Author: James Belanich

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 30

ISBN-13:

On 5-6 November 2003, the Advanced Training Methods Research Unit (ATMRU) of the U.S. Army Research Institute for Behavioral and Social Sciences hosted a symposium on the use of training games and game-like simulations across the Department of Defense (DoD). The rationale for the symposium was that although there is an increasing use of PC-based games and simulations as a means of training within the U.S. Military, many of these efforts are being done in isolation with little coordination within or across services. The objectives of this symposium were to bring personnel from all branches of the military together to discuss how training games and game-like simulations are currently being used by the military, to identify ways they may be used more effectively, and to help develop a community of practitioners to facilitate future development and effective use of games for military training. Participating in this two-day event were instructors from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, as well as, training developers, commercial simulation/game developers, training researchers from all services, and representatives from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. To share lessons learned, 11 presentations were given by training representatives from all services, military training researchers, and training game developers. A list of the presenters, their affiliations, and the title of presentations are displayed in Table 1. In addition, time was allocated for discussion and focus groups since all of the approximately 50 symposium participants in attendance were to some extent involved with the use of training games and desktop simulations (see Appendix A for a full list of all participants). This discussion time included 10-20 minute question periods after each presentation, a 90 minute breakout group sessions at the end of the first day, and a summary review of the symposium proceedings at the end of the second day.