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PA199
Advanced Game Design
Lecture 9
Serious Games and Virtual Environments
Dr. Fotis Liarokapis
29th April 2019
Serious Games
Essential Game Elements
• Huizinga (1950)
– Free activity, outside “ordinary” life, not “serious”
– Absorbs the player
– No material interest or profit
– Distinct Boundaries of time and space
• Caillois (1961)
– Free (voluntary), separate (time and space)
– uncertain, unproductive, governed by rules, make-
believe
• Salen and Zimmerman (2003)
– A system in which players engage in an artificial conflict,
defined by rules, that results in a quantifiableoutcome
Serious Games - A Definition
• Describes computer games that are not
limited to the aim of providing entertainment
that allow for collaborative use of 2D/3D
spaces but are also used for different
purposes in a number of application domains
Anderson, E.F., McLoughlin, L., Liarokapis, F., Peters, C., Petridis, P., de Freitas, S. Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review,
Virtual Reality, Springer, 14(4): 255-275, 2010. (ISSN: 1359-4338)
Serious Games - Another Definition
• Bergeron, (2006): “a serious game is an
interactive computer application, with or
without a significant hardware component,
that: has a challenging goal, is fun to play
and/or engaging, incorporates some concept
of scoring, and imparts to the user a skill,
knowledge, or attitude that can be applied in
the real world.” (pg. xvii)
And Another Definition
Laamarti, F., Eid, M., El Saddik, A. An Overview of Serious Games, International Journal of Computer Games Technology, Article ID 358152, 2014.
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Milestones in the History of SG
Laamarti, F., Eid, M., El Saddik, A. An Overview of Serious Games, International Journal of Computer Games Technology, Article ID 358152, 2014.
Advantages of Games
• Motivation/Engagement
• Interactivity
• Mechanic is the Learning
– To beat the game is to learn the message/skill
– But only when done right, very difficult
– Beyond content to problem solving/systems learning
• Adaptive to the Learner
• Real-Time Assessment
– Analytics/Data/Log Files
Simulations and Games
• Squire (2003) examples of uses:
– Manipulate otherwise unalterable variables
– Enable students to view phenomena from new
perspectives
– Observe systems behavior over time
– Pose hypothetical questions to a system
– Visualize a system in three dimensions
– Compare simulations with their understanding of
the system
Goals of Serious Games
• Flow (Csikszentmihalyi)
– Balancing challenge
• See next slides
• Scaffolding
• “Transfer” Knowledge
• System Understanding
• Attitude/behavior change
FLOW
• FLOW is the mental state of
operation in which a
person performing an
activity is fully immersed in
a feeling of energized
focus, full involvement, and
enjoyment in the process
of the activity
– Characterized by complete
absorption in what one does
Mental state in terms of challenge level and skill level,
according to Csikszentmihalyi's flow model
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
FLOW Components
• Six factors are encompassing a FLOW experience:
– Intense and focused concentration on the present
moment
– Merging of action and awareness
– A loss of reflective self-consciousness
– A sense of personal control or agency over the situation
or activity
– A distortion of temporal experience, one's subjective
experience of time is altered
– Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also
referred to as autotelic experience
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
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Serious Games Taxonomy Another Taxonomy
Laamarti, F., Eid, M., El Saddik, A. An Overview of Serious Games, International Journal of Computer Games Technology, Article ID 358152, 2014.
Prensky’s Classification
Content Learning activities Possible Game Styles
Facts Questions, memorization Game show, competitions
Skills Imitation, coaching, practice Role-play, adventure
Judgment Reviewing cases, asking
questions, making choices
Role play, strategy
Behaviours Imitation, feedback, practice Role playing games
Theories Logic, experiment, questioning Simulation, game creation
Reasoning Problems, examples Puzzles
Process Analysis, deconstruction, practice Strategy, adventure
Procedures Imitation, practice Timed, reflex games
Creativity Play Puzzles, invention games
Language Imitation, practice, immersion Role play, reflex games
Systems principles, tasks, simulation Simulation games
Observation Observing, feedback Concentration, adventure
Communication Imitation, practice Role playing, reflex games
More Than Just Games
• A trend towards the
development of more
complex, serious games,
which are informed by
both pedagogical and
game-like, fun elements
– Application area of game
engines and online virtual
environments
Early Example of Serious Games Serious Games Forms
• Serious games can exist in the
form of:
– Simple web-based solutions
– Online virtual environments
– More complex ‘mashup’
applications
– ‘Grown-up’ computer games
– Mixed reality games
– Mobile applications
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Typical Example Serious Games State-of-the-Art
• The state-of-the-art in Serious
Game technology is identical
to the state-of-the-art in
Entertainment Games
technology
– They share the same technical
infrastructure
Serious Games Uses
• Learning & Education
• Health Sciences
• Advertising
• Training
• Science and Research
• Art/Statement
• Journalism
Serious Games Strengths
• The main strengths could be
generalised as being in the areas
of:
– Communication
– Visual expression of information
– Collaboration mechanisms
– Interactivity
– Entertainment
Requirements Gathering
• Need to work with Subject
Matter Experts (SME’s) to define
learning/training content versus
simply creating gameplay out of
thin air
– Game designers must work with
instructional designers
– Developers must effectively
become SME’s themselves
Challenges
• Access to SME’s
• Access to environments
• Access to equipment
• Finding SME’s fully
knowledgeable in training content
• Creating SGs without simply
creating a simulation
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Serious Games Views
• Entertainment is more
important!
