Serious Gaming – Using applied immersive games for education, work and wonder
Computer games are not just for entertainment – they’re seriously powerful tools to solve complex problems, according to a University of Canterbury expert on applied immersive games.
Based in the HIT Lab NZ, an international, multidisciplinary research lab which delivers postgraduate degrees from ground-breaking research at UC, she also works with the UC School of Product Design, which offers a Bachelor’s degree majoring in Applied Immersive Game Design.
In her upcoming UC Connect public lecture, How to use applied immersive games for education, work and wonder, she will explain how immersive technologies in computer games – such as virtual or augmented reality – make games very powerful tools as they allow people to take over roles, step into environments, and allow for actions that are normally not possible.
Aviation, transportation, health and education are domains that have already been using both immersive technologies and games for a long time.
“I research how to design engaging and effective training environments in which humans can be prepared for complex real-life situations. One example of an applied immersive game would be a virtual flight simulator where one can step into the role of a pilot, flying over a virtual landscape, and earning badges for every successful mission completed,” Associate Professor Lukosch says.