Game-based Simulation Research Articles

Perceived benefits and limitations of game-based simulation education by osteopathy students in early clinical training: A preliminary mixed methods study

BackgroundGame-based simulation education is becoming an integral component in healthcare programs. It is defined as any educational activity implying simulation procedures to recreate clinical scenarios. Previous studies have shown that simulation can improve patient safety by enhancing healthcare providers' competencies. However, few studies have investigated students' perceptions of simulation within osteopathic programs. AimThis study aimed to measure and compare Year three osteopathy students’ perceptions of a game-based simulation versus traditional clinical training. MethodsYear three students at the end of their 12 weeks clinical training were invited to participate in this research project. This included filling out a Likert-based survey and semi-structured interviews. Three clinical training modalities were implemented and evaluated: a demonstration clinic, a video-streamed demonstration clinic, and a game-based simulation, the clinical battle. ResultsSixty-seven Year three osteopathy students completed the surveys, and eight students were interviewed. The clinical battle was significantly felt as the most engaging, most useful to gain feedback, and least stressful of the three training modalities proposed (p < 0.05). The clinical battle was also perceived as similar to a demonstration clinic in formulating a diagnosis and for reflective practice (p > 0.05). The semi-structured interviews offered deep structured explanatory narratives drawn from thematic analyses. Five themes were identified: engagement, clinical reasoning improvement, stress, ideas for improving clinical training, and reflective practice and self-assessment. ConclusionThe simulation-based training implemented in this study was positively perceived by students for their clinical education. Future research could focus on the effectiveness of game-based simulation versus traditional training on clinical competencies acquisition.

Enhancing risk assessment skills in hazardous environments: Priming with a serious game approach

Occupational risk assessments, critical for identifying hazards such as noise, radiation, and air quality, are challenging due to their complex and often invisible nature. In response, we developed AssessVR, a serious game-based simulation tool, designed to enhance risk assessment skills among students and safety professionals.This study included twenty-seven students from three US universities, all of whom had completed a module on Occupational Hearing Loss and risk assessment in an Industrial Hygiene course. These students were assigned to either the Utilitarian or Gamified version of AssessVR for a risk assessment case study.The results indicated that students using the Gamified version of AssessVR tended to perform better in specific risk assessment areas, such as Exposure Assessment and Reference to Exposure Standards. However, this improvement was not uniform across all evaluation metrics.These findings suggest that while AssessVR, particularly its Gamified form, has potential in risk assessment skill acquisition, its effectiveness varies across different assessment areas. This underscores the need for further research and development in serious game-based simulations to optimize their role in enhancing occupational hazards management competencies.

An evolutionary game-based simulation study of a multi-agent governance system for smart senior care services in China

BackgroundThe competing interests of the government, smart senior care technology service providers, and older adults have led to a serious fragmentation of governance in China. This study aims to identify the collaboration mechanisms and evolutionary stabilization strategies for these agents.MethodsAn evolutionary game model is developed to analyze the strategic decisions made by the government, smart senior care technology service providers, and older adults. A sensitivity analysis is conducted using data from Anhui Province, China, to verify the effects of relevant parameters on the strategy decisions of each agent.ResultsThe results of the simulation and sensitivity analysis indicated that, first, despite changes in the initial willingness values of the tripartite agents, the system eventually converges on 1. Second, the collaboration mechanism of the tripartite agents in the smart senior care system is related to government incentives, penalties, and subsidies, smart senior care service costs, and the additional benefits provided to smart senior care technology service providers.ConclusionThe strategy decisions of the government, providers, and older adults interact with each other. To promote collaboration among the tripartite agents and improve governance effectiveness, the government should strengthen the regulations for providers, increase penalties for providers that engage in a breach of trust, provide moderate incentives and subsidies, and control smart senior care service costs.

