Serious Games

Serious games are, as their names show, games that have other purpose than entertaining, but try to convey a serious message, such as educational content or political/social commentary. See: http://www.seriousgames.org/index2.html http://wwics.si.edu/subsites/game/index.htm

Examples

"Serious games are used for nonentertainment purposes including education, corporate and military training, and health care. The category includes games developed for professional use, such as Full Spectrum Warrior (a military training game later released commercially), Re-Mission, and Peacemaker, as well as recreational games adapted for serious purposes, as when teachers use Take 2 Interactive Software's Civilization in the classroom, or consumers use Konami's Dance Dance Revolution as a form of exercise." (http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2007/id20070813_756874.htm?)

Businesses:

"In June, 2005, the successful British developer Blitz Games established TruSim, a division focused on creating serious games for the military, health-care, corporate, and education markets. Also last year, Japanese company Square Enix partnered with the publisher Gakken to create a serious games unit called SG Labs. In addition to its two dozen consumer titles, the Seattle-based Zombie Studios has developed training simulators for defense contractors and the Defense Dept. BreakAway Games, in Hunt Valley, Md., has also established a successful hybrid model, as has the Raleigh, (N.C.)-based Epic Games, whose Unreal Engine technology has been used both for professional training projects and for consumer titles." (http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2007/id20070813_756874.htm?)

Combining gaming with social networking: Areae, Conduit

Status Report 2007

"There are no hard numbers on the size of the serious games market, but Digitalmill's Sawyer offers what he says is a conservative estimate of $150 million, excluding traditional "edugames" developed for primary or secondary school education such as Carmen Sandiego and Math Blaster. "My Fortune 500 clients are collectively spending almost $4 million on serious games. Then there are sales of games like Brain Age—eight million SKUs at $20 each—and Dance Dance Revolution, which we estimate 1 in 20 consumers is buying for exercise," he explains. "I think there's no reason it can't be a billion-dollar market within a decade or sooner." (http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2007/id20070813_756874.htm?)