These applied games simulate real-world scenarios and are often applicable in healthcare simulation education and training. They accurately convey how procedures or skills are meant to be performed in the field. For instance, in healthcare simulation, serious games can engage clinical learners by providing scenarios where they can practice medical procedures, decision-making, and problem-solving within a safe virtual environment.
Project Hospital (PC): This game allows players to become ace doctors, architects, and managers. They can design their own hospital, perform examinations, laboratory tests, and solve diagnostic puzzles.
Medic: Pacific War (PC): In this game, players take on the role of an American field medic during World War II. Their decisions impact not only the wounded soldiers they care for but also the entire operation.
Level Ex: Level Ex creates video games for physicians, using state-of-the-art technology to simulate medical challenges. Healthcare professionals can use these games to advance their clinical skills and stay up-to-date on best practices.
Build-A-Body: This drag-and-drop game lets players assemble organ systems and link functional problems to affected organs.
Serious games serve both educational and entertainment purposes, making them valuable tools for learning and skill development.
- Simulations are an imitation of reality, often presented in a three-dimensional experience or through Virtual Reality.
- Examples include flight simulators used by trainee pilots to learn flying techniques.
- Simulation games (a genre in computer games) also fall into this category. They aim to replicate real - world activities as accurately as possible.
- Simulations are suitable for learning new skills and practical situations. They provide a safe environment for practice without harmful consequences.
- They can be expensive to set up and may have limited mobility.
- Motivation in simulations tends to be lower compared to serious games.
- Serious games (also known as applied games or gamification) serve a more important purpose beyond entertainment.
- They are designed to:Transfer knowledge, Create awareness, Teach new skills, Stimulate behavioral change
- These games use attractive virtual worlds, exciting characters, rewards, and challenges.
- Companies, educational institutions, healthcare, and scientific fields often use serious games to achieve complex goals.
- While serious games may sacrifice some realism for accessibility and fun, they are engaging and effective.
Both simulations and serious games can be used for educational purposes, but they have distinct advantages and limitations. Simulations excel in skill acquisition and practical scenarios, while serious games focus on knowledge transfer and behavioral change. If you're interested in practicing your typing skills, you might enjoy playing 'TypeRacer', a competitive typing game where you race against real opponents!.