SEMAT Essence Game: A Fun Way to Learn about the SEMAT Initiative

Objective: we aim to propose the SEMAT Essence game, a game-based simulation of the big picture related to the SEMAT Essence kernel. SEMAT (Software Engineering Method and Theory) is an initiative for re-founding software engineering based on a solid theory, proven principles, and best practices. SEMAT has the Essence kernel of universal elements for any software engineering endeavor. The SEMAT Essence has been taught by using workshops and some games, but such strategies only cover some topics related to the kernel. Materials and methods: We use the SEMAT Essence kernel as a starting point and we select a game to be the template of our game. Then, we define the metaphor linked to our field of study and design the game by defining equivalences to the game elements. Results and discussion: We also show the results of practicing the game with a set of students from four universities by summarizing the answers to a survey. Conclusions: Results are promising since practitioners report some usage of the SEMAT Essence kernel elements after the game and they are satisfied with the fun factor, realism, and the current version of the game.

A Scenario-Based and Game-Based Geographical Information System (GIS) Approach for Earthquake Disaster Simulation and Crisis Mitigation

The current research study aims to introduce the experience of implementing a serious game using the concept of game-based GIS approach for crisis management during earthquake disasters. In this study, we aimed to develop a game-based GIS approach and examine its efficiency for simulating earthquake rescue management in Tabriz city. In designing this game, typical scenario-based, game-based GIS methods and techniques were employed, and the proposed approach was applied to crisis management. To achieve this goal, we addressed the technical details regarding the development and implementation of the scenario-based and game-based GIS approach. Based on the results, game-based simulations can be considered an efficient approach for disaster simulation and can improve the skills of rescue teams. The outcome of this application is an intellectual game that almost all users at any age can play, and the game can challenge their ability to solve critical issues. The results are critical for explaining the effectiveness of rescue teams and crisis management facilities. As we intended to develop an approach for the simulation of earthquake disasters and emergency responses, we therefore conclude that the results of this study can also be employed to improve the skills of rescue teams and citizens for dealing with crises resulting from earthquake disasters. As a result of this research, the developed tool is published, together with this paper, as an open source and can be employed for any scenario-based analysis in other case studies. By presenting a-state-of-the-art approach, the results of this research study can provide significant contribution to further the development of GIScience and its applications for disaster and risk mitigation and management.

OTs &amp; Pediatric Medical Residents: Using Virtual Game-Based Simulations to Foster Collaboration in Pediatric Primary Care

Abstract Date Presented 04/22/2023 Improving future pediatricians’ perception of OT using virtual game-based simulations may foster interprofessional collaboration in pediatric primary care, thus potentially creating a collaborative role for OT in primary care early intervention. Primary Author and Speaker: Jessica Trio Contributing Authors: Maureen Johnson, Tracey Vause Earland

Playing for Privacy Awareness: Learning from a “Wow-Moment” with iBuddy

iBuddy is a narrative game-based simulation session inspired by research evidence and designed to enhance secondary school and higher education students’ privacy awareness. Students enter the simulation through storytelling and are asked to install the iBuddy app. Later in the simulation, students discover that some of their personal information have been extracted from their devices and manipulated – and this generates a wow-effect that sparks questions and discussions. The simulation is backed-up by a lively debriefing phase, supported by original animation videos, interactive activities, and small group games. To overcome privacy issues, iBuddy sessions are played on a local network and the collected data, which are anonymous, are deleted before the end of the session. iBuddy exploits an original software, released as open source, with a layered architecture composed by app, server and operator interface. The system also includes an Artificial Intelligence filter for inappropriate content. Multilingual class materials are published under a Creative Commons license and are available on the www.protectyourdata.ch platform. Post-session assessments collected from over 970 students indicate that they enjoy iBuddy sessions and learn from it. Follow-up assessment data, collected on a portion of the participants, also suggest that iBuddy sessions are effective and conducive to medium-term behavioral change.

Game-Based Simulation and Study of Pedestrian-Automated Vehicle Interactions

We identify the need for enhanced pedestrian–vehicle simulation tools and build such a tool to explore the interaction among pedestrian “players” and virtual human- and automated-vehicles for different scenarios taking place in an urban environment. We first present contemporary research tools and then propose the design and development of a new desktop application that facilitates pedestrian-point-of-view research. We then conduct a three-step user experience experiment, in which a small number of participants answer questions before and after using the application to interact with virtual human and automated vehicles in diverse road-crossing scenarios. Behavioral results observed in virtuality, especially when motivated by consequence, tend to simulate real life sufficiently well to inform design choices. From the simulation, we observed valuable insights into human–vehicle interactions. Upon completing this preliminary testing, we iterated the tool’s design and ultimately conducted an 89-participant study of human–vehicle interactions for three scenarios taking place in a virtual environment. Our tool raised participant awareness of autonomous vehicles and their capabilities and limitations, which is an important step in overcoming public distrust of AVs. We additionally saw that participants trust humans and technology less as drivers than in other contexts, and that pedestrians feel safer around vehicles with autonomy indicators. Further, we note that study participants increasingly feel safe with automated vehicles with increased exposure. These preliminary results, as well as the efficacy of the tool’s design, may inform future socio-technical design for automated vehicles and their human interactions.

