Virtualheroes-Cultureofexploration

Contents

Mission Problem Identification Market Opportunity Solution Conclusion

Authors

Jerry Heneghan Todd Borghesani

Date

October 31, 2005

MISSION

Advance NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration and the Aldridge Report objectives through the use of “Serious Game” technologies. Inspire the American public and the next generation of space explorers, scientists and engineers.

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Current levels of performance in science and technology are the second largest national security threats facing America.1 As such, scientific illiteracy and scientific and technical workforce shortages are a serious threat to sustaining NASA’s workforce needs. These realities exist within the larger context of NASA's brand and the American perception of space exploration.

Two weeks into the semester, the principal of an underfunded high school in Arizona walked into English teacher Howard Ruffner’s classroom and told him he was now a science teacher. Ruffner, a flexible sort, said, “OK. Where’s the lab? What equipment do we have? What’s the budget for materials?” The answer: no budget, no equipment, no lab—and no textbooks either. Like thousands of other science teachers at poorly funded middle and high schools around the country, Ruffner made due with creative lesson plans and a private donation of a few hundred bucks out of his own paycheck.

“Science is way down on the pecking order,” says Gerry Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association. The situation has become especially bad since the No Child Left Behind law went into effect in 2002. It requires that students pass math and reading tests every year but a science test only once every three years. Teaching science costs more than teaching reading or math because of the pricey lab equipment and supplies; but these days the science budget is being pilfered to pay for the three R’s. What is the end result? It is rampant science illiteracy.

The above example is indicative of the Nation’s schools and their ability to effectively teach technical subjects.2 In its compelling report, the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century reported that more than 240,000 new and qualified science and math teachers are needed in the nation’s K-12 classrooms over the next decade. However, 34 percent of public school math teachers and nearly 40 percent of science teachers lack even an academic minor in their primary teaching fields.

Statistics show that the shortage is real and worthy of concern (Before It’s Too Late, A Report to the Nation from the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, 2000). The number of jobs requiring science and engineering skills in the U.S. labor force is growing almost 5 percent per year (Indicators, 2004). However, many of those who entered the workforce as scientists and engineers in the 1960s and 1970s are expected to retire in the next 20 years, and their children are not choosing careers in the sciences (Indicators 2004, Overview). Since 1990, for example, bachelor’s degrees in engineering have declined by 8 percent and degrees in mathematics have dropped by about 20 percent (Indicators, 2004). Without concerted effort, it is expected that these declines will continue if not accelerate. America’s college-age population will increasingly be made up of Latino and African-American students, whose participation rates in science, technology, engineering and math are half those of Caucasian students.3

What does this mean for the NASA workforce? The size of the Agency’s technical workforce in its 20s is only one-third that of its workforce in its 60s, and NASA is encountering shortages in critical skills as older professionals retire. The situation will only get worse if NASA fails to counter

Copyright © 2005 Virtual Heroes Page 2 of 10 this trend (NASA Strategic Plan, 2003). NASA’s announcement in January 2004 of a new Vision for Space Exploration will put further stress on the depleted pipeline of scientists and engineers entering the NASA workforce. Due to the Vision’s long-term nature, spanning several decades as well as presidential administrations and Congressional sessions, NASA will require a robust workforce to carry out the Exploration Vision.4

Throughout its history NASA has set the pace of innovation among the world’s scientists and engineers. NASA has one of the most recognizable brands in the world, on a par with Walt Disney or Coca Cola. The brand was firmly established during the “space race” of the 1960s, with the Apollo Generation setting the stage for the brand's meaning. It became and remains the worldwide brand that signifies manned space exploration and discovery.5 However, it is a brand that has not been established in the channels of communication used by the wired and unwired generations. They do not see the same NASA values as previous generations. Yet, they are already hungry for a positive future vision and the opportunity to explore space. They believe in NASA. They believe space exploration is not a fantasy, but an achievable possibility. They believe it is a noble endeavor.6 So, how do we inspire them to lead the Exploration Vision?

MARKET OPPORTUNITY

The video game industry is not a “future” industry—it is a high-growth 35.3 billion dollar global industry7 that promises important benefits and implications to society, NASA's brand, and science and technology-based industries in general. It may come as no shock to learn that video and computer gaming will continue to be the hottest market in the entertainment industry, at least for the rest of the decade.

Spurred along by pre-sale figures estimated at $78 million, Halo 2 (a first person shooter game which uses a science fiction theme and storyline) will have shipped across 27 countries, localized in 8 languages by the end of the week. In the U.S. alone, the game was launched in over 7,000 retail outlets, with over 1,500 additional stores seeing the game put out in stores from London, to Seoul, Tokyo, Mexico City, Toronto, and beyond. The launch of Halo 2 is likely to help Microsoft achieve its fiscal year Xbox Live user estimates of 1.5 million paying subscribers.

