Game-based training (GBT) is a promising medium for increasing the efficiency of training complex cognitive skills and improving performance. However, there is little empirical research to guide decisions about when, or whether, GBT should be integrated into a professional training curriculum. To fill this void, we developed a rule-based decision tool that helps identify which training areas would likely benefit from the insertion of GBT technology, and then makes recommendations about which game elements and design patterns (e.g., type of challenges, feedback format, etc.) would be most appropriate for games targeting those skill areas.

To develop and test the tool, we conducted an analysis of the undergraduate pilot training program at Arizona State University, identifying flight management system (FMS) operation as a good candidate for GBT. Using our analysis of the task environment, we then selected potential best-fit game elements to develop a fully-functional web-based game to train student pilots how to program an aircraft's FMS quickly and accurately. The game's effectiveness was then evaluated in a series of studies in which half the students received the FMS game and half received conventional computer-based training. All students then took transfer criterion tests, using a simulated FMS device. On near and delayed transfer tests, students who received GBT scored significantly higher (making fewer errors and omissions) than their counterparts who received conventional training (p<.05).

Using lessons learned from our FMS game development and evaluation, we then applied the GBT tool to create and evaluate a new training game for a different domain, aircrew communication. The paper provides an analysis of the FMS and crew communication game designs, the quantitative results of the criterion evaluations, and provides a roadmap for how to facilitate the development of effective training games by migrating proven GBT design patterns to comparable training applications.