Measuring Group Situation Awareness in a Multiactor Gaming Simulation

Abstract

This paper provides initial results for the gaming simulation design and measurement of group situation awareness (SA) through a low-tech multi-actor board gaming simulation for the Dutch railway operation. Group situation awareness is measured in this study, as railway operations consist of many dyadic teams and predominantly unique roles. Gaming simulations are herein defined as a simulation of a system using gaming methods, in which humans take part. This particular type of gaming simulation provides a relative fast and low-cost alternative to measure situation awareness in a multi-actor environment compared to the traditional human-in-the-loop-like simulator environment for SA measurements. However, due to variations in their abstraction level, exploration is needed on the validity for measurements of situation awareness in these environments. Thus, the main aim in this study is to determine whether, and if so, how, group SA can be measured in gaming simulations up to a quality that provides significant data for research. The results show potential for SA measurements in low-tech board gaming simulations, although improvement is needed with regards to the different validity types for gaming simulation. This may be achieved through the explicit use of gaming simulation design principles for SA. Future work should focus on further validation and research on the theoretical implications of group situation awareness.