– While pedagogy is an implicit
component of a SG it should be
secondary to entertainment
• Education and pedagogy is
more important!
– Design methodologies for the
developmentof games
incorporating pedagogic
elements
Anderson, E.F., McLoughlin, L., Liarokapis, F., Peters, C., Petridis, P., de Freitas, S. Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review,
Virtual Reality, Springer, 14(4): 255-275, 2010. (ISSN: 1359-4338)
Engagement / Fun
• … with what & why?
• In Traditional Teaching:
– Engagement with Content is Primary
• In Entertainment Games:
– Engagement with Tasks are Primary
• To a Professional Educator:
– Learning is Predictable
• To a Professional Game Developer:
– Fun is Predictable
Serious Game Design
• The Context and Needs determine objectives
• The Learning Objectives need to be stated
• The Player Motivation needs to be defined
• The Ideal Learning Environment for this
context, objectives, and desired outcomes
must be defined
• The Learning Environment must dictate
% game play and % authentic simulation
Affective/Cognitive Balance
• Affective presentation
(game) effective when
content knowledge is
low and content density
is also low
• As content knowledge
goes up then content
density may rise but
authenticity and
functionality (Sim) must
also rise
The Player Experience
• Cognition – changes in cognitive and affective domains
• Metacognition –all that the player is aware of including:
– Vision, audio, olfactory, kinesthetic, and haptic senses, plus
an awareness of time, objects, & content
• Choice – perception of:
– Degree of control, and access to variables and information
during game play
• Action – perception that they can do things such as:
– Interact with objects and elements within the game, have
control of objects, elements, and own identity, have mobility
to move through the environment, manipulate control
interface to effect change
Game Structure
• Content
– The story, the context, the amount of information
available, the degree of concreteness or abstraction of
the content, the authenticity, and its variability
• Environment
– The virtual spaces and boundaries, the objects within
these spaces and their functionality capabilities, plus any
time limits imposed by the game
• Affordances
– The abilities made for the player to change, manipulate,
the objects, information, environment, their identity &
capabilities, and/or to seek alternative information
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Experiential Mode Triage Four Dimensional Framework
Four elements that can be used as design and evaluation criteria for the creation of serious
games
Exploratory Game-Based Learning
Model
Serious Games Multidimensional
Interoperability Framework
http://seriousgamessociety.org/index.php/2014-07-11-14-15-51/explore/134-media/388-serious-game-interoperability-the-good-the-better-a-the-optimal
Conceptual Framework
http://www.slideshare.net/AmriYusoff/vsgames2010-v3
Serious Games Markets
2007 Self-Paced E-Learning: $13.6 Billion
5-year annual growth rate: 22%
2006 Real-Time Collaboration-Based Learning: $2.6 Billion
5-year annual growth rate: almost 35%
Real-time Collaboration-based Learning is fastest growing learning technology in US
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Academic Impact
Serious games growth in the research field based on surveyed papers in
ACM digital library and IEEE Xplore
Laamarti, F., Eid, M., El Saddik, A. An Overview of Serious Games, International Journal of Computer Games Technology, Article ID 358152, 2014.
