Exploration of the Serious Games Taxonomy

Definition

Serious games for defense in the military are focused on soldier support training.  It is important to note that military video-games are strictly used as training-aids; the goal of military video-games is to simulate different army situations so as to prepare the soldiers for real world conflicts.  Armies nowadays favor computer-based simulations to real military games; the time and money needed to produce a computer simulation is far less than is required when using real world environments and equipment.

Example Games

• DARWARS-Ambush is a serious military game funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); the game was modified to fit certain training requirements and is used by the army and several other defense sectors.  The aim of the game is to train soldiers in convoy-missions and other situations; the missions are based on experiences by other U.S. soldiers in combat.
  

  DARWARS-Ambush Screenshot

• Virtual Battle Space 2 is a serious military game developed by Bohemia Interactive Australia; the objective of this game is to simulate a realistic and artificial environment for different types of military training.  Developers can adjust the simulation to fit the needs of those using it; different military sectors will need to simulate and test different tactics. VBS2 has been developed as an improvement to the dated DARWARS system and has already been adopted for use by the U.S. Army.

LINK TO VIDEO (Youtube video keeps disappearing on this page)

Research Papers in Domain

Lanham, D. 2006.  Enabling the Warfighter – Marksmanship in Combat Zone Simulations.  [Online] ARMY AL&T Online.
Available at:
http://www.mpri.com/main/newsroom/papers/Army%20ALT%20Online%20-%20Enabling%20the%20Warfighter%200506.pdf [Accessed 22 November 2009]

Shannon, M. 2007.  Simulation programs train soldiers for Iraq.  [Online] East Orlando Sun.
Available at:
http://www.peostri.army.mil/PAO/publicinfo/FILES/EOSUN_Simulation.pdf [Accessed 22 November 2009]

Developers

BBN Immersive Learning Technologies

Bohemia Interactive

References

Bohemia Interactive. 2008.  Virtual Battle Space.  [Online] VBS2 Website.
Available at:
http://virtualbattlespace.vbs2.com [Accessed 22 November 2009]

Dubow, L. 2009.  DARWARS Ambush!  [Online] U.S. Army PEO STRI.
Available at:
http://www.peostri.army.mil/PRODUCTS/DARWARS/ [Accessed 22 November 2009]

Robson, S. 2008.  Not playing around: Army to invest $50M in combat training games.  [Online] Stars and Stripes.
Available at:
http://www.stripes.com/articleprint.asp?section=104&article=59009 [Accessed 22 November 2009]