Background. The use of simulation games for complex systems analysis and design has been acknowledged about 50 years ago. However, articles do not combine all salient factors for successful simulation games, and often stem from a clear view of one particular field of science only. With combining multiple disciplines, connect analysis and design as well as research and practice, we provide deep insights in design and use of simulation games. Aim. This article analyzes the design and evaluation process of a variety of game-based projects and activities, using existing scientific concepts and approaches, in order to establish games as a valid research tool. Our focus lies on the approach towards the use of games as design instrument; using them as an intervention in a larger, complex context, in order to design this context. With our contribution, we aim at providing insights and recommendations on the design and use of games as valid research tools, the limitations of this use, possible pitfalls, but also best practices. Method. We carried out a literature review of related work to identify the most important scientific concepts related to our approach of game design. Further use of combined quantitative and qualitative case study analyses highlights the design process and results of our own game studies. Results. The analyses yielded a consolidated conceptualization of simulation games as research instruments in complex systems analysis and design. The results also include methods for the evaluation of simulation games, additional evaluation methods, and limitations to use simulation games as research instruments. Conclusions. We propose guidelines for using simulation games as research instruments that may be of value to practitioners and scientists alike. Recommendation. We recommend practitioners and scientists to apply the guidelines presented here in their efforts to analyze and design complex systems.

For operational units in the security domain that work together in teams, it is important to quickly and adequately exchange context-related information to ensure well-working collaboration. Currently, most information exchange is based on oral communication. This paper reports on different scenarios from the security domain in which augmented reality (AR) techniques are used to support such information exchange. The scenarios have been designed with a User Centred Design approach, in order to make the scenarios as realistic as possible. To support these scenarios, an AR system has been developed and evaluated in two rounds. In the first round, the usability and feasibility of the AR support has been evaluated with experts from different operational units in the security domain. The second evaluation round then focussed on the effect of AR on collaboration and situational awareness within the expert teams. With regard to the usability and feasibility of AR, the evaluation shows that the scenarios are well defined and the AR system can successfully support information exchange in teams operating in the security domain. The second evaluation round showed that AR can especially improve the situational awareness of remote colleagues not physically present at a scene.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction, which can have significant impacts on daily life, education, and work. Limited performance in learning and working, as well as exclusion from social activities, are common challenges faced by individuals with ASD. Virtual reality (VR) technology has emerged as a promising medium for delivering interventions for ASD. To address five major research questions and understand the latest trends and challenges in this area, a systematic review of 21 journal articles published between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2022 was conducted using the PRISMA approach. A meta-analysis of 15 articles was further conducted to assess interventional effectiveness. The results showed that most studies focused on social and affective skill training and relied on existing theories and practices with limited adaptations for VR. Furthermore, the enabling technologies’ affordances for the interventional needs of individuals with ASD were not thoroughly investigated. We suggest that future studies should propose and design interventions with solid theoretical foundations, explore more interventional areas besides social and affective skill training, and employ more rigorous experimental designs to investigate the effectiveness of VR-enabled ASD interventions.

Recent research showed that augmented reality (AR) technology is a promising approach to support distributed teams in crime scene investigation. This paper reports on the development and evaluation of a handheld AR system to support team situational awareness and collaboration among co-located and remote forensic investigators. The AR system runs on a smartphone strapped to the wrists of the local investigators and on a laptop for the remote investigator. The AR system has been evaluated with three experienced forensic investigators and was carried out in two rounds: (1) with one local and one remote investigator and (2) with two local and one remote investigator. The evaluation focused on the usability of the AR system and its effect on situational awareness as well as collaboration quality. Compared to earlier experiments using head-mounted devices (HMDs), the findings suggest that the handheld AR system addresses limitations of current HMD based AR system, but the necessary division of attention between smartphone AR system and real environment impacts the situational awareness.

Background.: Simulation gaming sessions can be understood as a sequence of briefing, game play, and debriefing - with feedback loops and iterative steps in between. Often, these sessions are supported by a facilitator, who organizes the session, sets learning goals, and guides the players through briefing, game play and debriefing ( Taylor, Backlund & Niklasson, 2012 ), which we call facilitation. Debriefing is a vital part of the facilitation process, as according to Crookall (2010) and Kriz (2010) , it facilitates learning. Contrary to many traditional models that locate the debriefing phase at the very end of a simulation gaming session, we conceptualize debriefing as reflection moments during the whole session, in which participants have the opportunity to reflect on their game play, experiences, and learnings. Facilitation is the process of enabling participants to address challenging situations of the game play, and make connections between the game play and the real environment the game refers to throughout the simulation gaming session. Method & Results.: We analysed existing debriefing literature within the Simulation & Gaming journal. This review revealed that many existing approaches do not sufficiently consider changing needs of participants during a simulation gaming session to allow for a direct reflection on what is happening. Instead, a large number of debriefing approaches focus on a post-action reflection only. Moreover, the approaches analysed in our article often are abstract and only provide scarce practical recommendations. In addition to the literature review, we draw conclusions from observations of our own work in and with simulation gaming sessions. Based on the related and our own work, we propose a new model for simulation game facilitation, which better connects moments of reflection with the game play - the Impulse-Debriefing-Spiral. Conclusions.: We provide a holistic understanding of debriefing that helps facilitators when implementing simulation games for learning purposes. Our model, called the Impulse-Debriefing-Spiral, conceptualizes the role of facilitation between briefing and debriefing throughout the whole process of a simulation gaming session - starting with its planning to reacting on emerging needs of the participants in between, up to closing the session as last step before transferring new knowledge and competencies into a new context (learning transfer).

In many fields of activity, working in teams is necessary for completing tasks in a proper manner and often requires visual context-related information to be exchanged between team members. In such a collaborative environment, awareness of other people’s activity is an important feature of shared-workspace collaboration. We have developed an augmented reality framework for virtual colocation that supports visual communication between two people who are in different physical locations. We address these people as the remote user, who uses a laptop and the local user, who wears a head-mounted display with an RGB camera. The remote user can assist the local user in solving a spatial problem, by providing instructions in form of virtual objects in the view of the local user. For annotating the shared workspace, we use the state-of-the-art algorithm for localization and mapping without markers that provides “anchors” in the 3D space for placing virtual content. In this paper, we report on a user study that explores on how automatic audio and visual notifications about the remote user’s activities affect the local user’s workspace awareness. We used an existing game to research virtual colocation, addressing a spatial challenge on increasing levels of task complexity. The results of the user study show that participants clearly preferred visual notifications over audio or no notifications, no matter the level of the difficulty of the task.