
Disciplines
Use
Serious
Games
to
Reach
Audiences
Marke@n
g
&
Adver@si
Govern The
Apply
Group
ng
ment
predicts
that
between
ate
100
and
135
of
the
C orpor g
Train
in Educa@on
Global
Fortune
500
s
Poli@c Work
will
have
adopted
pla
Perso ce/
games
for
learning
by
od
Produ nal
a l
Go the
end
of
2012,
with
Health c@vit
y
Soci
care
the
United
States,
United
Kingdom
and
Journalism
Germany
leading
the
y
Emergency
Militar way.
Services

14. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
14
Many
Forms/Formats
for
Serious
Games
-­‐
Known
by
Many
Names
• Learning
Games
• Newsgames
• Educa@on
games
• Immersive
Learning
• Training
games
Simula@ons
• Simula@on
games
• Social
Impact
games
• Virtual
Reality
Games
• Persuasive
Games
• Alternate-­‐Reality
Games
• Games
for
Change
• Edutainment
• Games
for
Good
• Digital
Game-­‐based
Learning
• Games
for
Health
• Synthe@c
Learning
• Gamifica@on
Environments
• Gamified
[whatever]
• Augmented
Reality
Games

15. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
15
Organiza@ons
Use
“Gamifica@on”
Techniques
to
Engage
Audiences
• Gamifica@on
=
game
dynamics
and
reward
systems
applied
to
an
online
experience
in
order
to:
• promote
awareness,
adop@on
and
aRachment
• induce
par@cipa@on
• make
tedious
content/ac@vi@es
seem
less
odious
• Based
on
behavior
management
systems
that
give
recogni@on
for
par@cipa@on,
engagement
via:
• Contests
• Badges
• Leaderboards

16. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
16
EXAMPLES
OF
SERIOUS
GAMES
Sec@on
3

17. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
17
Military
Corporate
Training
Defense
Acquisi@on
University
uses
games
Innov8,
the
IBM
Business
Process
and
simula@ons
in
three
different
Management
(BPM)
simula@on
game,
gives
ini@a@ves:
Games
in
Curriculum,
Games
in
both
IT
and
business
players
a
beRer
Con@nuous
Learning
Modules,
and
Mini-­‐ understanding
of
how
effec@ve
BPM
Games—each
of
which
was
created
with
impacts
an
en@re
business
ecosystem.
the
end
result
of
learning
in
mind.
hRp://www-­‐01.ibm.com/
hRps://clc.dau.mil/games
sojware/solu@ons/soa/innov8/index.html
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC

18. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
18
MarkeAng
Workplace/Personal
ProducAvity
Dunkin’
Donuts
uses
its
Facebook
page
to
Based
on
social
intelligence
research
put
up
games
to
promote
their
brand.
conducted
at
McGill
University,
MindHabits
Winners
win
coupons
to
purchase...
Dunkin’
presents
stress
bus@ng,
confidence
boos@ng
Donuts
food
items.
games
designed
to
help
players
develop
and
hRp://www.facebook.com/
maintain
a
more
posi@ve
state
of
mind.
DunkinDonuts?sk=app_116533491769429
hRp://www.mindhabits.com/index.php

19. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
19
Government
Emergency
Services
As
part
of
its
outreach
efforts
to
kids,
the
CIA
With
the
services
of
the
University
of
has
included
a
number
of
games
on
its
Maryland
CATT
LAB,
the
I-­‐95
Coali@on
has
website.
Games
“test”
players’
intelligence-­‐ designed
and
developed
a
virtual
traffic-­‐
gathering
abili@es.
incident
management
training
system
for
first
hRps://www.cia.gov/kids-­‐page/
responders.
games/index.html
hRp://www.caRlab.umd.edu/
index.php?page=research&a=00028

20. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
20
PoliAcs
Social
Good
Campaign
Game
is
a
poli@cally-­‐themed
turn-­‐ EVOKE
was
developed
by
the
World
Bank
based
tac@cal
combat
game.
You
choose
a
Ins@tute
as
a
“10-­‐week
crash
course”
in
candidate,
pick
your
staff,
and
literally
fight
it
changing
the
world.
It
is
free
to
play
and
is
out
with
the
opposi@on
—
slinging
mud,
open
to
everyone,
everywhere.
The
goal
of
launching
aRack
ads,
and
holding
rallies
to
the
game
is
to
help
empower
people
all
over
capture
states
and
earn
funds.
the
world
to
come
up
with
crea@ve
solu@ons
www.kongregate.com/games/
to
our
most
urgent
social
problems.
thup/campaign-­‐game
hRp://www.urgentevoke.com/

21. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
21
Journalism
Healthcare
Budget
Hero,
produced
by
American
Public
Humana’s
Famscape
is
an
online
experience
that
Media,
provides
an
interac@ve
experience
rewards
players
for
improving
their
real
world
involving
policy
op@ons
that
have
been
health
and
lifestyle.
An
online
community
of
extensively
researched
and
veRed
with
non-­‐ family
and
friends
mo@vates,
encourages
and
par@san
government
and
think
tank
experts
to
challenges
each
other
to
strive
for
and
sustain
enable
players
to
objec@vely
evaluate
healthy
living
and
a
balanced
life.
candidates.
hRp://www.myfamscape.com/
hRp://budgethero.publicradio.org/
widget/widget.php#

22. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
22
Problem-­‐solving
Charity
Foldit,
developed
at
the
University
of
Wetopia
is
a
social
game
on
Facebook.
Players
Washington,
aRempts
to
predict
the
structure
build
a
town,
and
use
the
Joy
points
they
earn
to
of
a
protein
by
taking
advantage
of
humans’
donate
to
children’s
chari@es
around
the
world.
puzzle-­‐solving
intui@ons
and
having
people
hRps://www.facebook.com/WeTopiaOfficial
play
compe@@vely
to
fold
the
best
proteins.
hRp://fold.it/portal/

23. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
23
ESSENTIAL
TERMINOLOGY
Sec@on
4

24. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
24
Essen@al
Terminology
Alternate-­‐reality
game
–
an
interac@ve
narra@ve
that
uses
the
real
world
and
game
elements
as
a
plaiorm
to
tell
a
story
that
may
be
affected
by
par@cipants'
ideas
or
ac@ons.
Ojen
involves
mul@ple
media,
in
which
case
can
be
referred
to
as
“transmedia
games”
Augmented-­‐reality
game
–
games
relying
on
a
live
direct
or
an
indirect
view
of
a
physical,
real-­‐world
environment
whose
elements
are
augmented
by
computer-­‐generated
sensory
input
such
as
sound,
video,
graphics
or
GPS
data
Casual
game
–
a
single-­‐player
game
that
can
be
completed
in
10-­‐20
minutes
Console
–
a
non-­‐PC
compu@ng
device
used
to
play
a
variety
of
games.
Can
be
handheld
using
no
Internet
connec@vity
(e.g.,
Nintendo
DS),
or
connected
to
a
TV
or
monitor
to
take
advantage
of
larger
screen
(e.g.,
PS2)
or
to
enable
Internet
access
(e.g.,
Xbox
Live).
Edutainment
–
a
game
category
that
emphasizes
fun,
yet
purports
to
offer
some
educa@on
value.
This
type
of
game
has
fallen
out
of
favor
since
there
is
typically
no
educa@onal
rigor
involved
in
the
game’s
design.
Flash
game
–
any
kind
of
game
that
is
built
in
Flash
and
is
accessed
via
web
browser.
Since
Flash
penetra@on
is
nearly
100%
in
web
browsers,
this
is
the
common
denominator
in
the
developer
community.

25. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
25
Terminology
(p.2)
Game
theory
–
an
economic
theory
to
describe
investor
decision-­‐making
Game
layer
–
alternate
term
for
gamifica@on
Game
mechanics/game
dynamics
–
the
interac@ons
between
players
and
the
game
Gamer
–
a
frequent
player
of
videogames.
Carries
some
nega@ve
stereotyping.
GamificaAon
–
the
prac@ce
of
applying
behavior
mo@va@ng
techniques
from
tradi@onal
games
to
non-­‐game
experiences
Gaming
–
gambling
(although
increasingly
used
for
nonbe~ng
games)
Immersive
environments
-­‐
characterized
by
Persistent
Mul@-­‐par@cipant
3D
Online/virtual
n.b.,
Not
all
immersive
environments
are
games,
and
not
all
games
employ
immersive
environments.
Mobile
game
–
requires
mobile
device
to
play

26. Fall
2011
Anne
Derryberry,
Sage
Road
Solu@ons,
LLC
26
Terminology
(p.3)
Mod
–
short
for
modifica@on.
Some
commercial
@tles
have
made
a
“kit”
available
to
enable
development
of
addi@onal
content
that
is
compa@ble
with
that
game’s
system.
Mods
can
be
extensions
of
the
original
game
design
or
can
take
a
game
in
an
en@rely
new
direc@on,
e.g.,
teaching/learning
purpose.
Online
game
–
a
game
that
requires
an
Internet
connec@on
to
play
Serious
game
–
a
non-­‐entertainment
game
SimulaAon
–
a
facsimile
of
RW
event(s)
without
RW
consequences.
Most
simula@ons
include
game
dynamics,
although
this
is
not
essen@al
to
the
category.
Social
game
–
a
casual
game
played
by
many
people
using
a
common
plaiorm
(e.g.,
Farmville
on
Facebook)
Videogame
–
a
non-­‐browser
based
online
game
Virtual
world
–
a
persistent,
3D,
digital
environment
(e.g.,
Second
Life).
Applica@ons
include
training/educa@on,
small-­‐
to
large-­‐group
collabora@on,
virtual
social,
pornography,
sales
and
marke@ng…
Games
may
or
may
not
be
included.