**7. Haptics and serious games**

In general, the term "Serious Games" refers to computer video games that are used with a purpose beyond or other than entertainment. However some discussion has been going on for some time about the formal definition and some other details about what may or may not constitute a serious game.

The Role of Haptics in Games 231

In the education field, most of the work has been towards providing a more immersive and hands-on approach to learning class content. In particular chemistry is one of the subjects

As a good example, Sato and others designed a haptic grip and an interactive system with haptic interaction as a teaching aid. They focused on the interaction between two water molecules by constructing an environment to feel Van der Waals force as well as electrostatic force with haptic interaction (Sato et al. 2008). In a similar way, Comai and collaborators propose a framework for the implementation of haptic bases systems for

A second point of interest for haptics in education is that of learning hand writing skills. Eid and others seveloped a multimedia system for learning hand writing in different languages. The system is based on a haptic stylus controlled by software in such a way that it can guide the movement of the learner in an analogous way that a teacher would hold his/her hand. The system supports various languages including Arabic and Japanese. The amount of strict guidance of the system can be adjusted so that overtime the user makes the writing by

In a similar work, kindergarten children were subject to hand writing training using a Visuo-Haptic device to increase the fluency of handwriting production of cursive letters. Forty two children participated in the experiment that showed that the fluency of handwriting production for all letters was higher after the training with the tool than those

Computer video games have come a long way and have evolved from a pure graphics and visual rendering into a fully fledged multimedia experience. Videogames try to appeal to all senses of the human player. Video graphics are very sophisticated and the definition, speed and overall quality of the visual stimuli is at its best. Audio has become an integral part of any computer video game as well, from small audio clues about events on the game to full soundtracks that give character to the titles. We argue that video and audio were the dominant media channels in the videogame industry in what could be called the first

In this new era where computers are miniaturized and with even higher capacities of processing and memory, developers and researchers have focused on extending the sensory experience to include the sense of touch. Initial implementations include vibrotactile feedback with a rumble effect on game input controllers. However, in an attempt to achieve a more immersive experience other haptics modalities have been explored, particularly force feedback. There are already haptic devices available in a consumer level market that have complex hardware implementation that allow for more realistic reactions from the controller

Another trend on games has been mobility. The wide availability of low cost, high performance mobile phones and tablet PCs has created a whole new market for game titles

often targeted thru haptic assisted learning tools (Fjeld and Voegtli, 2002).

children which were not subject to it (Palluel-Germain et al., 2007).

**7.2 Education** 

chemistry education (Comai et al 2010).

him/her self (Eid et al. 2007).

**8. Summary** 

generation of games.

to game dynamics and user actions.

According to a definition stated by the people on the Serious Games initiative, started in 2002 by Ben Sawyer and others (Serious Game Initiative, 2011), a serious game can be defined as follows:

*"applications of interactive technology that extend far beyond the traditional videogame market, including: training, policy exploration, analytics, visualization, simulation, education, health, and therapy."* 

Serious games have been developed for many areas, including education, government, military, corporate, healthcare, politics, religion and arts. Haptics technology has been present to different extent in the majority of these areas. However, we argue that two of the most prominent serious games application areas where the advantages of haptic technology can really be appreciated are healthcare and education.
