Is ARMA 3 a serious game ?

[chortles 263]

I think OP you would be better to look at Kerbal Space Program or Space Engineers, these are games that can be used to teach and indeed are in some places. VBS is a training tool that can be used as a game, not a very good one it has to be said (game I mean). So vbs comes from the other direction.

Arma isn't that type of game, you couldn't learn anything other than social skills in interacting with others really. I wouldn't want an Army to go out and fight for 'real', based on the fact they had played Arma. Your really in the wrong games forum, you might be better off in the VBS section, although as said, that isn't a game first, its a training tool, that is or has been, used as a game in some circles.

 

I understand what your question is, but its just in the wrong place. There are many ways you can use the word serious, I think you are using it in the literal sense, therefore coming to an FPS games forum, isn't really going to find you an answer. On the other hand, if you want to know if players play the game 'seriously' then that is a different thing.. no..

On the contrary, the whole point of my prior answer is that Arma 3 is (inherently) not a "serious" game by the OP's criteria.

[the_noob 88]

ArmA 3 is an entertainment game, what you're looking for is VBS, a specialized version of ArmA used for virtual military training. However, it is also a game that encourages cautious and team play and stimulates creativity with it's in-built mission editor and tools available to the general public. It is possible to gain valuable game design, 3D modeling and scripting knowledge by involving oneself into ArmA content creation and from this point of view, it does have an educational quality to it.

[ratszo 17]

Arma is a serious game in the sense it strives to abide by the laws of physics & ballistics in a real world setting.

As a sandbox, it is the choise of players to decide how they wish to approch gameplay.

 

For example, i play in first person while many others choose to play in third person. The sandbox allows that choise.

"To each their own."

 

Serious gaming is for serious gamers.

Arma has a place for serious gamers.

[Deveshi 0]

Hey guys, awesome discussion you got going here!

 

I'd be a little carful with categories because there are a lot of things that don’t fit into nice tidy packages. Categories are a very useful tool but you have to consider their limitations and arbitrary boundaries. In the case of e-learning and serious games I would suggest thinking about it like a spectrum... Some games are made for entertainment and have educational value while others are made for education and have entertainment value. There have even been entertainment games which aren't very entertaining and educational games which could be better... Chances are you will eventually find something that doesn't fit your category system and then you might be a bit stuck.

 

If you want to put a definition on it then ‘a serious game is game with potential use beyond entertainment’ is a good place to start. Usually this would fall into the realm of education as games are great for transferring information and walking you through complicated tasks. However, this could also apply to other things such as games involved with citizen science like Foldit, Faxinus or Galaxy Zoo.

 

If we are focusing on teaching then you may also want to think about the educational objective. Are you aiming for learning or conditioning? The difference here being that learning is done through trial and error while conditioning is pretty much drilled into you through repetition. As an example, learning is great when you are trying to understand something like science but might not be the best idea for health and safety…

 

It may also be important to consider the learning environment. Are you researching serious games for the classroom or for general education e.g. self-learning? Time and the amount of content needed to cover is always an important consideration with classroom use

 

My suggestions for researching serious games would include:

 

Arma 3 (great for orienteering!)

Minecraft EDU (educational Minecraft mod by TeacherGaming designed for the classroom).

Kerbal EDU (educational KSP mod by TeacherGaming designed for the classroom).

Foldit (game about proteins that helps actual research).

Fraxinus (Facebook game developed to help combat the ash dieback disease).

 

If you’re after a military game then Arma 3 is a good choice. If I remember correctly Bohemia Interactive have also developed training software for the military.   

 

 

Feel free to pop over to www.edu-gaming.com if you’d like to talk more about e-learning J

[BL1P 35]

Arma3 is seriously entertaining !

 

When its working, which it is not ... Fix the server memory loss BIS !

[chiefboatsret 14]

or entertainingly serious.

[I give up 152]

 

Here is the thing Im doing a research on serious games. Serious games are games which focus on other than player entertainment. Like learning something from the games. (Simulation games can be in this type). For the research I have an experiment to do using a good serious game. Here are the problems I have encounterd with following games.

 

COD, Battlefield : Entertainment games. Not serious games.

America's army : Yes it can be a serious game. Because US military has used this for training and soldier recruitment. It is ok.

VBS : Virtual Battle Space is the ideal game. Because it primarily used as a military simulation not just entertainment. But the problem is they dont issue a civilian copy of the game.

ARMA 3 : This is more like VBS. But im not quite sure ARMA is an entertainment game or a serious game where you can learn out of it.. Is it a serious game ???

 

And is there other suggestions for me to use as a serious game in my experiment ???

PS: i havent played any of the above except for COD and Battlefield.

 

I am serious.

That's enough to make it a serious game.