Serious Games Offer Players Experience Without Risk
Finding a popular flight simulator serious game 'X-Plane' was going be no longer
supported by its developer, a world-wide campaign was started by the many thousands of users to urge the developer to continue the program and to develop the next generation. A low cost flight simulator is important in pilot training and safe flying. War games training soldiers helps save lives and provide valuable training in combat type situations without endangering the participants.
A medical surgery simulator offers doctors the opportunity to be able to do many more surgeries than they would be able to do otherwise, practicing their skills vital to their patients success before they ever see a live patient. A port simulator offers an important view of managing a safe harbour and provides operators experience, without real world risk.
Serious games are games that have a primary purpose above amusement and entertainment. They are designed to make the people playing them think and develop skills like leadership, team building and follow through. These are manifested in military simulation games that train soldiers and engage tactics that might manifest on the battlefield. Flight simulators are a type of serious game, giving participants the opportunity to go through multiple takeoffs, flights and landings without ever setting foot in an aircraft or risking their safety. Serious games are designed to engage the minds of their participants to realize a further goal than the casual gamer who plays military battle simulations.
However, because the government is realizing recruits and military personnel who play simulation games become better soldiers, it has started recruiting game developers to create games that are serious and designed to train for battle. Military games are not the only serious games. Medical simulations of surgery and health care scenarios are helping train a future breed of health care provider that is quicker to understand a medical situation and provide exceptional care.
Educational games are serious games that help a student learn and grasp principles of different subjects faster than other methods of teaching. Many of the children born today understand gaming as a type of second nature and respond quicker to educational games than they do a classroom situation. Game developers are seeking to make the learning environments fun and easy to understand. A serious game does not have to boring or graphic free. The form of user friendly interaction is limited only by the game developers' imagination, just as with any other video or computer game.