Playing Pandemics

Business simulation game is gradually utilized among business consulting firms in Thailand, especially the board game version for training strategic business skills of their clients. However, the majority strategic board game have developed from the West which having some business culture difference. This article presents the philosophy and objectives of the game for fostering business sustainability and some desired features from stakeholders' views, also their expected benefits from playing this Automotive Factory Strategic Board Game (AF-SBG). The results of the several focus group with the dedicated stakeholders such as prospect players and the training organization's management also the game developers shown that the philosophy of the game should be to create sustainable competitiveness in the digital economy by applying the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) with innovation and technology in running business for sustainability. The significant features of the game are 1) having a virtual look at how to practice business decisions with responsibility, 2) practicing players to apply the SEP in business culture and values, 3) presenting distinctive, beautiful, virtual, three-dimensional of board game, 4) players be able to change or play as a variety of business roles, and 5) a simple and easy-to-play simulation game and stimulating the players to learn business strategy with fun.

Purpose – This study aims to examine the effects of a simulation board game for teaching and learning shipping management at higher education. A framework of comprehensive shipping operation was developed according to the syllabus of the Shipping Management course in Universiti Utara Malaysia. The course core content in the game covers two main services—liner service and tramp service in the shipping industry. Methodology – A quasi-experimental research design has been adopted to measure the effectiveness of the board game in post-learning. Data were gathered from a sample of 73 undergraduate students who enrolled in Shipping Management course using non-equivalent control group design. The data was analysed using McNemar Test to determine the effect of the students’ achievement. Findings – The findings of this study revealed that using board game in learning activities can contribute to the improvement of students’ knowledge and skill. Further analysis indicated that there were differences in students’ achievement for the tramp services and liner services content. This improvement has boosted their confidence in making decision in solving problem related to the tramp services and liner services knowledge. Significance – The framework for the shipping management board game aims to provide the best learning experience for students when they immerse into solving problems and making decisions in the game. The framework can be used as a benchmark in the practice of game-based learning, particularly by affording students to engage learning by doing. Furthermore, this framework introduces a tangible problem space through the board game, encouraging students to discover knowledge on their own pace in a non-threatening environment.

Purpose: Airline cost-cutting measures have led to shrinking economy-class seats ever since deregulation went into effect 35 years ago. Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, along with restricted mobility, particularly during an emergency evacuation, are among the health and safety hazards seat shrinkage has created for passengers. These have led to several regulatory attempts to define and standardize minimum aircraft seat dimensions. The question for scholarly investigation is whether government can efficiently regulate how air travelers value their health, safety, and comfort (and what consequences might arise therefrom).Methods: Aircraft seat regulation is modeled as a Stag Hunt with two sets of utility-maximizing and interactive players: passengers and airlines. The strategic choices available to each one are identified and tested in the context of a single-play game.Main findings: We find two likely outcomes of passenger and airline risk calculations and mitigation strategies against a set of alternatives and their expected consequences. The tension between the payoff-dominant and risk-dominant equilibria arises when players rationally pursue either strategy, depending on what they expect the other will do. Despite the lower payoffs to either player, we predict that the second-best and risk-dominant strategy will result from players' risk calculations. Successful lobbying against airline seat regulation derives not so much from the vast resources and efforts committed to it, but from the demonstrable power of market forces to sustain it.Conclusion/value: Absent any optimal strategy to address corresponding price increases, regulatory efficacy will depend on the risk propensities of market forces. Aircraft seat pricing reflects consumer supply and demand information pertaining to it. Any information changes will be instantly reflected in the market price of aircraft seats. Game simulation thus offers empirically verifiable predictions about choices that affect the control of scarce resources, particularly when passengers and airlines compete over them under conditions of risk and uncertainty.

BackgroundWith climate change, the number of natural disasters is increasing globally, and the resulting weather-related events lead to increased loss of life and property. Meanwhile, the significance of disaster education is becoming increasingly important. Despite natural disasters being hard to predict, people’s responses to such events can be improved by education and training. Gamification, an innovative teaching method, has demonstrated great potential across various fields, including disaster education.ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate the different application types of gamification in disaster education, focusing on nursing staff, medical professionals, university students, and disaster relief workers. Specifically, the goal was to identify the types of gamified teaching used in disaster education.MethodsThis scoping review was conducted according to the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology. The Participants, Concept, Context (PCC) model was used to frame the inclusion criteria. We performed a systematic search of the relevant literature across the Cochrane Library, PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang, VIPC, and SinoMed databases. Articles published in Chinese and English were selected for the review. The search was conducted to identify literature published from the establishment of the respective databases to April 21, 2024. Two researchers independently screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and extracted the data.ResultsWe included a total of 16 studies in this review, originating from 8 different countries. These studies involved 1744 participants: nursing students (n=451), medical students from other majors (n=420), college students (n=287), hospital decision makers (n=264), hospital medical staff (n=262), and disaster relief workers (n=60). The gamification approaches for teaching and learning encompassed the following 7 categories: tabletop games, serious games, scenario simulation games, virtual reality and mobile games, theme games, board games, and escape room games. The objectives of the studies were diverse. Three studies conducted randomized controlled trials, with only 1 performing a comparative analysis between different games. Two studies carried out long-term outcome evaluations.ConclusionsThis scoping review explored 7 types of games for disaster education and provided evidence for future education and training. Further research is needed to establish a long-term evaluation mechanism and a better game-based teaching program to provide more insights into the future of disaster education.

