ACLS Interactive developed a training game for paramedics to practice Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support skills. © 2004 Legacy Interactive. All rights reserved. Legacy Interactive is a trademark of Legacy Interactive Inc.

Along with the success of America’s Army came the decision to expand its scope and philosophy beyond the initial aim of just generating favorable PR for the military. “America’s Army is a communications tool,” says Colonel Casey Wardynski (who has a doctorate from Rand, and is a professor at West Point). “Players can download it for free from the Internet (at www.americasarmy.com), and use it to try on the role of soldier, virtually, and see if it’s something they want to do in real life.” There are limits on how wild the game can get. “The game teaches Army values,” says Wardynski. “Real soldiers review all pre-releases, and if they don’t like it, we don’t release it.” A new release, the Future Soldiers System, can actually be used to teach basics such as rules of engagement and first aid to prospective soldiers. “Kids at recruiting stations will use this, and we’ll be able to see how they’ll do in the Army, and they’ll show up at training camps more prepared and more confident,” notes Wardynski.

Colonel Casey Wardynski notes that the games teach army values and is an invaluable recruiting tool.

New military applications are now being developed for America’s Army that will not be released to the public. These include training courses for the Stryker armored Infantry Carrier Vehicle and for the Talon Robot, which is a small remote controlled vehicle used for destroying IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) in Afghanistan and Iraq. A new team has also been formed (and is hiring additional staff) to develop applications of America’s Army for other branches of the federal government.

Military and government training were by no means the only serious games applications at the conference. Medical training and therapy showed surprisingly strong interest; in fact, this area now has its own special conference (.gamesforhealth.orgA well known proponent of gaming, Dr. James Rosser of Beth Israel Medical Clinic, made headlines when his studies showed that surgeons practicing on videogames with hand-eye coordination performed laparoscopic surgery much faster and with fewer errors than non-players. One of the medical game developers, Legacy Interactive, is better known for its games based on popular TV shows such as Law and Order and ER. When asked to adapt its games to real life training, the company formed a Serious Games division, and is now releasing its ACLS Interactive, a training game for paramedics to practice Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support skills. Another such company, Wild Divine, makes a game with biofeedback for stress reduction and inducing meditative states.

Business games are also popular. A Scottish company at the conference named TPLD (www.tpld.ltd.uk) makes games for teaching team building and collaboration, both for business managers and for middle school students. First responders are also benefiting from advances in the game industry, via companies such as Dynamic Animation Systems (www.d-a-s.com/NFA.html, www.d-a-s.com/USFS.html), which creates command and control training simulations for firefighters.

One of the most interesting companies at the show was Visual Purple (www.visualpurple.com) of California, which created Angel Five, for crisis management training, Lethal Sky, for emergency room casualty treatment training, RestOps, for countering a chemical attack on an Airbase, and Wave Guide, a training game for special operations teams. Visual Purple’s games not only contain rich backstories, but the company is especially adept at guiding non-gamers through the game so that they get a valuable and satisfying experience without getting “lost in the simulation.” Many game developers that have experience only with entertainment games fail to appreciate that a Serious Game application may have trainees that are not 18 years old and that may never have played another videogame. Such customers need to be guided through a game, with effective motivation and feedback mechanisms, rather than the “throw them in the pool and see whether they can swim” approach that many entertainment developers seem to favor — it is all to easy for a newbie gamer to enter such a game environment, get lost or confused, and quit the game in frustration. Companies such as Visual Purple set the example for what is possible — games with rich content and challenge that are playable by communities of professionals.