The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/230349
SERIOUS GAMES ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS: IS LEGAL READY? by Scott Reid of the U.S. Army The multibillion-dollar immersive social gaming industry has a serious side, and it's growing. Businesses increasingly are deploying "serious games" for practical purposes, such as training, education, collaboration and outreach. At ILTA's 2013 annual conference, Randy Hinrichs, CEO of 2b3d Studios, and Dr. Paulette Robinson, co-chair of the Federal Consortium on Virtual Worlds, provided a peek at some virtualworld applications for law practice. From the 2b3d Studios island in Second Life, their avatars welcomed our live ILTA audience into a small conference room equipped for document collaboration, file-sharing and PowerPoint presentations. They teleported to an auditorium, where Paulette showed us how to host a large conference in the virtual world. After that, we met with a potential expert witness for our "upcoming trial" who used simulations and an educational game to teach us about post-traumatic stress disorder. Finally, we moved to a courtroom that Randy's team had created (in just two hours, using photos of a federal courthouse) in order to practice with demonstrative evidence and make arguments to a jury of avatars capable of providing verbal and nonverbal feedback. Some advantages of immersive gaming immediately stood out. We saw how the realistic preparation of a serious game positively impacts physical-world behavior. And because a person's avatar inhabits the virtual world with actual social presence, it creates a richer social experience and more effective collaboration than a phone call or webinar. WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO EMBRACE SERIOUS GAMES? In 2008, Gartner predicted that 70 percent of businesses would have established their own private virtual world presence by 2012. We're certainly not there yet, but gaming continues to permeate society in many dimensions. Users of gaming technology have grown up in the virtual worlds of Webkins and Minecraft, built their own avatars on the Nintendo Wii and graduated to sophisticated, massive multiplayer online games such as Worlds of Warcraft. As the workforce welcomes generations of users already acclimated to virtual worlds — and as gamers join the leadership and management ranks — virtual-world technology will become increasingly viable as a business platform. But it won't be enough to just be cool. Serious games must also make business sense, which means undergoing cost-benefit analysis and assessment of acceptable risk. Although the advancement of technology has made public virtual worlds more widely available and increasingly affordable, security remains a primary concern. Organizations will likely need their own space on a virtual private network to protect data and ensure confidentiality in electronic communications. COMPETITION DRIVES INNOVATION In a competitive environment, strategic leaders should pay attention to the potential of immersive gaming technology to make our own business practices more efficient and effective. Whether managing a team over a broad geographic footprint, conducting training and education sessions with distant teammates, or preparing a case for trial, virtual-world technology has great potential to improve performance and save time and money. All of which is good for the client. Col. Scott Reid is an attorney in the U.S. Army JAG Corps. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not the official policy or position of the U.S. Army. 80 Peer to Peer