These real-world numbers come after Microsoft’s Peter Moore put forth estimates of $130 million in sales for Halo 2 in its first day, and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates commented of the long in-development title at a recent financial conference: "In the first 24 hours we'll have an opening that's more popular than any motion picture has ever had in history." It's also been noted that Prima Games has shipped over 270,000 copies of its Halo 2 strategy [exploration, science and technology] guide to stores, making it one of the best-selling strategy guides of all time.8

Several demographic trends and market drivers will fuel rapid interactive entertainment software sales growth. The most compelling of these trends is the expanding age demographic of the interactive game consumer, rapid growth of the teen population over the next five years, growth of the female gamer market, and the increasing disposable incomes of teens and pre-teens. The "tween" market (children ages 8 to 14) makes up one of the largest segments of the interactive entertainment market. The top three periodicals read by males in this age group are all gaming magazines (GamePro, Nintendo Power, and Electronic Gaming Monthly). It is estimated that the 27 million tweens in the U.S. directly influence more than $120 billion of family spending and that influence means more money spent on interactive entertainment.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, 60% of all Americans older than age 6 (approximately 145 million people) now play video games. Young gamers of the wired and unwired generations are both consumers and producers of digital content (Brown, 2003). In our analysis, they are also

Copyright © 2005 Virtual Heroes Page 3 of 10 learners and teachers. Consumers who hack or “mod” (modify) or “skin” (add artistic layers to) games often organize into communities of practice. These groups form an identity and are bound together by a shared sense of purpose — solving complex problems related to creating or modifying virtual worlds. It is essentially a creative process where gamers learn by doing. There is not much regard for specialized disciplines, for the act of solving problems imparts knowledge, skills, and abilities to everyone involved. The process of modifying a game is in effect a social construction of knowledge and technology.9

The convergence of education and gaming technologies represents an evolution of learning. Games teach by encouraging competition, experimentation, exploration, innovation, and transgression.10 They are not simply problems or puzzles; they are microworlds, and in such environments students develop a much firmer sense of how specific social processes and practices are interwoven, and how different bodies of knowledge relate to each other. Here, students can draw meaning from every element in their environment to solve problems that grow organically from their own goals and interests.

Though digital games are mostly thought of as consumer entertainment, games to teach and learn have gained early success in the military. The US military’s accelerated investment in distributed simulations and games to learn began in 1997. The military’s use of Constructivist Network Learning Environments (CNLEs) is driving the use of games to teach and learn. CNLEs are an amalgamation of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPGs), distributed simulators, computer aided instruction, and learning management systems. CNLEs are emerging to support national defense and homeland security applications. The functional domains required to create these learning environments match those of gaming, with the exception of increased emphasis on cognitive science (instructional design and measurement).

Within the last year, the video game industry has recognized the need to reach new market segments outside of the core gamer, broaden the game experience, and expand the definition of interactive video games. That has resulted in (1) the creation of a new category of interactive video games including dance games, music games, rhythm action games and action-simulation games that use peripheral devices to make the games more interactive, including dance mats, bongos, and cameras that project the gamer into the game; (2) the introduction of new game devices to change the way the gamer interacts with the screen; and (3) new technologies, like Wi- Fi and voice recognition, to expand the dimensions of gaming.

THE SOLUTION

Our objective is to develop a novel, cutting-edge, networked “serious game”. The goal of this game is nothing less than revitalizing interest in NASA’s programs among our youth and thus encourage career exploration in space science and engineering.

Serious Games apply state-of-the-art interactive entertainment technology, creativity and content deployment mechanisms to further training and strategic communication objectives for government, academic or corporate entities. Games of this type help to impart knowledge and create competency for mission-critical job skills. Although called “serious”, these games must still be highly-immersive and “fun” in order to be successful. Serious Games are now being used for educating and training the following:

• Complex jobs requiring precise knowledge and skills • Adaptive Thinking and Leadership • Jobs where spatial awareness is essential • Jobs where safety is essential and expensive equipment is involved • Jobs involving complex machinery or work material • Situations requiring cost and time efficient student throughput for large populations

The basic premise of the NASA game is as follows. In an authentic inquiry-learning 3D microworld, you become a part of each mission, bringing to life the nation’s premier space exploration organization: NASA. The NASA Space Science Board and the Institute for Advanced Concepts are the teams that set each mission agenda. You play out the stories of NASA’s future missions—from the minds of NASA. Your creed is to understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life. You become part of a multidisciplinary NASA team consisting of scientists, engineers and robots that embark on missions around Earth, to the Moon, Mars and Beyond. 11 You seek the answers to NASA's questions: How did we get here? Where are we going? Are we alone?