The effect of game-based interventions on the nursing students' level of knowledge: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Competitive board games have provided a rich and diverse testbed for artificial intelligence. This paper contends that collaborative board games pose a different challenge to artificial intelligence as it must balance short-term risk mitigation with long-term winning strategies. Collaborative board games task all players to coordinate their different powers or pool their resources to overcome an escalating challenge posed by the board and a stochastic ruleset. This paper focuses on the exemplary collaborative board game Pandemic and presents a rolling horizon evolutionary algorithm designed specifically for this game. The complex way in which the Pandemic game state changes in a stochastic but predictable way required a number of specially designed forward models, macro-action representations for decision-making, and repair functions for the genetic operations of the evolutionary algorithm. Variants of the algorithm which explore optimistic versus pessimistic game state evaluations, different mutation rates and event horizons are compared against a baseline hierarchical policy agent. Results show that an evolutionary approach via short-horizon rollouts can better account for the future dangers that the board may introduce, and guard against them. Results highlight the types of challenges that collaborative board games pose to artificial intelligence, especially for handling multi-player collaboration interactions.

Complexity is increasingly tied into systems of societies, technologies and organizations. As these systems are characterized by non-linear interactions, it becomes more and more difficult to manage, educate, understand and predict their processes and outcomes. This symposium presents cases of a variety of simulation games that facilitate in these different types of systems; it also examines the theoretical challenges of the design of simulation games for such complex systems. The examples show how both computer-based and traditional board games can be used in various domains to analyze and design complex processes such as asset management, manufacturing procedures, railway infrastructure innovations, and land use development. The case studies presented in this symposium introduce simulation games as alternative solutions to complex organizational and even societal problems.

Games and simulalions can play an integral part of health education by creating a productive and enjoy­ able learning environment. Television and board games requiring various degrees of knowledge and skill can be adapted to present key health concepts, I to allow to interact with and personalize health information, and to assess personal risk. 2 Within a game format, strategies include simulations creatbg real-life situations and experi­ ences in a non-threatening environment. By usi.ng games and simulations, students must make decisions. solve problems, and react to the results of their decisions:) thus enhancing their personal and social competence.M(;reover, with technology at the forefront of educati.onal innovations, computer simulations of popular games are easy to create ,S and may be available for use in the classroom setting. For example, access http://www.abc.go.com/primetime/ millionaire/mill_home.html. Popular games such as Jeopardy, Family Feud, and Wheel of Fortune can be adapted to address one or more National Health Education Standards.' Depending on the game, key health concepts can be reinforced. Likewise, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, and communication skills can be strengthened. In games requir­ ing teamwork, as active participants can learn to work cooperatively. Games and simulations can clarify key concepts, increase student involvement, improve peer rela­ tionships, and increase motivation to learn. Health-related simulations can provide a realistic sense of where stand as well as an authentic assessment of kjl0wledge and skill level. g,S Key to incorporating a game format with classroom instruction is its relevance to course and student objectives. Games and simulations must meet pre-identified instruc­ tional objectives and include clear directions, procedures, and rules so the game itself does not become an obstacle to learning. . . Objectives

Computer games are the result of the convergence of art and technology. In this paper, we explore the possibility using computer games as a medium for promoting Asian culture and art, and therefore asserting that it should be considered as an art form itself. To establish why computer games can be considered art, we take into account the major theories of art based on historical, institutional, aesthetic, representational and expressive definitions. We also present the computer games that we have developed and show how these can be used to exhibit the culture and art of a country. The first game is Tuk-tuk (auto rickshaw) based on Thailand’s popular mode of transportation. It is essentially a taxi simulation game where the player has to pick up passengers and bring them to their desired location. In the game the traditional architecture of Bangkok’s structures is shown, passengers wear Thai traditional costumes and Thai music is played in the background. The second game is “O An Quan” (game of squares), a traditional board game played with stones in Vietnam. It is similar to Malaysia’s “Congkak” and the Philippines’ “Sungka”.