Games and Culture: How Games are Being Used to Shape Cultural Awareness

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Games and Culture How Games are Being Used to
Shape Cultural Awareness
November 10, 2005 Presentation for SIETAR USA

• Julia Loughran
• loughran_at_thoughtlink.com
• Andrew English
• aenglish_at_thoughtlink.com

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Agenda

• Intro to ThoughtLink
• Why Games?
• Games for Cultural Awareness
• Traditional Games
• The Future of Games
• Technology A Cultural Thing
• Some Demonstrations

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Who Is ThoughtLink?

• Specialties
• Virtual teams
• Collaboration and games
• Requirements analysis
• Technology assessment
• Data visualization/analysis
• Metric Development
• Products
• DICE A Distributed Collaboration tool for
  planning, training, and coordination
• SCUDHunt A web-based team game for understanding
  shared understanding
• Team Games Focused on conflict resolution,
  negotiation, enhancing communication

• Research Consulting firm
• Virtual organization with offices in five U.S.
  states
• Focus on how technology can help improve team and
  organizational effectiveness
• Clients
• US Government (DoD, DARPA, Department of Homeland
  Security)
• Non-Governmental Organizations (IRC, CHC)
• Some private industry Rockwell Collins, MaK
  Technologies

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Why Games?
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Games Provide an Environmentfor Creating Shared
Awareness
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Different Cultures Different Strengths

• Research in games for training
• Research in virtual teams
• Research in gaming effectiveness
• Experience in cultural differences in U.S.
  government interagency cultural differences

• Research in intercultural education and training
  (mostly face-to-face)
• Understanding of cultural differences

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Benefits of Games

• Safe environment for exploration
• Consequences of behavior can be safely observed
• Games provide a story
• Elicits emotional involvement
• Games are fun
• Engaging
• Increase awareness self-esteem
• Provide opportunities to practice team skills
• It is the intersection of where games end and
  reality begins that is the most interesting
  (George Simons)

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Applications of Games

• Education
• Tim Rylands (UK)
• Literary concept such as metaphor/simile
• Creative writing

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Applications of Games

• Research
• Study team process variables
• Command control
• Communication
• Leadership
• Personality

SCUDHunt ThoughtLink, Inc
Inifiniteams TPLD
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Applications of Games

• Clinical
• Simple Flash-based game to increase self-esteem
• 3D virtual environment to combat phobias

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ThoughtLink Games

• SCUDHunt
• Simple game that measure shared situational
  awareness in distributed teams

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Categories of Cultural Training

• General awareness
• Identify stereotypes and underlying biases
• Behaviors
• Body language (e.g., gestures)
• Communication
• Values
• Business practices

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Typical Cultural Awareness Game

• Stress intercultural interaction
• Emphasize feelings that arise from uncertainty
  and frustration
• Used to teach
• Self-awareness
• Understanding of how cultural assumptions
  underlie our perceptions, reactions and behaviors
• Typical scenario
• Individuals or teams representing differing
  cultures, biases or stereotypes work together to
  solve a problem.

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Games and Cultural Awareness
Technology Continuum
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Past

• Games used to assess cultural variables
• Hofstedes 5 Cultural Dimensions
• Power Distance
• Individualism
• Masculinity
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Long-Term Orientation

http//www.geert-hofstede.com/
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Past

• BaFa BaFa
• Participants feel the alienation and confusion
  that comes from being different
• The Owl
• Communication problems arise and reporters are
  faced with the dilemma of needing information
  while also needing to find a culturally
  appropriate way to ask for it.

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Games and Cultural Awareness
Technology Continuum
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Present

• What Virtual environment used to develop
  specific skills for interacting with members of a
  culture of interest. 
• Who Commercial and government agencies who
  routinely send employees abroad
• Developed by CHI Systems

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Games and Cultural Awareness- Present

• What Web-based tool with over 50 topics on how
  to conduct business effectively with people from
  40 countries
• Who Business personnel
• Developed by Meridian Global

GlobeSmart Meridian Global
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Present

• What Decision-tree branching video vignettes
  that explore bias-based decision making in law
  enforcement. 
• Who Targeted to train law enforcement
• Developed by Will Interactive with the New
  Jersey State Police

Shades of Blue Will Interactive
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Present

• What Computer-based, self-paced language
  learning game
• Who Military and civilian personnel who must
  rapidly learn to interact with Iraqis
• Developed by Tactical Language Training LLC in
  collaboration with the University of Southern
  California

Tactical Iraqi Tactical Language Training LLC
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Present

• What Multi-player simulation game to practice
  skills in adaptive thinking, negotiation and
  conflict resolution and leadership in
  cross-cultural settings
• Who US Army Special Forces
• Developed by Sandia National Lab

Adaptive Thinking and Leadership (ATL) Sandia
National Lab
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Present

• What Tool to create tutors who display
  culture-specific behaviors which can interact
  with variety of objects and environments
• Who Target audience is interpersonal training,
  cross-cultural and counseling training, interview
  skills, etc
• Developed by Vcom3D, Inc., Naval Postgraduate
  School and the Defense Language Institute (DLI)

Online Mentors for Language Training and Cultural
Familiarization Vcom3D
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Games and Cultural Awareness
Technology Continuum
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Technology Impacting Lives
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Looking Ahead

• Communities of Practice
• Allows for exploration and interactions
• Knowledge sharing and networking
• Can support organizational learning

Church of Fools http//shipoffools.com/church/
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Looking Ahead

• MMOGs
• Can deliver scenario-based training to hundreds
  utilizing AI or confederate trainers
• Ability to provide immediate feedback

There.com Forterra Inc.
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Looking Ahead

• Team-based games
• Develop culture-specific avatars, rules,
  behaviors, etc
• Study processes of distributed/virtual teams

Infiniteams TPLD
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Games and Cultural Awareness- Opportunities

• Online communities develop their own specific
  cultures (e.g., Cloudmakers)
• How do norms develop over tech-mediated
  communications?

There.com Forterra
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• Training with virtual goggles
• 3D holographs

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Games and Storytelling

• Stories help piece together information to
  explain how the world works
• Games can create a virtual time machine
• History/stories can be used to help derive values
  most current games are ahistorical
• General Patton Because Ive been here before
  (virtually), I know what Im doing and I can
  anticipate my next step
• Gary Klein Recognition Decision Prime making
  decisions based on matching situation to previous
  experience

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Games and Cultural Awareness- Opportunities

• Many games come with authoring tools to mod game
  for research purposes, etc
• AI can incorporate memory trail (e.g., Vector).
• If you offend an individual, word spreads, and
  other character react to you differently

• Feedback that includes side-by-side cultural
  comparisons is helpful.
• Games can provide immediate/automated feedback
• Games do not have to be high-tech/high cost to be
  effective

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Technology A Different Culture All Its Own

• Technology continues to evolve quickly but,
  many of us are not more adept at using it
• Survey e-mail, Internet, collaboration tools,
  computer gaming?
• Per Dr. John Beck (Got Game) Generation gap
  between those under 35 vs. over 35 (wired
  differently)
• Under 35 believe more in luck are more sociable
  learn by trial and error are more hopeful and
  positive

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Questions?
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Contact Us

• Julia Loughran, President
• www.thoughtlink.com
• loughran_at_thoughtlink.com
  
• 703-281-5694