Handbook of Research on Improving Learning and Motivation Through Educational Games Games as a Disruptive Force across Multiple Industries

The computer gaming industry has created powerful technologies in visualization, computation, networking, and social interaction. These applications were created as a form of entertainment, but their integration into the larger user experience of the Internet and Web has brought them to the attention of a number of industries beyond entertainment. This attention and the early successes of several game-based products have given additional impetus to the use of game technologies for serious applications in science, engineering, education, training, and marketing. This chapter will explore the business and social forces driving the adoption of game technologies in multiple industries. We introduce five specific forces that compel industries to adopt game technologies for their core products and services. These five forces are computer hardware costs, game software power, social acceptance, industry successes, and native industry experimentation. Together these influence the degree and rapidity at which game technologies are adopted in a number of industries. The chapter also identifies five industry sectors which are actively experimenting with serious games and in which many successful applications have been created. These sectors are education and training, engineering design, product and service marketing, scientific exploration and analysis, and business decision making. Examples in each of these sectors will be provided along with discussions of the forces that have made games an effective choice. The conclusion is that games and the technologies that they embody will continue to proliferate through a wide variety of industries, following a similar pattern to that taken by electronics and the Internet.