Game-based investigation of standardized forward contracting for long-term resource adequacy

High and growing shares of wind and solar generation can lead to economic retirements of controllable capacity, which creates the need for long-term resource adequacy mechanisms that compensate units needed to maintain system reliability. We use game-based simulation to compare two approaches for ensuring long-term resource adequacy: capacity markets and forward contracting. We also conduct “policy prototyping” of a specific implementation of forward contracting, Standardized Fixed-Price Forward Contracts (SFPFCs). SFPFCs are standardized forward energy products sold through a centralized procurement process in which 100% of expected demand is auctioned off several years ahead of energy delivery. SFPFCs retroactively adjust contract quantities in each covered hour according to that hour’s share of total demand in the compliance period. This encourages generating companies to manage the risk of higher-than-expected demand in any given hour. Our game runs suggest that forward contracting can yield significantly lower cost to load than capacity markets because it removes the incentive for gencos to exercise unilateral market power in the short-term energy market. The SFPFC implementation in our games effectively maintained system reliability and delivered moderate costs to consumers while maintaining financial viability for gencos. It did this even in scenarios with high carbon prices and high renewable shares incentivized by a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) with tradable Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).

Competition and Cooperation of Autonomous Ridepooling Services: Game-Based Simulation of a Broker Concept

With advances in digitization and automation, autonomous mobility on demand services have the potential to disrupt the future mobility system landscape. Ridepooling services in particular can both decrease land consumption by reducing the need for parking and increase transportation efficiency by increasing the average vehicle occupancy. Nevertheless, because ridepooling services require a sufficient user base for pooling to take effect, their performance can suffer if multiple operators offer such a service and must split the demand. This study presents a simulation framework for evaluating the impact of competition and cooperation among multiple ridepooling providers. Two different kinds of interaction via a broker platform are compared with the base cases of a single monopolistic operator and two independent operators with divided demand. In the first, the broker presents trip offers from all operators to customers (similar to a mobility-as-a-service platform), who can then freely choose an operator. In the second, a regulated broker platform can manipulate operator offers with the goal of shifting the customer-operator assignment from a user equilibrium towards a system optimum. To model adoptions of the service design depending on the different interaction scenario, a game setting is introduced. Within alternating turns between operators, operators can adapt parameters of their service (fleet size and objective function) to maximize profit. Results for a case study based on Manhattan taxi data, show that operators generate the highest profit in the broker setting while operating the largest fleet. Additionally, pooling efficiency can nearly be maintained compared to a single operator. The regulated competition benefits not only operators (profit) and cities (increased pooling efficiency), but customers also experience higher service rate, though they need to accept slightly increased waiting and travel time due to increased pooling efficiency. Contrarily, when users can decide freely, the lowest pooling efficiency and operator profit is observed.

Design, Development, and Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Serious Game for School Fire Preparedness Training

Immersive virtual reality (VR) is a technology that can be effective for procedural skills training through game-based simulations such as serious games. The current study describes the instructional design, development, and evaluation of the FSCHOOL fire preparedness serious game in a cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE-VR) for elementary school teachers. The main game mechanics include a storytelling scenario, enhanced realism, freedom of movement, levels, and points corresponding to the learning mechanics of instruction, action, simulation, discovery, repetition, and imitation. The game was developed in Unity 3D with the help of the Fire Dynamics Simulator and a script to emulate and visualize fire propagation. The game featured three levels to respond to school fire safety regulations and was evaluated by elementary school teachers (N = 33) in Greece. A comparative quantitative study was conducted with experimental and control groups. The results indicate that the VR serious game is appropriate for training, providing challenge, enjoyment, and mastery.

