I’m fascinated by the potential for serious games. As an avid gamer myself, I’ve always been interested in how games can be used to help people learn and understand. In this blog post, I’ll explore some examples of how serious games have been used in education, military training, healthcare—and even immersive storytelling!
Education
Games can be an effective way to engage students and help them learn. Games can also help teachers teach, by providing a safe place for students to practice what they’ve learned.
In many cases, games are more effective than traditional teaching methods because they provide an engaging environment that encourages critical thinking skills–the kind of skills that allow us to solve problems on our own rather than simply memorizing facts or procedures from someone else’s perspective (e.g., the teacher).
Military training
The military is one of the most obvious use cases for serious games. The Department of Defense has been using them for decades, and there’s no reason to think this will change anytime soon. But what about civilians? Do we need to be trained in how to react when disaster strikes?
Civilians are not immune from being affected by natural disasters or man-made crises like terrorist attacks, so it makes sense that they should be prepared with training exercises that teach them how to respond appropriately when such events occur. In fact, many civilian organizations already employ serious games as part of their emergency response training programs (see below).
Serious gaming can also help prepare soldiers before they enter combat zones or other dangerous environments where knowledge about local customs could prevent unnecessary conflict between parties involved in an armed conflict–or even save lives!
Healthcare
I’m interested in serious games because they have the potential to improve healthcare.
- They can help patients understand their condition, which can lead to better compliance with treatment and fewer visits to the doctor’s office.
- They can help medical students learn about diseases and conditions without having to conduct actual experiments on living animals or human beings (currently illegal).
- They can help doctors practice their skills before performing surgery on real people–this is especially important for procedures that require specialized training, such as brain surgery or heart transplants.
- Finally, serious games may help doctors communicate better with patients by providing them with more information about what they’re going through while making it easier for them know what questions they need answered by their doctor during appointments
Immersive storytelling
So what’s so special about serious games? Well, unlike other types of video games (and even some non-game apps), they can be used to tell stories. And not just any story–they can help you understand complex situations and make decisions in real life. For example, if you’re interested in medicine or public health policy but don’t want to spend years studying these subjects at school, there are plenty of serious games that let you experience them firsthand without having to travel halfway across the country or spend thousands of dollars on tuition fees.
One example is Plague Inc., which lets players control the spread of diseases around the globe while competing against others online; another is Pandemic 2: State Of Emergency!, where players take charge of disease control centers around the world as they try their best not only contain outbreaks but also figure out who has been infected before it’s too late.[1]
Serious games are a growing industry that can help us learn and understand.
As a teacher, I’m interested in games because they can be used to help us learn and understand. Games have been shown to be effective at engaging students with difficult material and helping them retain information longer than other methods of instruction. Games also allow us to explore new ideas in an interactive way that’s fun for everyone involved. For example, serious games have been used by organizations like Doctors Without Borders as training tools for doctors working abroad who need help understanding complex situations before they arrive on site–which means fewer mistakes being made by aid workers when they’re dealing with real patients!
Finally, serious games may help us understand our world better overall. Games are often designed based on real-world data; this gives players insight into how things work (or don’t work) in their own backyards while simultaneously encouraging them towards making better decisions themselves
Serious games are a powerful tool for learning and understanding. They can help us learn how to interact with each other, improve our health and even prepare soldiers for combat situations. I’m interested in the potential of serious games because they can be used in so many different ways.