Gamification
• Gamification is the application of game-design elements
and game principles in non-game contexts
• Gamification commonly employs:
– Game design elements
– Organizational productivity
– Flow
– Learning
– Employee recruitment and evaluation
– Ease of use and usefulness of systems
– Physical exercise
– Etc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification
Gamification Framework
http://www.kickframe.com/blog/2014/11/4/gamification-framework
Gamification vs Serious Games
http://www.gamified.uk/gamification-framework/differences-between-gamification-and-games/
Case Studies
Serious Games in Health
Second Health
NPL, Imperial,
SGI
http://www.seriousgamesinstitute.co.uk/
Triage Trainer
TruSim, TSB,
VEGA Group,
Birmingham,
SGI
Preview
St Georges,
JISC,
SGI
NanoMedicine
Playgen,
SGI
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NanoMedicine Video Triage Trainer Case Study
• The game is set at the scene
of an explosion in a busy
high street
– Player’s job is to prioritise the
multiple casualties for
treatment
– Trainees must follow set
protocols to make decisions
http://www.trusim.com/?page=CaseStudy
Triage Trainer Video RomaNova Case Study
• Serious game taking place
in a replica of the antique
city of Rome
• Aim is to teach history to
young audiences
– By means of an original
engaging experience where
the player is immersed in a
crowd of virtual Romans
Doulamis, A., Liarokapis, F., Petridis, P., Miaoulis, G. Serious Games for Cultural Applications, Intelligent Computer Graphics 2011, Studies in Computational
Intelligence, Plemenos, D., Miaoulis, G. (Eds.), Springer-Verlag, Volume 374/2012, 97-115, 2011. (ISBN: 978-3-642-15689-2)
Learning in Roma Nova
• Levels of detail and levels of
simulation for:
– Crowd modelling
– Animation techniques for cultural
heritage
– Pedagogical embedded
conversational agents
• Seeking to advance information
transfer through immersive
‘living background’
Level of Interaction Framework
• The LoI is a framework designed to model the
interactions between the player and virtual
characters, in a serious games perspective
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Roma Nova Video
Online Virtual
Environments
Virtual Environments (VEs)
• VEs are synthetic representations of reality
– Focused on the experience that the users of these
worlds have
– Can be used by distributed groups of large numbers
of players, and are immersive and interactive
• Many types exist
– Focus is on Online Virtual Environments
• Sometimes called ‘Collaborative Virtual Environments’
Virtual Environments Experience
• Sensory Feedback – information
about the virtual world is
presented to the participant’s
senses
– Visual (most common)
– Audio
– Touch
– Smell
• Interactivity – the virtual world
responds to the user’s actions
– Computer makes this possible
– Real-time
Walking Experiment at
UNC – Chapel Hill
Online VEs
• New ways of exploring webbased
applications
– Evolution of telecommunication
technologies, web-services and
software engineering
• Great range of different online
virtual environments
– More than 100 different ones
Collaborative Virtual Environments
• “Collaborative Virtual Environments (CVEs) are
online digital places and spaces where we can be
in touch, play together and work together, even
when we are, geographically speaking, worlds
apart…
• In CVEs we can share the experience of worlds
beyond the physical” [Churchill/Snowdon/Munro
2001]
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Key Components
• Graphic engines
• Displays
– Monitors, HMDs, etc
• Interaction devices
– Keyboard, mouse, trackers, etc
• Processing Systems
• Data Network
Types of VEs
• High realism online virtual
gaming platforms
– Custom, more experimental
prototypes
– Online game engines
• Alternative online virtual
environments
– Second Life, Active Worlds,
OLIVE platform, etc
Typical Issues
• Some common research issues include:
– What is the best virtual environment
– What is the level of realism and interaction
required
– How best to design activities and experiences for
learners
Basic Architecture
Common Virtual
World
Current Challenges
• Network Bandwidth/Latency
• Heterogeneity
• Distributed Interaction (real-time)
• Resource Management - Scalability
Networking Concepts
• Latency
– Amount of time to transfer a bit of data from one
point to another
– Latency has a direct impact on interaction inside
the virtual world
– The designer cannot really reduce latency
• It is possible to hide it or reduce its impact
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Networking Concepts .
• Latency - causes:
– Physical limitations: speed of electromagnetic
waves in the transmission material
• Approximately 8.25 msec per time zone
– Delays introduced by the endpoint computers
– Delays introduced by the network itself
• Routers
Networking Concepts ..
TCP Small number of users
Limited data requirements
Typically client-server
configuration
UDP Higher data requirements
Used both in client-server and
peer-to-peer configurations.
IP Broadcasting Small peer-to-peer Net VEs with
high data requirements and time
sensitive delivery.
IP Multicasting Large peer-to-peer NetVEs, be
careful with routers.
Architectures
• Client-Server Systems
– Logical architecture
Server
Client 1 Client 2 Client n…
Architectures .
• Client-Server Systems
– Physical architecture with phone lines
Server
Client 1 Client 2 Client n…
Phone Line Phone Line Phone Line
Architectures ..