"I am of the Apollo Generation, that lucky group of kids old enough to have experienced the Moon landings, but young enough to not have been distracted by the issues of the adult world. I was nine years old when Neil and Buzz first walked on the Moon, and I could not get enough! And so my One Urgent Request...Give Us More [NASA]! Distill the Spirit and Energy of everything you’ve heard of what is Possible to its Quintessence! Make an MTV Video – An X-Box Game! Show us a human and a robot doing a “High Five” on Mars! ... Give us your Results in a form powerful enough to keep a nation of nine-year olds Awake All Night!"12

We can produce engaging experiences and stunning, immersive 3D visuals. This is the gateway to a broad array of experiences that will include space-related entrepreneurship, construction of launch vehicles and robotic exploration craft. It is a networked, multiplayer game so that cooperative missions reaching across the globe via the Internet will be common.

The potential for converting hobbies and amusements to more educational pursuits is enormous. NASA could collaborate with video game producers to create live-action learning modules that give players the chance to experiment with orbital mechanics, the principles of spaceflight, and other space-related subjects.13

Imagine a gaming community focused on space exploration. The game is designed to be a platform for creativity inside the community. Members have access to Mission Scenarios & Data, 3D models, Open Source Technologies, and all the software tools needed to modify the game. Each member has a personal portfolio and a published portfolio. As they play, build, and dream online, the portfolio interface brings to life a project-based learning model offering unique coaching and assessment interfaces for schools.

What makes this game unique? The concept of "authenticity" is the cornerstone of the experience. The sciences and technologies of space exploration are the foundation for the design of authentic models and environments14 for inquiry-learning 3D microworlds. Actual NASA missions and ideas; and wherever possible, actual mission data will be incorporated into the game. Where necessary, we apply convergent technologies—such as robotics, NASA Whirlwind technologies and physics-based simulation engines—to game technologies to power the authenticity.

A marketing strategy could focus on the "Official NASA Game." The NASA Game Campaign launches a broad grass roots movement through coordinated efforts of government, industry, and non-profit institutions. We would deliver targeted messages to discrete audiences, using the game to infuse space exploration into our culture. The game becomes a central "experience" that transforms young America's perspective of space exploration.

After Sputnik's launch, Bell Laboratories funded a series of documentaries designed to encourage popular science literacy. Directed by Frank Capra and animated by Chuck Jones, these films coupled Hollywood showmanship with

Copyright © 2005 Virtual Heroes Page 5 of 10 cutting-edge research on such standard school topics as the solar system, meteorology, and the human body. Initially aired on prime-time network television, they circulated throughout the American education system for more than a decade--much to the delight of school children of that generation. These productions were part of a larger strategy--what one executive called "Operation Frontal Lobe"--to demonstrate the educational value of the then-emerging medium of television. Suppose we wanted to launch a similar effort today—a new Operation Frontal Lobe. Suppose we offered a new generation of high-quality content within an equally engaging format. What medium would we choose? Our answer is clear: video games.15

One of the key concepts that games embody is the use of dynamic story-telling techniques. Stories "from the Imagination of NASA" will persuade our younger constituencies to make an investment in the space frontier. By recognizing and targeting the virtual spaces that today’s young people occupy and cooperatively experience, we hope to develop a new wave of interest in space and related science and technology. Campaign components may also include: (1) work with Aerospace and IT Corporations to create a vision of a better future using in-game "industry space innovation" and NASA Space Product placement. (2) Sponsored challenges. Missions should have in-game rewards and prizes. The wired and unwired generations can "win" the game of space exploration. We thus build upon the work of NASA's Centennial Challenge.

Financing of game development may be accomplished via investment in the form of grants, co- development, and venture funding leveraging the NASA legal/financing mechanism of the Joint Sponsored Research Agreement. Existing under NASA’s Innovative Partnership Program, Joint Sponsored Research is dedicated to promoting R&D partnerships between NASA and the private sector pertaining to dual use technologies and to pre-competitive, commercially valuable technologies with industry-wide application. The JSRA permits NASA to provide resources, including funds, services, equipment, information, intellectual property, and facilities on a shared or pooled basis to at least one of the non-government partners. The JSRA partnership is mutually beneficial to NASA and the private sector because, by working together, development of the technology is accelerated by sharing knowledge and the cost of R&D. In general, the JSRA goals are to accelerate technology development, maintain U.S. technological leadership, foster U.S. economic growth and competitiveness, and create jobs.

Sustaining the business model may be accomplished via community membership subscriptions. Sony, Microsoft and Electronic Arts have legitimized the movement toward network distribution and subscription gaming. Interestingly, it also favors startups and market innovation by challenging shrink-wrapped game distribution through retail outlets. The subscription model long has been seen as the “holy grail,” because subscriptions provide regular income to content owners and some intermediaries. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2003-2007, online subscriptions to game sites were $249M in 2002 and will reach $1.6B by 2007.

