Sunday, 10 February 2013

Games Development for/by/in the Military

Games, Simulation and the Military Education Dilemma 2013.  [ONLINE] Available at: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffpiu018.pdf. [Accessed 10 February 2013].

Here are some handy skills which the military have assessed as being because of video game engagement; in particular I find the shift of learning from passive to active experiential learning the most interesting as this shows that when it comes to educational methods - those used in the past are no-longer applicable to be used today for the same purpose.


Another interesting point made here is the use of games to promote and teach team building within the military schools; the adaption of the game Doom to teach the core principles of military action is particularly worth interest, as Doom is seen as being one of the first majorly successful First Person Shooter games. FPS games often find themselves a target (excuse the pun) of negative media coverage due to their violent game-content, though this opinion can only be formed by looking at these games at face-value. Upon further investigation, FPS games contribute to players a lot more that the a-typical 'violent nature' the media would have the public believe.



Here is a TED Talk on the positive effects of FPS Games by neuro-scientist Daphne Bavelier;




I find her demonstration with the dots on the screen really interesting as it clearly proves that one of the effects of playing video games is that your peripheral vision and perception are greater increased, and that your brain is able to concentrate on a far greater number of things at any one time. The reasons for these developments could be due to the objectives of game play within FPS games; you are constantly having to keep alert for enemy movement on the screen in front of you, you have to be able to react quickly to stimuli on the screen and you have to be able to navigate a 3D environment, keep aware of your surroundings for enemies, be able to aim and shoot all at the same time.


Kinect

 

 LIVE: Xbox Kinect©s Virtual Realities to Learning Games 2013. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://etec.hawaii.edu/proceedings/2011/DePriest.pdf. [Accessed 9 February 2013].

"The technological marvel of natural user interfaces (NUI) like Xbox LIVE and Kinect are
only secondary to the developer’s emphasis on its usage in human-to-human
communication. The motion tracking abilities of Xbox Kinect have valuable applications
for physical therapy and home rehabilitation exercises. Doctors and patients connect
through Xbox Live with rehab courses prescribed, graded, and assessed (Niehaus, 2010).
The speech recognition filters out background noises from the user’s voice using an
engineered audio cone around the user’s body even if they are moving. Kinect also has
facial recognition through biometrics offering information security of copyrighted
materials, curriculum and training, business and government.
The largest research area where NUI is being explored currently is the military. The
COMET project is focused on rehabilitation, telemedicine, training and education,
neurocognitive and psychological treatment (Niehaus, 2010)."


Xbox Kinect Applications To Health And Medicine | Publicyte.com. 2013. Xbox Kinect Applications To Health And Medicine | Publicyte.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://publicyte.com/xbox-kinect-applications-to-health-and-medicine/. [Accessed 10 February 2013].

No comments:

Post a Comment

Robin Silcock

I am a Second Year Games Art and Design student at Norwich University of the Arts. After exploration of a number of roles in my first year, I am now looking to graduate as a 3D Artist with applicable skills in Maya, Mudbox, ZBrush and Photoshop. I understand that my skills in this field are not there yet - but I aim to achieve this goal through consistently working through the programs in my University and Personal Projects. I love to be busy - I have always had a lot of things on my plate since the age of 7 where I successfully balanced school with Ballet, Tap, Horse-Riding, French, Piano and Singing Lessons! In the same fashion, my university schedule is just as hectic and varied; I am a Peer Mentor to first year students, Student Rep for Second Year, and President of the Enterprise Society. Like I said, I love to be busy! I am a Games Hippie - so to speak - I believe that Games if designed and harnessed in the right way, will be able to help solve many of the global issues we have today - even if it starts off in a small way. Just look at the positive effects that Facebook and Twitter have already had... When navigating my blog;
  • Works in Progress - This section is a constantly running account of all my current projects - personal and for university. It will contain reference images and website links and sometimes less than coherent posts, so be prepared!
  • Finished Pieces - This is where you will find my more polished artwork. Looking for help with Maya? Check out the posts tagged "Maya How-To's"