This talk investigates the potential power of serious games and examines some of the future applications. It will highlight a few government sponsored development efforts and look at the positives and negatives of becoming a virtualized society. As games become a deeper reflection of the values we hold from this reality, what do you personally hope to discover through the power of your play?
Nobody? Be honest now. How many of you have played Halo? Modern Warfare?I’m not necessarily talking about “real life.” In my experience eventually around 75% of a 13-30 year old audience raises their hand.
Yes, that video is designed to illicit a reaction. “Eew.” Don’t like it? Kids see way worse as part of their daily lives. And the technology is getting driving things towards greater realism.I’ve linked to the full YouTube video but you’ll get the idea after a minute or two. “Play” is a great film, but if you’re short on time can continue the presentation.
How does that video make you feel? What’s wrong with it? No…. Sense? Emotion? Ethics? Morality? Meaning?
We are creating a powerful new interactive medium. How can it help?
Your government has been hard at work with potentially both positive and negative results. Here are a few of the positive ones…
NOAA’s first island opened Jan 2007, a first person experience of NOAA science. These are postcards of some of my experiences.NOAA now has over 10 islands in Second Life alone and ispart of Scilands(http://www.scilands.org/) that has over 70 regions.
The technology is improving and with it the feeling of immersion. This world was created using entirely open source software and the content was released under the creative commons. It’s a product called realXtend and is running in Amazon’s cloud.
The Proposition: a statement you can accept as either true or false.
We’ve seen other tools throughout history. Nuclear power may some day solve our energy crisis. I’m not trying to be political. It has a potential upside….
…but also a downside.
Video games are another tool. Here is a product we’ve been working on that crosses “Sim Earth’ with NOAA science and a virtual world environment. The world seen here is a single game piece, multiple worlds are networked together to form a competitive environment. Maybe someday through the power of collective intelligence good outcomes in the game could help us learn about the real world.
NOAA is not alone in these investigations. Chevron’s version claims that breakthroughs in technologies will alleviate fears over the oil supply. Incidentally, this is regardless of any choices the player makes during the game. Subtle? IMHO, not so much. What messages do the games you play deliver?
Other things might include fidelity to the real world, surfacing healthful issues, struggles that lead people to good solutions, insights that enable persons to better cope with their real situations, etc. What is interesting to me is that…
…some of the same game characteristics that make a good game also help make good employees. Teamwork, self motivating, a rewarding work environment. We need to take the lessons we learn during play and apply them to our working environments.
As technology improves, immersion progresses, our connections to these realities will increase. Consider the following film.
Virtual worlds are still in their infancy , but as this time approaches what are we doing to prepare? If the emotional impact on humanity is the equivalent regardless if an experience is real, what does this mean to the “real world?”
The Matrix analogy is strong but potentially negative so what are some positive conclusions? It’s a question left to the viewer.Thanks for sticking with the presentation until the end!