Evolution of player skill in the Americas Army game

Abstract

Many disciplines utilize computer games as interactive training simulations. However, their use is often limited to training mechanical skills, and they are not viewed as a sophisticated training tool with which to teach human interactions within organizations and social/organizational skills. Therefore, in this paper we examine how the players of the game America's Army changed their performance, play styles and social positions after one year of game play experience. For the initial investigation, we compare performance measures and play style at the beginning and the end of our survey period. Also, we calculate social network measures, such as centrality measures and clustering measures, to see how the social positions of the players change. After the comparison, we observe that players with one year of experience are more sensitive to communication and have tighter and denser communication networks around them.