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A serious game is a Software application developed with Game technology and Game Design principles for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. OVERVIEW Long before the term "serious game" came into wide use with the Serious Games Initiative in 2002 , games were being developed for non-entertainment purposes. The continued failure of the edutainment space to prove profitable, plus the growing technical abilities of games to provide realistic settings, led to a re-examination of the concept of serious games in the late 1990s . During this time, a number of scholars began to examine the utility of games for other purposes, including early work by Henry Jenkins at MIT in collaboration with Randy Hinrichs at Microsoft Research, and books such as Janet Murray's '' Hamlet on the Holodeck'', contributed to the growing interest in applying games to new purposes. Additionally, the ability of games to contribute to training expanded at the same time with the development of multi-player gaming. In 2002, the Woodrow Wilson International Center For Scholars in Washington D.C. launched a " Serious Games Initiative " to encourage the development of games that address policy and management issues. More focused sub-groups began to appear in 2004, including Games For Change which focuses on social issues and social change, and Games For Health which addresses health care applications. There is no single definition of serious games, though they are generally held to be games used for training, advertising, simulation, or education that are designed to run on Personal Computer s (such as a PC running Microsoft Windows or Linux ) or Video Game Console s (such as the Xbox or PlayStation 2 ). Alternate definitions include the application of games concepts, technologies and ideas to non-entertainment applications. Serious games can be similar to Educational Game s, but are often intended for an audience outside of primary or secondary education. Serious games can be of any Genre and many of them can be considered a kind of Edutainment . A serious game may be a Simulation which has the Look And Feel of a game, but corresponds to non-game events or processes, including Business Operations and Military Operations . The games are intended to provide an engaging, self-reinforcing context in which to motivate and educate the players. Other purposes for such games include Marketing and Advertisement . The largest users of SGs are the US government and Medical Professionals . Other commercial sectors are actively pursuing development of these types of tools as well. DEVELOPMENT The concept of using games for education dates back before the days of Computer s, but the first serious game is often considered to be ''Army Battlezone'', an abortive project headed by Atari in 1980 , designed to use the '' Battlezone '' Tank Game for military training. In recent years, the US government and military have periodically looked towards Game Developers to create low-cost simulations that are both accurate and engaging. Game developer's experience with gameplay and Game Design made them prime candidates for developing these types of simulations which cost millions of Dollars less than traditional simulations, which often require special hardware or complete facilities to use. Outside of the government, there is substantial interest in games for education, professional training, healthcare, advertising and public policy. For example, games from Website s such as Newsgaming.com are "very political games groups made outside the corporate game system" that are "raising issues through media but using the distinct properties of games to engage people from a fresh perspective," says Henry Jenkins , the director of MIT's comparative media studies program. Such games, he said, constitute a "radical fictional work."1 Michigan State University offers a Serious Games MA, a Masters Of Arts graduate program and graduate certificate in serious game design. {Link without Title} Advantages Video and computer game developers are accustomed to developing games quickly and are adept at creating games that simulate—to varying degrees—functional entities such as Radar and Combat Vehicle s. Using existing infrastructure, game developers can develop games that simulate battles, processes and events at a fraction of the cost of traditional government contractors. Traditional simulators usually cost millions of dollars not only to develop, but also to deploy, and generally require the procurement of specialized hardware. The costs of media for serious games is very low. Instead of volumes of media or Computer s for high-end simulators, SGs require nothing more than a DVD or even a single CD-ROM , exactly like traditional computer and video games require. Deploying these to the field requires nothing more than dropping them in the mail or accessing a dedicated Web Site . Finally, while SGs are meant to train or otherwise educate users, they often hope to be engaging. Game developers are experienced at making games fun and engaging as their livelihood depends on it. In the course of simulating events and processes, developers automatically inject entertainment and playability in their applications. Game Impact Theory The very nature of games in Western society makes them a disruptive force. As Parker Brothers discovered in the late 19th and early 20th century, games have the power to influence society, though they must fit within societal norms. Today we see computer games extending their influence into the serious business of military operations, medical education, emergency management training, and many others. In doing this, game technology is jumping the gap between entertainment and work. Throughout the evolution of electronic and computer games, this gap has kept this technology out of business, largely because games were not seen as “serious” tools. Games have often been viewed as toys, not at tools for productivity. But the incredible power of the personal computer, graphics cards, broadband Internet connections, intelligent software agents, accurate physics models, and accessible user interface are making it impossible to ignore the potential of these “toys” to be applied to some very difficult problems in the "real business world". Game technologies have the power of technology, personal investment, financial profits, and social change behind them. Game impact theory proposes that there are five primary forces that are driving the adoption of game technologies for serious applications in a number of industries. The five forces described by this theory are:
In addition to being technologically powerful, these tools and techniques are becoming more socially acceptable, even socially desirable, as the people who experienced games as children become the next generation of leaders in business, government, and the military. "The forces that hone games, and gamers, have more to do with and the Oval Office , these technologies will continue to gain acceptance. The five forces of game impact theory attempt to describe why this is happening and provide a framework within which gamers, managers, and academics can evaluate game technology impacts on other industries. CLASSIFICATIONS AND SUBSETS OF SERIOUS GAMES The classification of Serious Games is something that is yet to solidify, there are however a number of terms in reasonably common use for inclusion here.
Additionally Julian Alvarez and Olivier Rampnoux (from the European Center for Children’s Products, University of Poitiers) have attempted to classify Serious Games in 5 main categories: Advergaming, Edutainment, Edumarket game, Diverted game and Simulation game. (Alvarez J., Rampnoux O., Serious Game: Just a question of posture?, in Artificial & Ambient Intelligence, AISB'07, Newcastle, UK, April 2007, p.420 to 423) EXAMPLES
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