• Client-Server Systems
– Physical architecture on a LAN
Client 1 Client 2 Client n
…
Server
Architectures …
• Client-Server Systems
– The Server can become a bottleneck.
– What are the advantages? The server can decide::
• Which clients should receive a message.
• What protocol to use with different clients.
• Sub-sample messages to slow users.
• Keep statistics
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Architectures ….
• Multiple-Server Architectures
Server 1
Client 1 Client 2 Client n…
Client 1 Client 2 Client n
Server 2
…
Architectures …..
• Multiple-Server Architectures
– Several servers have the following advantages:
• System scales better
• Communication between clients attached to different
servers takes longer
• Key issue: how to assign clients to servers?
Architectures …..
• Peer-to-peer
NETWORK
Client 1
Client 2
Client n
Architectures ……
• Peer-to-peer
– “Network” will be:
• Broadcast
• One or multiple multicast groups
– In the case of multicast groups:
• Area of Interest Management: assign different users to
different multicast groups, based on some criteria
Technology Comparison
Technology Speed
(Kbps)
Min #
players
Max #
players
Modem 56 1 6
DSL 1500 39 163
T-1 1500 39 163
10BT 10,000 263 1085
100BT 100,000 2630 10851
Second Life – An example
• A typical illustration of
online virtual environments
is Second Life
– 13 million registered accounts
worldwide
• An open source approach
exists
– OpenSim
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Second Life Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQkYBbM9YyM
Case Studies
OpenSim Case Study
• Online Virtual Learning
Environment
– OpenSim
• Open source
• Creates dynamic online VEs
• Allows customisation
• Supports different database
systems
• Aim:
– Teach computer graphics
University UG students
Jaligama. V, Liarokapis, F. An Online Virtual Learning Environment for Higher Education, Proc. of the 3rd International Conference in Games and Virtual
Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-Games’11), IEEE Computer Society, Athens, Greece, 4-6 May, 207-214, 2011. (ISBN: 978-0-7695-4419-9)
Virtual Learning Environment
User-System Interaction Administrator Privileges
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Online VE Location Modelling
Virtual Fun Zone Online Teaching
• A 2nd year computer science undergraduate
module has been ported into our online virtual
learning environment
– Called ‘3D Graphics Programming’ and introduces 3D
computer games graphic programming
fundamentals to the students
• The theoretical part covers issues such as
textures, global illumination and the simulation
of physical phenomena
Online Virtual Classroom User Evaluation
• Two-stage evaluation with 20 participants was
performed and qualitative and quantitative
feedback was recorded
– Participants ranged from students to business
professionals
– Evaluation lasted for approximately 1 hour per
participant
• All end-users had some experience with
computer games, console games or online
virtual environments
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Qualitative Evaluation
• On the positive side, most participants noted
that the platform is quite enjoyable and has a
lot of potential for remote learning
• On the negative side, some participants did
not like the idea of spending some time to
familiarise with the platform
Feedback
Distance Learning Experience
Virtual Learning Experience
Audio-Visual Effectiveness
Other Virtual Activities
Video 1 Video 2
Video 3 Videos
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ5vzsNugV
Q&feature=mfu_in_order&playnext=1&videos=
_6TNubnT0To
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI7nrORinrg
&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGf9BTGsA
B8
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5itQRi7Sog
&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
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VS-Games Conferences
• VS-Games 2009, Coventry, UK
– http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.js
p?punumber=5116537
• VS-Games 2010, Braga, Portugal
– http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.js
p?punumber=5458389
• VS-Games 2011, Athens, Greece
– http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.js
p?reload=true&punumber=5962074
IEEE VS-Games 2018
• Dates:
– Submission: 30th April 2018
– Conference: 5-7 September 2018
• Location: Würzburg, Germany
• Website: https://vsgames.org/2018/
Conclusions
• Serious games are becoming more and more
popular
– Expected to get ‘serious’ profits in the games
industry
• Computer graphics technology is the same
– For games and serious games
• More research is required in many areas
– HCI, personalisation and pedagogy
Bibliography
• de Freitas, S. & Maharg, P. (Eds) (2011) Digital Games and
Learning. London and New York: Continuum Press
• de Freitas, S. & Oliver, M. (2006). How can exploratory
learning with games and simulations within the curriculum
be most effectively evaluated? Computers and Education,
46 (3): 249-264
• Michael, D. & Chen, S. (2006) Serious Games: Games that
Educate, Train and Inform. Boston, MA: Course Technology
PTR
• Salen, K & Zimmerman, E. (2003) Rules of Play, MIT Press
• Bergeron, B. (2006) Developing Serious Games, Thomson
Questions