FEATURES OF USING SERIOUS GAMES IN MILITARY EDUCATION AND TRAINING

In the recent years, all modern armies use technology for improving the educational and training process. One of the latest aspects of involving technology are serious games. During their specific activities, military personnel have to accomplish tasks that are abstract, multidimensional, nonlinear, dynamic and interdependent. These tasks can be managed to be fulfilled in an optimal manner if they are first solved in a virtual space and after that in a real world. In fact, there is nothing else than a new methods that is adequate for a specific purpose. In this sense, depending of the final aim, the serious games can be used in a proper manner for developing a specific set of skills. So it is not surprising that, even serious games are a relatively new tool used in military education, due to the undeniable advantages of using them in a cost-efficient way, the process of training can be improved including situations that are very difficult to be realized otherwise for reasons of costs and sometimes safety. Serious games’ playing is a complex activity that involves the use of interaction with real and virtual tools and images. Such an activity develops skills in identifying relevant information, generating decision criteria and selecting alternatives. Can be used different scenarios according to various types of missions. A series of studies demonstrated that persons who completed serious games adapted for a specific area of operations were more familiar with the specificities and realities from that area than those who have not accessed it. In this paper we will try to underline the particularities of serious games used for covering major area of military training domain taking in consideration that the final aim is to improve the military personnel behavior during their specific missions.