Eurosatory%20

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Eurosatory HPC Conference A cultural review
of the use of Serious Games

• Olivier Rampnoux
• Business Management Department
• University of Poitiers
• olivier.rampnoux_at_univ-poitiers.fr

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Plan of the Presentation

• A few general observations
• The diversity of Serious Games
• An alternative view of the subject

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What I am not going to cover

• A catalogue of the latest SG available on the
  market
• An approach to technical solutions for developing
  effective SG
• A description of an ideal scenario to achieve
  your objectives
• A path to follow to guarantee the success of your
  next SG

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Some guidelines - 1

• A real need to understand this product
• SG are without doubt an economic reality based
  on
• the volume of output
• the number of contributors currently in the SG
  market
• the increasing turnover in SG within the video
  games market
• During the last 6 years this term has spread
  throughout the various sectors of the market
• Development of professional conferences
• Ever increasing RD budgets for this sector
• Production of good quality scientific publications

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Some guidelines- 2

• Also,
• Today the SG sector is very much in fashion
• In strategic decision-making committees, in
  institutions and organisations, its more
  credible to talk about SG than about video games
• The proactive strategy of innovation of certain
  major video game producers is changing the image
  of the video game
• A new users group is emerging the casual gamer
• Because of the genders question, a review of the
  strategic vision of SG is taking place

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Understanding the purpose of a SG

• To invite a user to interact with a computer
  programme
• To mix a serious goal with a video ludic script
• There is a wide variety of potential
  applications
• Education, teaching
• Training
• Simulation
• Information, communication
• Implementation of a double scenario in the SG
• An educational scenario
• An video ludic scenario

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How to identify a SG - 1

• As distinguished from a video game
• It is possible to modify a video game in order to
  create a SG
• However it is only a cognitive modification
• A video game has no utilitarian scenario but has
  solely a fun scenario
• Therefore in a SG it is ESSENTIAL that the
  utilitarian and the fun scenarios are coherent
  and compatible

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How to identify a SG - 2

• As distinguished from a simulation
• A simulation is a representation of a  world 
  or a universe where every detail is crucial
• Simulations convey normative consumer values and
  models
• In a simulation, there is no implemented
  scenario, it is constructed separately from the
  programme
• In a SG, it is ESSENTIAL to have a fixed
  reference system which propose a judgement and an
  evaluation of users performance

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Characteristics of an educational scenario in a SG

• Associative objective conveyed through a graphic
  image
• Illustrative objective enhanced with interaction
• Demonstrative dedicated programme which allows a
  total immersion in the subject

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Characteristics of game play in a SG

• The objective is to use fun strategies familiar
  to the user
• The game play ensures contact and consistency
  between the entertainment element of the video
  and the utilitarian scenario
• It is necessary for there to be a balance between
  the level of constraints imposed by the
  persuasive element and the flow linked to the
  ludic element

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The concept of Flow

• A concept defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,
  Hungarian psychologist
• The state in which people are so involved in an
  activity that nothing else seems to matter,
  totally unaware of their surroundings but
  enjoying the task and having fun while doing it
• in Flow, the Psychology of Optimal Experience
• Thus we define the concept of game flow as
  taking on some of the principle characteristics
  of Flow

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The characteristics of game flow for a SG

1. Compatibility of the input and output interfaces
   in phase with the users characteristics and the
   context of use
2. Contents adapted and adaptable to the various
   targets
3. Optimal orientation of the user within his
   experience
4. It makes you forget the effort associated with
   learning
5. Potential to set the parameters of the SG
   according to the user context and the public
   profile targeted
6. Optimal management of errors by a modifiable
   programme
7. Intrinsic coherence of the interfaces and
   consistency between the two scenarios

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Plan of the presentation

• A few general observations
• The diversity of Serious Games
• An alternative view of the subject

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The diversity of Serious Games

• The variety of applications of SG is vast and
  even today we are unaware of all its
  possibilities
• Identified applications for SG
• Defence and the Armed Forces
• Education and training
• Publicity and marketing
• Information and communication
• Culture
• Health
• Political activism et lobbying
• We propose to organise the SG into 4 large
  families

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The edugames

• Games with an educational objective
• The aim is to pass on information or a learning
  skill using games
• Example Education Arcade developed by the
  M.I.T. and the University of Wisconsin
• TEA explores games that promote learning through
  authentic and engaging play. TEA's research and
  development projects focus both on the learning
  that naturally occurs in popular commercial
  games, and on the design of games that more
  vigorously address the educational needs of
  players
• Project create educational programmes utilising
  actual entertainment sources

