Carefully engineered playable games can serve as vehicles for students and practitioners to learn and explore the programming of advanced computer architectures to execute applications, such as high performance computing (HPC) and complex, inter-networked, distributed systems. The article presents families of playable games that are grounded in…

The purpose of this study was to compare the production processes and approaches for user engagement of virtual environments created for learning or commercial and entertainment purposes, specifically through online games and 3-D online spaces. This study used a qualitative, multiple case study approach based on interviews with developers of…

In recent times, the role of entrepreneurs has been recognized to be of great significance in accelerating the pace of growth of economic development of any country. Internet-enabled technologies have also challenged existing business models in numerous market sectors and offered innovation opportunities to a variety of stakeholders--not least…

Digital educational games (DEGs) possess the potential of providing an appealing and intrinsically motivating learning context. Usually this potential is either taken for granted or examined through questionnaires or interviews in the course of evaluation studies. However, an "adaptive" game would increase the probability of a DEG being…

Negotiation skills are essential in everyday life, whether in a professional or personal context. Negotiation enables two parties to address misunderstandings and avoid conflicts through an exchange that depends as much on the interpersonal skills of the negotiators as the tactics employed. Acquiring these skills requires not only sound conceptual…

A good instructional game, like many good commercial games, should be built around what the author calls "authentic professionalism." In such games, skills, knowledge, and values are distributed between the virtual characters and the real-world player in a way that allows the player to experience first-hand how members of that profession think,…

This article is excerpted, with the permission of the editors and the publishers, from an edited book published by Peter Lang Publishing in conjunction with Eyebeam (www.eyebeam.org), a not-for-profit new media arts organization in New York City. It reproduces one of the book's four organizing "modules"--Games as Exchange--which focuses on new…

In Dubai, traffic accidents kill one person every 37 hours and injure one person every 3 hours. Novice traffic accident investigators in the Dubai police force are expected to "learn by doing" in this intense environment. Currently, they use no alternative to the real world in order to practice. This paper argues for the use of an…