A MultiAgent Architecture for Collaborative Serious Game applied to Crisis Management Training: Improving Adaptability of Non Player Characters

Serious Games (SG) are more and more used for training, as in the crisis management domain, where several hundred stakeholders can be involved, causing various organizational difficulties on field exercises. SGs specific benefits include player immersion and detailed players’ actions tracking during a virtual exercise. Moreover, Non Player Characters (NPC) can adapt the crisis management exercise perimeter to the available stakeholders or to specific training objectives. In this paper we present a Multi-Agent System architecture supporting behavioural simulation as well as monitoring and assessment of human players. A NPC is enacted by a Game Agent which reproduces the behaviour of a human actor, based on a deliberative model (Belief Desire Intention). To facilitate the scenario design, an Agent editor allows a designer to configure agents’ behaviours. The behaviour simulation was implemented within the pre-existing SIMFOR project, a serious game for training in crisis management. Received on 30 December 2013; accepted on 31 March 2014; published on 22 May 2014