Conventional Training Versus Game-Based Training

There is little doubt that games are becoming pervasive in the military. The increasing numbers of military games are a reflection of the attitude that games work, so let’s have more of them. It also reflects a propensity for games by current military personnel who have “grown up digital,” for them, games are a natural way of passing time. If there is an added benefit that games help them do their jobs well, so much the better. For many games enthusiasm of users in combat environments is testimony enough. However, before the military spends additional scarce funds developing games for various skills from piloting ships to filling in forms, it would be beneficial for the Government to have some empirical evidence directing the development and fielding of such training and quantifying when the effort is worth the time and resources being spent. The output of this research effort will be a tool for evaluating and recommending specific functional characteristics of games that are appropriate for specific types of training objectives. This research will enable training managers to quantify when a game development effort is worth the time and resources being spent.BENEFITS: This research will provide the tools for Navy (and other services and civilian) training managers to quantify when a game development effort is worth the time and resources being spent. The tool will not only be able to inform trainers about when and how games may be used for training, but it will indicate what characteristics of games best suit specific curriculum objectives, and how to include these features in the development of a game for learning.