CONCLUSION

Games are part of our social and cultural environment: children grow up playing computer, video and Internet games and continue the practice throughout college. Although the appeal of games is “fun,” there are deeper elements that may provide a new tool for educators. For learners who are experiential learners, social and multi-taskers, games provide a new freshness of approach and motivation to their studies. Although a promising tool, games are not replacements for faculty involvement, direct student experience, or the hard work of learning.16

Long-term competitiveness requires a skilled workforce. The space exploration vision can be a catalyst for a much-needed renaissance in math and science education in the United States. The ability of our children to compete and prosper in the 21st century continues to decline. Comparing our competence with that of other nations in math, science, computer literacy, and engineering –

Copyright © 2005 Virtual Heroes Page 6 of 10 21st century equivalents of the 3Rs – we are becoming less, not more, competitive. To compete in a knowledge economy, high-tech industries require these particular skills. The space exploration mission can be an important part of our national effort to galvanize and reform our educational system.

To explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond is a great journey worthy of a great nation. NASA's brand embodies this Nation's Vision: Human and Robotic Space Exploration. The impulse to explore the unknown is a human imperative, and a notable part of what motivates us as a people. This endeavor presents an opportunity to inspire a new generation of American explorers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and innovators who will provide positive American leadership to the world.

AUTHORS' BIOGRAPHIES

Jerry Heneghan [email protected] CEO, Virtual Heroes Inc.

Mr. Jerry Heneghan is the founder and CEO of Virtual Heroes Inc. Virtual Heroes’ headquarters are located in Cary, North Carolina, near the world-renowned Research Triangle Park. Most recently, Jerry served as an Executive Producer for the America’s Army Game Project (www.americasarmy.com) focusing on the creation of training applications based on the game. Prior to starting Virtual Heroes, Jerry was a Program Manager in the Technology Assisted Learning Division of the Research Triangle Institute (RTI). While at RTI, Jerry was responsible for creating and fielding several new medical training technologies for first responders. Before his work at RTI, Jerry was a Game Producer at Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Entertainment. Prior to work in the interactive entertainment industry, Jerry served as a U.S. Army Aviator (AH-64 pilot), in assignments all over the world. Jerry holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BS in Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy.

Todd Borghesani, Esq. [email protected] Business Development, Virtual Heroes Inc.

As a management consultant and technology entrepreneur, Todd has worked across a wide range of industry sectors from construction, logistics, manufacturing, and transportation to information technology, multimedia and e-learning. In his last position as Director of Special Projects for the NASA-Sponsored Classroom of the Future he focused on the educational use of video game technologies and the commercialization of NASA Learning Technologies. The Classroom of the Future is NASA's premier education research effort. Prior to working with the agency, Todd assisted the Wisconsin Technology Council with strengthening the state's entrepreneurship program. He created the model, brand and marketing program for the nation's first statewide "Governor's Business Plan Contest" and Wisconsin's inaugural Entrepreneurs' Conference. His last company built network laboratories as scenario-based learning platforms for network engineers and network security professionals. He holds an undergraduate degree from Indiana University in Russian Language & Literature with a minor in East European Studies as well as degrees in Law and International Relations from Marquette University and Moscow State University.

Virtual Heroes located in Cary, North Carolina, is a premier Serious Games development studio. We focus on creating premium interactive serious games and distributed simulations for the training and education of mission-critical job skills.

The company was founded in 2004 by veterans from the interactive entertainment and defense simulation communities. Our objective is to develop the technology infrastructure necessary to become the leading provider of premium interactive training solutions for corporate, military and government markets. Please see www.virtualheroes.com for more information.

Play. Learn. Become.

END NOTES

1 Road Map for National Security: Imperative for Change, 2001 2 Road Map for National Security: Imperative for Change, 2001 3 NASA Education: Promoting the Use of Inquiry in the Classroom so that Students See Learning in a Whole New Light. 4 Report of the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, 2004 5 American Perception of Space Exploration 6 American Perception of Space Exploration 7 Dynamics of Games, 5th Ed.: Informa Telecoms & Media 8 See Thompson Publishing Anthology of Books which support a curriculum of "enhancing education through games: game programming, game design, game art, 9 Gaming: A Technology Forecast, "Implications for Community and Technical Colleges in the State of Texas. 10 Harnessing the Power of Games in Education 11 NASA Education: Promoting the Use of Inquiry in the Classroom so that Students See Learning in a Whole New Light. 12 Report of the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, 2004 13 Report of the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, 2004 14 Report of the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, 2004 15 Harnessing the Power of Games in Education 16 Harnessing the Power of Games in Education