Simulated Game-Based Ice Hockey Match Design (Scrimmage) Elicits Greater Intensity in External Load Parameters Compared With Official Matches.

ObjectiveA limited number of studies have explored the external load experienced in indoor sports such as ice hockey, and few the link between training and match performance. As a paucity exists within this topic, this study explored whether a simulated match design (i.e., scrimmage) could be representative of official match demands and elicit similar external loads as in official matches in a group of elite youth male ice hockey players.MethodsA total of 26 players were monitored during eight official and four simulation matches using a Local Positioning System. Total distance, max velocity, slow (0–10.9 km/h), moderate (11–16.9 km/h), high (17.0–23.9 km/h), and sprint (>24 km/h) speed skating distance, distance per min, PlayerLoadTM, PlayerLoadTM per min, high-intensity events (HIEs) (>2.5 m/s−2), acceleration (ACCs), decelerations (DECs), and change of directions (CODs) were extracted from the tracking devices. A two-level regression analysis was conducted to compare the difference between match types when controlling for time on ice, match day, and position.ResultsBetween match-type results showed a credible difference in all variables except max velocity and ACCs. Distance per min was 27.3% higher during simulation matches and was explained by a 21.3, 24.1, and 14.8% higher distance in sprint-, high-, and moderate speed skating distance, while slow speed-skating distance was 49.2% lower and total distance only trivially different from official to simulation matches. Total PlayerLoadTM was 11.2% lower, while PlayerLoadTM per min was 8.5% higher during simulation matches. HIEs, CODs, and DECs were 10.0, 11.9, and 22.3% higher during simulation matches.ConclusionThe simulated match design is related to official match demands with comparable match-time, playing time, number of shifts, and shift duration. However, simulation matches provoked a higher external load output compared with official matches, possibly explained by a more continuous movement design. A game-based simulation match design can therefore be utilized when match-related actions at high intensity are warranted.

THE GAME OF STORES: SIMULATING RETAIL SITE SELECTION AND PROFITABILITY

ABSTRACT Retailers are faced with the challenge of how many stores to operate in a potential or an existing market and where those stores should be located. Various factors influence this decision-making. For instance, the customer behavior and their demographic characteristics, customer travel times, presence of competitors, costs involved, location profitability, etc. Literature in retailing points out various gravity laws that assist retailers to make the location choice decision. ‘Game of Stores” is a board game-based simulation designed for classroom teaching that incorporates the principles of Huffs Law to create a dynamic environment for participants. The gameplay is devised to mimic reality in a competitive setup and to provide participants with similar challenges faced by retailers in real-time. The simulation is intended to help participants comprehend, analyze, and apply the concepts related to retail store location decisions in a gamified environment and to test their analytical skills in optimizing retail location choice and profitability. The applied nature of the game makes it suitable for use in Retail Management courses for students specializing in Marketing.

Integrating physical and virtual game-based simulation for operators' training to enhance learning effectiveness: an application in hazardous industrial spaces

Inadequate training and lack of risk awareness are among the main causes of work-related accidents in industrial facilities. Although new learning methods, such as virtual reality (VR), have been deployed, they still do not find implementation on a large-scale. This research proposes the concept of 'virtual training pills' (VTP), i.e. delivering learning content in the form of short educational games by using a common technological platform based on virtual, interactive and immersive reality. An application study has been conducted in the case of a decommissioned nuclear power plant, which is classified as confined and pollution-suspected space. These areas represent a challenging environment for maintenance and inspection activities. The results proved the potential of this novel game-based learning approach: short 'learning pills' are much more effective than long role-playing games. This work also discusses the benefits of workforce training based on VTP as an integration to live exercises for safety management.

Integrating physical and virtual game-based simulation for operators' training to enhance learning effectiveness: an application in hazardous industrial spaces

Inadequate training and lack of risk awareness are among the main causes of work-related accidents in industrial facilities. Although new learning methods, such as virtual reality (VR), have been deployed, they still do not find implementation on a large-scale. This research proposes the concept of 'virtual training pills' (VTP), i.e. delivering learning content in the form of short educational games by using a common technological platform based on virtual, interactive and immersive reality. An application study has been conducted in the case of a decommissioned nuclear power plant, which is classified as confined and pollution-suspected space. These areas represent a challenging environment for maintenance and inspection activities. The results proved the potential of this novel game-based learning approach: short 'learning pills' are much more effective than long role-playing games. This work also discusses the benefits of workforce training based on VTP as an integration to live exercises for safety management.

