Recently, guest speaker Sheila Murphy talked to our class about video
games. As Sheila mentioned, video games are both a media format and a part of
our culture. They provide entertainment value, and we have recently seen media
convergence between games and other media. The growing importance of video
games in our society got me thinking about “serious games”, which are created
to teach a skill and aren’t necessarily designed for any entertainment value
other than to hold a player’s attention. I wanted to explore serious games in
depth so I did a little research on the practical applications of video games
to the real world. Interestingly, I found that video games are often used in
job training and in the military.
Video games have shown great promise when used in job training. In a
recent study at the University of Colorado, individuals trained with video
games had a much higher job performance in comparison to employees trained in
the conventional manner. In a study with over 6,000 trainees, people that were
trained using video games also had a significant “11% increase in factual
knowledge, a 14% higher skill-based knowledge level, and a 9% higher retention
rate than trainees in comparison groups.” One particular example of video games
being used for job training occurred at Cold Stone Creamery. The company
discovered that employees were scooping too much ice cream per serving which
led to losses in profit. In response, Cold Stone developed a video game to show
exactly how much ice cream should go in each scoop. My theory is that video
games are successful in job training because they can hold a player’s attention
far better than conventional training methods, leading to more interaction and
response by the employee. Video game training methods are far more engaging,
and they allow trainees unlimited amounts of practice1.
Video games are also used in the military. They teach recruits how to
use certain weapons and how to respond to certain combat situations.
Additionally, they even help soldiers cope with the mental and emotional strain
that serving in the military takes. This type of training is called
“stress-resilience or emotional coping” and it takes players step-by-step
through what they should expect to see in combat and how to deal with the
situation (in a virtual manner) before experiencing the real thing. The
military has also used video games to recruit urban youth through war-themed
games and helicopter simulations. This military recruitment of young gamers
through video games reminded me of Sheila’s thoughts about the convergence of
video games and other media, except taken to a whole new level. In recent
years, video games have converged with the military’s training and recruitment
systems2.
Video games have become ingrained in our culture as a media format,
but they are also used for extremely important applications to the real world,
including employee training and the military. In both cases, video games have
proven to be very successful when implemented correctly as they thoroughly
engage the player’s attention and allow an individual to practice in a virtual
world before attempting the real thing.
Source 1:
Source 2:
I remember using a typing computer game when i was younger and i am still reaping the benefits from that. I think its weird that we can call them all video games yet they have so many different meanings and connotations. But, nonetheless, however you feel about games there is no denying the reality that this is how our brains are starting to work through games and visual representations.
ReplyDeleteI think that video games definitely have a lot to offer our society today. Because of our obsession with digital media, I think that video games are going to start becoming more and more present in our culture. Video games are already being used for education and for job training, however, in the future I think that this practice will be much more popular. Like you said, video games are already used in our culture for very important reasons such as for military training. Video games have a lot to offer: they are visual, interactive, and engaging. When used for beneficial purposes like education video games can be an extremely beneficial tool!
ReplyDeleteI never thought about video games in that way before. When I think of video games, I think of how they take us to a place we would not be able to go without the game. Many games are unrealistic like the new SSX snowboarding game, or games take us to an unfamiliar place like the Grand Theft Auto series. Even sports games take us to a professional or college level that most of us will never attain. Your post explains how practical and pragmatic video games can be. Even war video games don't take us to the place that these war simulations can. If this is where war video games can take us now, imagine where the future of video games will be in five years or ten years to the common man. Who knows what the future of video games can be if this is what we can accomplish now? In the post above, I enjoyed how Mallory spoke about educational video games. This is another area where video games can be used because students these days are looking to learn in different ways. They are way more technologically skilled than we were as students in elementary school, and educational video games could help them learn tremendously. The possibilities for video games are endless.
ReplyDelete