It's been a while since the last time I posted last, work has been busy. Anyway I found a bunch of articles that I will post at the bottom which are a very interesting read.
So, back to Interactive Video Modeling (IVM).
Social Simulators. A good social simulator puts the user in a environment where they can experiment with social interactions with no real consequence to real life. This doesn't have to simple physical actions either, it can extend to organizing a group of people, leading them. Forming trust and being friendly. All of these are skills that are used every day and there are a few games that do teach these. Eve online and World of Warcraft are each good examples. Even though online games such as these are demonized, in moderation they allow the users to experience many different social interactions in an artificial environment.
In moderation, these environments can be excellent place to practice social interaction. However, these products carry with them the stigma of being a game. So for there to be a successful social interaction program for IVM it needs to be his own entity. Disguising it as something else, such as a industry and trade simulator. Building something that one person could not do alone.
Settlers of Kattan is an excellent example. Each player must construct their civilization via four resources. No single player will have access to all four resources. They must work together by trading resources to build their own towns. It is a game about communication without being directly about communication. It is a byproduct of the mechanics. A industry and trade “game” would do just that. The objective would be to build something but users would have work together to achieve this. By using communication and learning social skills via practice they can experiment and learn how to act in a safe environment.
True video modeling cannot be achieved otherwise. It is that teamwork component that will teach the user how to act in the real world. The consequences of their actions will be kept only to the environment so that they may learn what the consequences are before going out into the real world.
So in the end, interactive video modeling is putting the user in an environment to practice social interactions so that they observe themselves through their own actions.
UW students adapt gaming hardware for robotic surgery.
http://dailyuw.com/2011/1/18/uw-students-adapt-gaming-hardware-robotic-surgery/
How video games can make you smarter
More to come.
