A shift in military training is underway from a traditional emphasis on classroom instruction to a more learner-centric model of training. In this approach, where training may be delivered "anytime, anywhere," trainees are often dispersed, and there is a greater responsibility on the learner to maintain motivation for his or her own learning. Although instructional games can provide a learning environment that actively engages the learner, this remains a relatively new instructional technology with limited empirical support.

Several studies have examined the effects of game-based instructional programs on learning. For example, both Whitehall and McDonald (1993) and Ricci, Salas, and Cannon-Bowers (1996) found that instruction incorporating game features led to improved learning. In addition, Ricci, et. al (1996) proposed that instruction that incorporated game features enhanced student motivation, which led to greater attention to training content and greater retention.

There is an implicit model of learning that is inherent in these studies. First, the goal is to design an instructional program that incorporates certain features or characteristics of games. Second, these features trigger a game cycle, a repeating cycle of user judgments, behavior, and feedback that characterizes the game player's self-motivated engagement and task persistence (Garris, Ahlers, and Driskell, 2001). To the extent that training designers are successful in pairing instructional content with appropriate game features, this engagement in game play leads to the achievement of training objectives and specific learning outcomes.

Although many have noted the potential benefits that may be gained from incorporating game characteristics into instructional applications, there is clearly little consensus regarding what the essential characteristics are and how they should be implemented. Based on a review of the literature about games, motivational training, and motivation-related constructs, we synthesized a model of motivational training using game features and predicted training and motivation outcomes. In this paper, we describe essential game features, how they were implemented for this research, and report a subset of the results of an empirical study to assess the effectiveness of a game-based trainer to enhance submarine technical skills and the effects of the training approach on student motivation. Bottom Gun, a game-based periscope trainer developed in support of this research, is a simulation-based game that incorporates simulated contacts, a high rate of interactivity, scoring, and visual and sound effects. The control training condition provided the same contacts within the same scenarios minus the game characteristics.

The proposed approach to designing and evaluating the effectiveness of games was generally supported. Despite holding training objectives and content constant, Bottom Gun was perceived as more game-like than the control condition. Results indicated that both training conditions resulted in significant improvements in accuracy in calling angle-on-the-bow, a difficult visual perception task. However, the game-based training resulted in smaller visual estimation errors than the control training condition. Additionally, four context-specific measures of components of motivation, including locus of control, self-efficacy, valence, and goal commitment were found to have shifted in a positive direction at the post-test.