Comments on: How Gamers Will Save The World

By: Games will save the world « ratCong

Games will save the world « ratCong — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:22:05 +0000

[...] How Gamers will Save the World [...]

By: Corrupted Blood Conclusions | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Corrupted Blood Conclusions | Rock, Paper, Shotgun — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:30:24 +0000

[...] can help save the world,” says Fefferman. Damn right. [...]

By: Initialised

Initialised — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:31:21 +0000

I make no apology for linking my thinking with computer technology.

I’d like to add a cure for nightmares to the list of the positive effects of video games.

On a number of occasions (mostly in my teens) if I got stuck on a game I would dream the solution. Next day I try it it works! As games shifted to more immersive 3d worlds (Quake 2 stands out as a turning point) I found that I could use this ability to transpose a game world onto a nightmare scenario and fight back. Later I learnt about lucid dreaming so gaming facilitated this by providing my imagination with the backdrop in which I become the hero instead of the victim, often with comic consequences.

In some ways this is the opposite of what people would expect. But I guess that because lots of games (especially first person shooters) put you in a nightmare scenario and you learn how to get through it. The more real the fear feels in a game the more training you have in dealing with it in other situations. Is this actually deeper than simple ‘desensitisation’? I would say yes as desensitisation would imply adopting learned helplessness: it’s happening, you’ve seen it before but you can’t do anything about it. Whereas in a game it’s happening but there is a way to stop it or get through it (without hitting escape), you’ve just got to find it, not watch someone else get through it like in a film. You have to find a way so you learn the strategies for doing so. As game worlds get more real this process can more easily migrate into other situations. Just like how a spell checker can improve spelling or a stylus/tablet can improve handwriting (maybe doctors should be given those for writing notes!).

Games that allow the player constrained freedom in achieving a goal can be useful in showing the player where their strengths lie thus putting them in a better position to succeed in the real world. I guess that this is what the article is getting at and maybe games can succeed where book learning, career guidance and aptitude testing can fall short, bridging the gap between knowledge and experience.

By: LinkoGRAfia (6) « Altergranie

LinkoGRAfia (6) « Altergranie — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:46:13 +0000

[...] How Gamers Will Save The World. Artykuł pierwotnie opublikowany w brytyjskim magazynie PC Gamer autorstwa jednego z najlepszych branżowych dziennikarzy, Jima Rossignola. Dobre podsumowanie pozytywnych zastosowań gier w różnych dziedzinach życia udowodnionych przez badania z ostatnich lat. [...]

By: What he said. « Just Another Meme Vector

What he said. « Just Another Meme Vector — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:08:33 +0000

[...] he said. There’s a good article on Rock, Paper, Shotgun germane to what I’ve been talking about here on Meme [...]

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:20:19 +0000

This was a great piece, I remember reading it in PCG. Some really nice examples in it.

By: Pod

Pod — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:21:25 +0000

The the poop did I just capitalised AIDS?!

You guys really need an edit button….

By: Pod

Pod — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:20:56 +0000

Operation Flashpoint, Close Combat and the original original wireframey Battle Zone are 3 games I can name off the top of my head that have been used by different militaries (American and British for these ones) as training AIDS.

By: StolenName

StolenName — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:46:47 +0000

I have but one request; please post these amazing articles in two pieces so we’ve got time each day to absorb everything you’ve written.

Regardless, that’s an amazing article and you’ve given me the name of September 12th, which I’ve been trying to remember for months and months now!

By: Thiefsie

Thiefsie — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:07:40 +0000

from the first website: VBS1 is currently used for military training by the following organisations:

* Australian Defence Force
* United States Marine Corps
* United States National Guard
* United States Secret Service
* Isreali Defence Force

By: Thiefsie

Thiefsie — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:06:25 +0000

Hmm thinking about this a little more I remembered the VBS, or Virtual Battle Space simulator which I think is based on the Operation Flashpoint technology and is actually in use by the Australian Army for training purposes. (Developed by Bohemia Interactive Australia)

http://www.virtualbattlespace.com/ and http://virtualbattlespace.vbs2.com/

By: Thiefsie

Thiefsie — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:42:13 +0000

If this interests you Jim, for your book.. down in Melbourne, Australia here, I myself know that the University of Melbourne (Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning) involves Sim City as a compulsory part of a subject for the Urban Planning degree (or used to a year or two ago).

And also RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) uses the Unreal Engine as a compulsory part of their 3D visualisation subjects for Architecture and Interior Design as well as Multimedia. You can find one of their assignment outlines here: http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/~rpyjp/projects_2005/projects_2005.html in the Green ‘The Game Project’ section of that page, which is for a Multimedia course… the Architecture/Interior design subject is a lot more involving and students are pushed to develop and debug and prototype ‘conceptual’ space that is of course quite impossible in real life, also incorporating an aural element, as opposed to something purely spacial, or visually and movement based.