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The advergames

• Games with an advertising objective
• The objective is to take a gameplay from a
  classic video game and use it as a communication
  tool
• The player should be freed from learning the
  gameplay so that he focuses on the graphics or
  sound environment
• It is the graphics and sound that convey the
  brand image and/or the messages selected to be
  emphasised

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Commitment games

• These Serious Games convey messages of a
  political, religious or ideological nature
• To achieve them, one must
• Reverse the usual goals found in classic games
  (i.e. lose in order to win)
• Modify by mods the graphics or sound to challenge
  the user

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Informational Serious Games

• Serious Games whose objectives are
• To inform a wider public
• To make users aware of a socio-educational type
  of message
• Highlight an item of news judged as important by
  the sponsor
• A prevention policy
• A public health policy
• Sustainable development
• Humanitarian aid
• Broadcasts on best or good practices

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Focus on a particular family of SG the
edumarket games

• Regrouping of a set of ludic programmes whose
  purpose is to inform and make the users aware of
  a socio-educational message by means of a video
  game
• Purpose of the edumarket games
• To understand clearly what is socially stake
  within specific activities
• To examine how to build the values of a
  citizen-consumer
• To re-inforce the permitted freedom of choice

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Plan of the Presentation

• A few general observations
• The diversity of Serious Games
• An alternative view of the subject

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An alternative view of the SG

• The term SG is polymorphous and there are
  numerous possible applications
• As a teaching tool
• As a company communication tool
• As a training tool
• But what is more, the SG is a cultural product
  and become
• A communicator of cultural values
• A builder of social representations
• A conveyor of a normative approach
• Thus the SG is a powerful tool and an efficient
  mechanism
• Multi-channel broadcasting to the public at
  large  lends weight to the potential of this
  communication tool

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A few paths to explore

• The SG is a small part of a much bigger narrative
  system
• It is necessary to understand all of the various
  dimensions of the potential applications of SG
• It is possible to build a multi-media strategy
  around SG

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Why talk about storytelling ?

• We need to dissect this environment in order to
  fabricate stories
• Digital storytelling grabs an individuals
  imagination
• Storytelling replaces rational reasoning as it
  has a strong power of immersion
• Immersion is an evaluations criteria for the
  video games quality
• There is a strong similarity between the goal of
  storytelling and SG

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A few ways of understanding the emergence of
storytelling

• Stories are no longer just for children
• Today narrative thought competes with logical
  thought without any difficulty
• Information technology creates the potential for
  developing narrative thought
• There is no longer any way of distinguishing
  between the concept of narrative and stories
• There is a desire to create confusion between
  these two concepts

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Opportune conditions

• The time spent in front of the television is
  ever-increasing (3h45/day on average in France)
• The television still remains the most popular
  media for the population, however among younger
  viewers other screens have a much larger share of
  the audience
• Connecting (web, mobile) is the norm today, and
  this increases the speed at which stories are
  spread

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An example of a breakdown of the story the case
of marketing

• In the early 2000s, marketing was in serious
  crisis due to
• the development of new media which detracted from
  the power of advertising
• the lessening in persuasive power of advertising
• Information spread by viral communication
• The consumer became resistant
• NO LOGO were the leading book, that conveyor of
  good sense and rejector of all marketing attempts
• Dismissal of pseudo innovations, permanent
  promotions, standardisation goods
• Search for alternative products (organic) or
  other ways of purchasing (fair trade)

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Nike an example of this rejection

• At the end of the 90s an important anti-brand
  influence emerged
• The NGOs appealed to the consumers to make them
  aware of their power to change the state of
  things
• Numerous surveys and studies on sweatshops were
  published
• Legal lawsuits against misleading advertisements
  took place in California
• Nike was obliged to accept responsibility for
  their low wages, slave labour and arbitrary
  management

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Nikes reaction

• Recruitment of the Director for the Fight
  against Child Labour programme
• A strategy of alternative stories introduced to
  counter anti-brand remarks
• Definition of a new brand identity
• Change of slogan
• Just do it becomes just in time
• Ecologists engagement are taken
• Setting a new labour policy
• Above all
• Association of the brand with a less volatile
  strategy in its slogan and advertising
• Changing the narration and the story of the brand

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The narrative world of brands

