From Visual Simulation to Virtual Reality to Games – Alana Bonfiglio 11/23

In From Visual Simulation to Virtual Reality to Games, Michael Zyda argues that the role of virtual reality in video games is increasing, and researchers should realign their focus to game research and development to stay relevant and benefit various industries.

Zyda writes that VR in video games is not limited to the entertainment industry, but instead could have real benefits for government and corporate organizations through training, simulation and education opportunities. Zyda makes a distinction between games played for entertainment purposes and what he calls serious games, which he defines as “a mental contest, played with a computer in accordance with specific rules, that uses entertainment to further government or corporate training, education, health, public policy, and strategic communication objectives.” He argues that the addition of a human performance engineering team and emphasis on subject matter can take a game from entertainment to serious. For example, in 2002 army sergeants reported increased performance of their recruits in the rifle range after they played a video game called America’s Army. Games have also been used to promote unconventional, or collateral, learning in K-12 students. According to Zyda, there are many challenges facing game production and developers must learn to shorten production timelines without compromising quality in order to influence modern games.

I was not surprised to hear that this article was published in 2005, because I think the role of VR in video games is a pretty established one. There is also significant discussion on the infrastructure of interactive games which I imagine has experienced notable changes in the last fifteen years. I would like to see an updated report on the influence of video games on today’s youth. Also, maybe this is just my demographic, but I do think that video games have fallen aside as the popularity of social media has grown. It makes me wonder, will VR begin to play a role in social media? And if so, how?

2 thoughts on “From Visual Simulation to Virtual Reality to Games – Alana Bonfiglio 11/23

  1. You make an interesting point about the popularity of video games decreasing with the increase of social media use. However, I think this trend might be a matter of maturity and prioritizing other things, rather than them becoming less popular. My brother, who is a few years younger than us, was an avid video game player, and I noticed that once he came to college he is more occupied with school and real socializing, and game playing has taken a back seat. Obviously this is just a trend that I have noticed in 1 person, but if I had to guess I would predict that with maturity comes more pressure to interact on platforms other than games.

  2. I agree with you that video games have decreased in popularity with the simultaneous rise in popularity of social media. Perhaps this is just amongst my peers and age group, but that concept would not surprise me. Although not necessarily related to the concept of your article, I am surprised that VR has not taken off as much as I once thought it would, but perhaps that is because the technology is not where I anticipated it would be. However, from your article, I predict that virtual reality will stray away from the “gaming world” and perhaps be more used in training and governmental purposes. I too would be interested to see an updated version of this article to analyze where VR is being used and how advanced it is.

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