Pre-Task Training for Vigilance Using a Video Game-Based Simulation Task

Pre-Task Training for Vigilance Using a Video Game-Based Simulation Task

Critical lifting simulation of heavy industrial construction in gaming environment

PurposeHeavy industrial construction often relies on large mobile cranes to erect equipment and pre-assembled modules. Engineering calculations are required for the lifting analysis where lifting capacity is analyzed to ensure the feasibility of the lifting scenarios. Such engineering calculations are often presented in static formats, e.g. two-dimensional or three-dimensional models. However, it is difficult to help practitioners (e.g. lifting engineers, site crews and operators) understand the complexity of the lifting process and thus operational decisions are often made intuitively. Therefore, this paper aims to introduce a game-based simulation system to allow for interactive analysis of the lifting process to improve lifting efficiency and safety.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed method treats the mobile crane as a robot with degree-of-freedoms, and the movements are simulated in the Unity game environment. The lifting capacity is calculated dynamically based on the lifting object weight, rigging weight and lifting radius.FindingsCompared with the four-dimensional visualization, this development has added a dimension of real-time interactive simulation; this allows the users to understand the complexity and feasibility of the lifting process.Originality/valueThe developed prototype has been tested and validated using a real case study from a heavy industrial project with the possibility of generalizing crane lifting configurations.

Trusting Autonomous Security Robots: The Role of Reliability and Stated Social Intent.

This research examined the effects of reliability and stated social intent on trust, trustworthiness, and one's willingness to endorse use of an autonomous security robot (ASR). Human-robot interactions in the domain of security is plausible, yet we know very little about what drives acceptance of ASRs. Past research has used static images and game-based simulations to depict the robots versus actual humans interacting with actual robots. A video depicted an ASR interacting with a human. The ASR reviewed access credentials and allowed entrance once verified. If the ASR could not verify one's credentials it instructed the visitor to return to the security checkpoint. The ASR was equipped with a nonlethal device and the robot used this device on one of the three visitors (a research confederate). Manipulations of reliability and stated social intent of the ASR were used in a 2 × 4 between subjects design (N = 320). Reliability influenced trust and trustworthiness. Stated social intent influenced trustworthiness. Participants reported being more favorable toward use of the ASR in military contexts versus public contexts. The study demonstrated that reliability of the ASR and statements regarding the ASR's stated social intent are important considerations influencing the trust process (inclusive of intentions to be vulnerable and trustworthiness perceptions). If robotic systems are authorized to use force against a human, public acceptance may be increased with availability of the intent-based programming of the robot and whether or not the robot's decision was reliable.

IADRL: Imitation Augmented Deep Reinforcement Learning Enabled UGV-UAV Coalition for Tasking in Complex Environments

Recent developments in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) have made them highly useful for various tasks. However, they both have their respective constraints that make them incapable of completing intricate tasks alone in many scenarios. For example, a UGV is unable to reach high places, while a UAV is limited by its power supply and payload capacity. In this paper, we propose an Imitation Augmented Deep Reinforcement Learning (IADRL) model that enables a UGV and UAV to form a coalition that is complementary and cooperative for completing tasks that they are incapable of achieving alone. IADRL learns the underlying complementary behaviors of UGVs and UAVs from a demonstration dataset that is collected from some simple scenarios with non-optimized strategies. Based on observations from the UGV and UAV, IADRL provides an optimized policy for the UGV-UAV coalition to work in an complementary way while minimizing the cost. We evaluate the IADRL approach in an visual game-based simulation platform, and conduct experiments that show how it effectively enables the coalition to cooperatively and cost-effectively accomplish tasks.

Cost-effectiveness of a video game versus live simulation for disaster training

IntroductionDisaster triage training for emergency medical service (EMS) providers is unstandardised. We hypothesised that disaster triage training with the paediatric disaster triage (PDT) video game ‘60 s to Survival’ would...