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PC Games To Help Public Policy Initiatives

Posted by timothy on from the how-about-legislator-doom dept.

Ben Sawyer writes: "The Woodrow Wilson Center's Foresight and Governance Project has published Serious Games: Improving Public Policy through Game-Based Learning and Simulation, a whitepaper. The paper illustrates how government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can utilize game-based techniques, technologies, and approaches to produce innovative simulations, models, and game-based learning products that enhance public policy decisions. The Woodrow Wilson Center is distributing the paper on-line to a variety of agencies, organizations, and game developers to help foster greater discussion and cooperation between key public policy makers and game developers. Interested readers can find the homepage for the paper here."

3 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Riiiiiight. by bobetov · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not only is this a brilliant way to get funding for "research" that only a 13-year-old Sims fan could love, but it's clear that they have no idea what they're talking about. A good example:

    "Not only is the game development community at the forefront of PC-based visualization, it is also a leading developer of applied artificial intelligence... blah blah"

    Hahahaha. As a game developer myself, I can tell you exactly how leading edge game AI is. Let's all say it together now... Table Lookups!

    Woohoo. Games are games. Simulations are simulations. Games are fun, simulations are not.

    Bleh.

    --
    Looking for a Rails developer in Chapel Hill?
  2. Great idea - game theory is very insightful by Seth+Finkelstein · · Score: 3, Insightful
    It's a great idea. It's long known that game theory such as The Prisoner's Dilemma can yield a lot of social insight. As that page details:
    This classic problem of game theory sheds light on many of the problems that have plagued ethical and political philosophers throughout history. It addresses that class of situations in which there is a fundamental conflict between what is a rational choice for an individual member of a group and for the group as a whole. It helps us understand how such dilemmas can be resolved for the greater good.
    Putting these ideas into computer games can make the topic less abstract, more immediate and clear.

    Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)

  3. Simulations Not Always Helpful by Logic+Bomb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As usual, the comic strip Doonesbury is way ahead of the curve. Check out a week's worth of strips starting on April 12, 1982 . Obviously, computer simulations of social phenomena can be more or less productive.