Name of the Game is Training: Leveraging Army Gaming to Improve Training

摘要

One of the most significant aspects of computer games is their ability to engage participants and maintain high levels of interest and attention. Studies show that computer games support an increase in a player's perceptual motor skills, such as hand-eye coordination, and can improve a player's overall problem solving ability. In an effort to reduce the significant amount of resources put into independent game acquisition and redundant game integration work by different units at several locations across the Army, the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) established TRADOC Capability Manager (TCM) Gaming in April 2008. TCM Gaming is responsible for combat development activities, to include planning, managing, fielding, and integrating gaming technology into Army-wide training. On 19 December 2008, Virtual Battlespace 2 (VBS2) was selected as an Army gaming program of record with an enterprise license for use throughout the Army. This game, along with supporting hardware, is scheduled for fielding in the summer/fall 2009 time frame. Fielding VBS2 will provide Army installations and schools the capability of providing game-based training venues for commanders and instructors to train units and individuals locally. The school is poised to fully use VBS2 with its improved mission editor and much improved after-action review capability to enhance leader training. The Armor School will receive the Army gaming tool kit as part of its TRADOC fielding, which consists of a 52-computer suite and enterprise license to use and develop VBS2. The Armor School also is scheduled to participate in an empirical study of the effectiveness of its gaming efforts under the TRADOC Game Effectiveness Study. These findings will support analysis, design, and decisions for integrating gaming into other courses and methods of instruction, such as distributed learning.