• Globalisation creates a strong degree of
  homogenisation of products
• Therefore it is necessary to
• Pass from the product to the logo to the story
• Work from the brand image to the brand story
• Demonstrate value for the consumer through the
  story associated with the product
• However the consumer is not easily duped, on the
  contrary, they want to believe in the stories

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A few facts to deal with

• The success of a brand lies in the tales and
  stories it tells
• To its clients
• To its employees
• To its partners
• In a more general way, to its customers
• Its no longer the case of seducing or convincing
  an audience
• They have to present a story to the consumer in
  which he will be able to identify himself
• The brand should have the capacity to generate
  belief, a real-life story in which the act of
  purchasing takes place

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Why does the consumer accept ?

• The consumer is no longer faithful and he becomes
  disorientated faced with an over-excessive offer
• For the individual, his relationship with the
  world is through consumption and in particular
  the consumption of brands
• The consumer experience should translate into a
  fictional world
• The brand proposes its own vision of the world
  which potentially alleviates for the consumer to
  even question it

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To what purpose ?

• The objective of narrative marketing is to
  synchronise peoples view of the world
• Marketing suggests its own view and its own
  interpretation of the world
• Consuming the ideals of America, is to embody the
  most powerful myth of all time, the American dream

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How can SG be suitable for Storytelling ?

• There is a very close link between the video game
  and the Armed Forces
• This link is even more meaningful in the case of
  SG
• It is SG which was partnered by the Armed Forces
  which has had the greatest success with the wider
  public
• Are we here dealing with Storytelling or with
  historical truth?

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A culturally-based perspective

• In the United States, the link between SG and the
  Armed Forces is supported and demonstrated
• In Japan, SG do exist but they are developed
  principally by video game producers
• In France, the SGS offer is polymorphic as are
  its supporters
• Thus it appears at least that the SG is as much a
  marketing concept as a real technological
  innovation

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The wealth of narrative of a SG

• The two necessary scenarios required to create a
  SG enable a much wider artistic freedom for the
  story
• The dynamics image, the sound quality and the
  dimension of immersion, increase the narrative
  potential of a SG
• The styles of communication of a SG are familiar
  and easily accessible to specific targets
  (children, young people, adults)

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The SG, a counter narration tool

• The SG allows a virtual view of reality thanks to
  its digital technology
• Within the dynamics of a educational scenario, it
  is easier to produce a narrative and give the
  narrative some meaning
• The fun dimension partly sets aside the critical
  analysis of the player
• The SG enhances and orientates the experience of
  the player by proposing an intrinsically solid
  approach

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Thoughts on pluri media management of SG - 1

• The commercial success of a story and of a SG is
  uncertain, because the sensitivity dimension of
  the individual needs to be taken into account
• However, success can result from a different
  management strategy
• Diffuse the same story via different media
  resources (TV, mobile, internet, cinema, books,)
• Build in different timescales according to the
  media resource
• Build a licensing strategy with the help of a
  positioning charts
• Explore the potential of distributing the licence
  through all consumer target groups

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Thoughts on multimedia management of SG - 2

• Incorporate the player in the process of building
  the story by giving him a role
• Allow for a modification of the SG and its
  scenarios according to the media resource
• Ensure the intrinsic coherence of the scenarios
  according to the variation of the media resource
• Constantly being aware of the suitability of the
  media resource, as perceived by the player, with
  regard to the teaching scenario and video
  entertainment element

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Points to note in order to create an effective SG

• Have available the means to produce a SG
  appropriate to the strategy of your organisation
• Define the specifications without any
  preconceived ideas of the expected result
• Define precisely the objective that is to be
  implemented within the SG
• A SG is not in any way, shape or form, a video
  game, and they should not therefore be compared
• The aim of a SG is to build or to modify a
  belief, a representation, an ability thus you
  must not be mistaken as to the objective that is
  to be achieved

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Conclusion

• SG are the perfect tools to integrate into any
  organisational strategy
• SG still have a huge potential to evolve in terms
  of performance and diffusion to the wider public
• Integrating innovative or modified interfaces
  into SG offers many developmental opportunities
• Mobile technology allows for innovations in SG
  scenarios

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However

• With regard to developing SG which are to be
  targeted at a wider public, it is more difficult
  to control all of the parameters
• The consumer has a wonderful capacity to accept
  innovation and to adapt, but also to reject,
  resist, even boycott

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Thank you for your attention