Serious Play Conference Aims Program at Corporate, Military, Education, Healthcare Decision-Makers, Developers for Serious Games; DigiPen to Host
The first-ever Serious Play Conference will take place in Seattle, Aug 22-25, at the DigiPen Institute of Technology, one of the top game development institutions in the United States.
Serious Play will be attended by heads of corporate, military and healthcare programs using Serious Games for mission-critical training, senior educators, top simulation and education developers, and strategic vendors providing hardware, software and applications for the serious games sector.The conference will also include the following tracks:
• Education/home learning
• Government training/military simulations
• Health/medical training
• Business/corporate training
• Consumer/games for good
Here is the full press release.
Here is the full press release.
SEATTLE -- March 29, 2011 – Heads of corporate, military and health care programs using Serious Games for mission-critical training; senior educators, top simulation and education developers; strategic vendors providing hardware, software and applications for the serious games sector; as well as industry leaders who see games as valuable tools for connecting with the next generation will gather in Seattle Aug. 22 – 25 for the first Serious Play Conference, a “boot camp” for decision makers.
The conference is being hosted at DigiPen Institute of Technology, recently named one of the top game design schools by the Princeton Review. Clark Aldrich, author of five industry books on serious games and a serious games consultant, is conference director. Game industry veteran Sue Bohle, president, The Bohle Company in Los Angeles, whose agency helped build GDC and currently supports Penny Arcade Expos, will help produce the event.
Serious Play will be designed to move the discussion around Serious Games to a higher competency -- the productive level. Speakers from organizations and individuals already leveraging Serious Games for training and education will share critical success factors; game designers will advise on how to take advantage of emerging platforms and operating systems; project leads and vendors will describe best practices for measuring results. Managers will be given the tools to develop and execute work plans.
"Serious gaming has become an integral part of the world today. Simulation helps us to learn from the past and allows us to predict what may occur in the future, so that we can take proper action before events happen. In the future, simulation will become an increasingly essential tool in more and more aspects of our lives, from safely and cost effectively running machinery to predicting disasters and their effects.” Claude Comair, founder and president of DigiPen, said.
DigiPen recently created software for Boeing that allows simulation of human behavior, a package that could be used in almost any field, including military, medical, aviation, financial or gaming. The software won a Best Technology Award for vendors from Boeing.
“Our DigiPen campus is an ideal place to hold the Serious Games conference. DigiPen has been involved in simulation since the 1980's, even before we were involved in developing video games,” Comair added. “We look forward to hosting people from many different industries to exchange opinions and ideas about the exciting and expanding field of serious gaming."
Serious Play will feature five market tracks plus sessions for developers, with any topics crossing over
o Education/Home Learning
o Government training/military simulations
o Health/medical training
o Business/corporate training
o Consumer/games for good
• Exhibitors demonstrating technology and services
• Awards for the most innovative Serious Games and simulations today
The conference will focus on games developed for commercial hardware.
For more information, please visit http://www.seriousplayconf.com/
About Clark Aldrich
Books authored by Aldrich include Simulations and the Future of Learning; Learning by Doing, The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games; Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds; and Unschooling Rules: The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games.
Clark Aldrich Designs and his colleagues work with corporate, military, government and academic organizations both at the board-level and hands-on in the areas of simulation design and other advanced learning strategies. Clients (past and present) include Cisco, Microsoft, Department of Defense, Center for Army Leadership, Harvard Business School Publishing, HP, Shell, GM, UPS, McDonald's, World Anti-Doping Agency and parts of the intelligence community.
For more information, see http://www.shortsims.com/
About DigiPen Institute of Technology
DigiPen Institute of Technology is a leading educational institution offering several Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees, and a Master’s degree in computer science. DigiPen’s undergraduate programs focus on video game programming, production animation, computer engineering, and game design.
The school was established in 1988 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada as a computer simulation and animation school. In 1996, DigiPen moved to Redmond, Wash. In 2008, DigiPen opened a new campus in Singapore at the invitation of the Singaporean Government, and is currently opening a campus in Bilbao, Spain. Because of its commitment to providing an exemplary educating and furthering the study and research in science, technology, engineering and math, DigiPen offers numerous K-12 educational programs throughout the United States and abroad.
For more information about DigiPen's college, K-12 initiatives and to see student work, please visit https://www.digipen.edu/
About The Bohle Company
The Bohle Company has been providing hands on, senior level counsel to game companies for more than 25 years, supporting companies offering game hardware, software and enabling technology and has launched titles for every platform and in every genre, from MMOs and Serious Games to casual games.
The firm has extensive experience with game and technology-focused conferences.