The New School

Gas Station Hero

All this leads to one of the most useful aspects of game-based training for instructors: data mining.

With a piece of software, every single action is logged, allowing a trainer to go through and look for pattern of mistakes and adjust lessons accordingly. "Even a trained observer isn't going to see everything in an environment," says Grevatt.

That said, videogames aren't about to take any jobs away from trainers. Rather, "it frees the instructor and allows them to automate some of the most common stuff," says Lavis. "There can be so much content to get across that instructors don't get the chance to teach hard skills."

Before working in the video gamespace, Lavis used to prepare roleplaying scenario scripts for training firms. When assigning that script to a videogame character, there's no question as to whether or not the actor can pull off the script.

Furthermore, instructors can alter parameters quickly, as demonstrated in another Distil title, Business in Balance. The game puts players in the role of an Environmental Management Systems project leader, attempting to implement 14001 environmental standards across a single company. But instructors can alter gameplay conditions to provide a near infinite number of possibilities.

For example, one of the fastest ways to progress the game is to hire an outside consultant who works quickly but has a high price. The option goes away if the trainer limits the player's budget, making the consultant unaffordable.

Instructors can also change conditions to reinforce key points. According to Grevatt, the easiest way to make a sweeping change of company operations is to get upper management to buy in early. But instructors can quickly alter the game to make upper management inaccessible, demonstrating the challenge of only dealing with the lower-level employees in the company.

After a playthrough, instructors can pore over the data and analyze it to see what players were trying to do, what worked and what didn't, and maybe even find new strategies, especially in something complex like Business in Balance where actions that might seem trivial in the beginning can have unforeseen consequences later.

"We provide exploration of problems," says Lavis. "We give you the chance to make mistakes."

The mistakes are the important part, as many instructors tend to focus their lessons on best practices, especially in courses that have a lot of material to cover. There's also the matter of avoiding more time spent in a training room, since browser-based games can be played anywhere with an internet connection.

Returning home, I give Response Ready another try. This time I follow Grevatt's advice and work on being more proactive. As soon as the simulation starts up, I set up a watch for high winds and start cleaning up the gas spill. A potential crisis is averted. Lives are saved. And it's all thanks to me, the Gas Station Hero.

Robert Janelle is a freelancer from Ottawa, Canada. His blog can be found at waa.loudandskittish.com.