THE DYNAMIC ASPECTS OF INTERACTIVE GAMING PUTS THE REALISM INTO GAMING Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 271 THE DYNAMIC ASPECTS OF INTERACTIVE GAMING PUTS THE REALISM INTO GAMING Newell E. Chiesl Indiana State University INTRODUCTION Instructors in the academic disciplines of Commerce, Economics and Business Administration have attempted for many years to bring realistic business episodes into the University classroom. One of the first successful attempts was at The Harvard Business School in 1909, by Doc" Copeland with the most widely used methods to teach business courses, The Case Method. (4). Computer simulation and gaming is considered the next major advance of bringing realism into the classroom. This method has many known advantages, but business games have often frustrated the game administrator with their specific amount of required decisions needed to be punched without errors each fixed time period. (3). The next advance at bringing realism into the classroom to business students follows a technological advance in computer ability. The advent of the interactive terminal enables the instructor to offer students a dynamic simulation without a fixed time period or a specific amount of required decisions. An interactive gaining technique which satisfies this freer format is the Interactive Case. (2) The Interactive Case (I.C.) offers a more realistic environment than business games because students are able at any time in the simulation to change their input variables without waiting until the next fixed time period. This is possible for the student because of the time sharing capabilities of the interactive terminal. To students it appears that their requests are instantaneously answered; in reality, however, the main computer has probably answered a dozen or more requests to other interactive terminal users. The time frame for the interactive case is therefore very flexible allowing students to change variables whenever they wish, for example, at 1.7 weeks, 3.2 weeks or even .2 week intervals in simulation time. This simulation time could correlate directly to the wall clock time of 1.7 minutes, 3.2 minutes and .2 minutes. Unlike business games, the Interactive Case, does not require a specific amount of input variables due each time period. Thus, students can change one variable, some, all or none (the let it ride strategy) whenever they choose. Some of the headaches and frustrations for the game administrator of incorrectly punched student inputs are also eliminated since students are able to instantly correct any input data incorrectly punched. THE INTERACTIVE CASE (1). The Interactive Case method is the computerizing of a case on a computer terminal. Participants of the Interactive Case receive the written portion of the case one week in advance of the computer interaction. This will enable participants to conduct research and gather information pertaining to the main problem and various subproblems as presented in the case. After a two hour session on a computer terminal, a classroom discussion is scheduled. Students and the Professor then discuss during the next regular class meeting the learning objectives of a particular Interactive Case. A simplistic flowchart of an Interactive Case developed by the author is presented in Figure 1. Attention should be focused on the free-flowing nature of the program. Game participants are freely able to seek out short and/or long-run information as well as modify decision input variables as needed. Some of the readers of this paper will undoubtedly notice the programming similarities in the Interactive Case and a game which many interactive terminal users have enjoyed, Star Trek. THE SIMULATION The I.C. is played on computer terminals by ten teams in direct competition with each other. Each team simulates the object system (a micro business environment) using basically the same computer program. The only differences in the ten separate programs are the file names where each individual team modifies and stores its own unique decision variables. Each team program also automatically calls a file which stores the sales figures, the profit amounts and the cumulative statistics. Each of these files has a secret password which calls the data files from the master storage discs. The players do not know and cannot obtain the scrambled nonsense names and passwords of their own data files or their competitors data files. In other words, the players of the simulation are only allowed to execute a system file which has in it the compiled program. THE DYNAMIC ASPECTS Ideally, all gaining techniques strive to Obtain a 100% realistic copy of the object system being simulated. One way to achieve this verisimilitude is to periodically change environmental factors affecting the simulation. Three actions capable of producing environmental changes in the Interactive Case are: (1) The long-run market research predictions and their resultant occurrences, (2) The short-run actions taken by competitors, and (3) The actions taken by the game administrator. New long-run market research is typically available to participants on a quarterly basis. The long-run market research data is preprogrammed in advance and scheduled to be made available to players at the appropriate times by means of an elapsed wall-clock timing subroutine, Players obtain information and future predictions on events which will influence their profit performance on such uncontrollable factors as the product life cycle, future business cycles and proposed government legislation. Some of these environmental factors will occur deterministically in the simulation. The remaining environmental factors occur stochastically through the use of a Monte-Carlo Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 272 Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 273 technique and pseudo random number generation. The second dynamic environmental regeneration is caused by the short-run actions taken by the entire group acting collectively. The collective amounts selected for the advertising budgets, the pricing of the products and the various team levels of the product quality index influence the absolute amount of profit potential which can be realized. The short-run environmental change is implemented by the program and follows this sequence of (1) constantly monitoring all of the teams latest input files for the above mentioned variables, (2) substituting the new amounts in equations and subroutines, and then (3) reporting this new information to individual teams when so requested. The short-run actions taken by competitors is the most dynamic element in the Interactive Case. It allows the I.C. to be truly realistic since the players are really interacting with other competitors through the use of the terminals, the storage disc files and the main computer. The realism is analogous to playing the Star Trek game not just against the heuristically thinking computer but against persons using the terminals and interacting with you playing the roles of the Klingons and Romulins. The dynamic nature of the first two environmental factors is illustrated in Report 1 which is a sample output of the program being run. Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 274 Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 275 The third method to achieve realism is accomplished by the administrators direct manipulation of the sales and profit variables. For example, a situation could occur when the teams were not generating enough market potential to operate on a continuing basis. If a situation like this would occur the administrator could intervene and inject into the economy an environmental factor which would augment the available market potential. SUMMARY University instructors have continually attempted to bring the newest and most realistic teaching techniques into the classroom. A recent advance is interactive gaming which offers students a greater amount of realism than the prior business games. The dynamic aspects of interactive gaining which make for a realistic environment are: (1) The long-run changing market conditions, (2) The short- run interactions with competitors and (3) The manipulation of the economy by the game administrator. The Interactive Gaming Technique also referred to as the Interactive Case Method has been successfully used at Western Illinois University in the teaching of Marketing Management. This technique could also be used by other schools to update the computer realism in various Business Administration courses. Insights into Experiential Pedagogy, Volume 6, 1979 276 REFERENCES (1) Chiesl, N.E., “A Pedagogical Exercise Utilizing Computer Simulation, Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Winter Simulation Conference, 1978, 378-384. (2) Chiesl, N.E., The Interactive Case, developed from a grant from Western Illinois Univ., 1978. (3) Fritzsche, D.J., ‘Lets Simplify the Administrative Requirements of Computerized Educational Simulations, Exploring Experiential Learning: Simulations and Experiential Exercises, 1978, 39-43. (4) McNair, M.P., The Case Method at The Harvard Business School (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954). Table of Contents Volume 6, 1979 The Use of Cases with Role Plays in a Research Methods Course Debugging and Implementing the Live-Case Approach to Marketing Research in the Australian Environment Using a Case as the Basis for a Modified Debate Using Cases in Business Communication Classes A Structured Approach to Case Analysis and Reporting Intercollegiate Case Analysis Competition as an Experiential Learning Experience Attributes Germane to Student/Live Case Situations Understanding Dispute Resolution Through Experiential learning Personality Development and Conflict Dynamics: An Experimental Design to Study the Effects of Teaching Methodologies on Conflict Resolution Interpersonal Competence and the Digital PDP-11:40 The process of Writing a Collective Bargaining Simulation: A Case Study in Practical Pedagogy Simulating Negotiations in an Educational Context Simulations as a Technique for Teaching Collective Bargaining Experiential Processing of Differing Managerial Perspectives: The Use of a Game Show Format Individual Self Report vs. Group consensus in Small Decision-Making Groups Effects of Sex-Role Stereotypes on Promotion Decisions: An Exercise Computer Aids to Planning: The Budget and Forecasting Module Use of a Microcomputer in a Decision Analysis for Investment Portfolio Selection A Game of Investment Strategy: Description, Use, Criticism and Modification Coping with Future Uncertainties Through Probabilistic Budgeting Administration and Design of Simulation Materials for a Specialized Management Training Program Managing Stress in Organizational Life Banksim: The Bank Management Simulation Issues in the Organizational Application of Simulation and Experiential material Games Within Games: The Role of the Glitch Experiential Learning from Classroom to Business An Evaluation of the Small Business Institute Program as an Experiential learning Exercise Conversations with Top Management (Simulated) Experience in the Use and Assessment of Simulation in Management Education A Statistical Analysis of Simulation Users: Relationships between Stress and Human Subject guidelines Group Decision Making in a Computer Game Analysis of Demographic and Psychosocial Variables Comparing Performance During Three Managerial Accounting Simulation Schedules Business Policy Simulation and the Intense Course Structure The Use of Intensive Simulation in Executive Development and Academic Settings The Use of Experiential Exercises in the Undergraduate Consumer Behavior Course A Personal Marketing Strategy Approach: Framework and Application Teaching PERT Experientially in Marketing Research Discovering the Majority Fallacy An Experiential Approach to Studying International Business A Demonstration of the Business Simulation Game as a Curriculum Assessment Device Relating Teaching Methods with Educational Objectives in the Business Curriculum The Junior Achievement Applied Management Program as a Compromise Situation Between the Simulation and the Internship Who is Using Computerized Business Games?: A View from Publishers' Adoption Lists Trials and Tribulations in Testing Educational Innovations An Examination of the Perceived Effectiveness of Computer Simulation in a Classroom Setting as Affected by Game, Environmental and Respondent Characteristics Game Administration: A Life Cycle Analysis Research on the Effectiveness of Using a Computerized Simulation in the Basic Management Course Gaming and Attitudinal Change The Teacher-Student Relationship in Experiential Classes and the Student's Perception of Course Effectiveness An Exploratory Study of Student Characteristics and Educational Processes in Programmatic Experiential learning General Incongruity Adaption Level (GIAL) as a Predictor of Risk Preferences in a Simulated Management Game The Cap-Stone Opportunity: Combining Business Simulation and Experiential Learning Incorporating MIS/DSS into Policy Courses Via Simulation Who Benefits Most from Participation in Business Policy Simulations: An Empirical Study of Skill Development by Functional Areas The Use of Program NAMEX in Teaching the Accounting for Nonmonetary Assets The Use of Program CVP in Teaching Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis Experiential vs. Traditional Classroom Approach in the Basic Management Course: A Puerto Rican Experience A Guide to the Successful Use of Business Simulation Games The Dynamic Aspects of Interactive Gaming Puts the Realism into Gaming System Representation of SIMORG The Design of a Database System to Support Business Simulation and Experiential Learning A Data Entry and Retrieval System for a Computer Simulation (DERS) Simulation - An Advantage for Accounting Research Computer-Aided Project Performance Control Simulation: An Interactive Experiential Gaming Technique for Managerial Decision Making Utilization of Manual Simulation Games to Develop Scenarios of Future Events - An Exploratory Study Foundry: A Foundry Simulation Customized Debriefing: The Achilles Heel of Experiential learning? Computerized Business Simulations and Experiential Learning Exercises: An Instructional Interface The Baseball Game: A Group Role Observation, Problem Solving Experience A Practical Design for Experiential Learning Exercises: Roles, Technical Equipment and Alternative Debriefing Formats