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MACBETH Serious Video Game

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ASSISTANT PROFESSOR PART OF WINNING TEAM FOR MACBETH SERIOUS VIDEO GAME

Jensen

Price Assistant Professor Matthew Jensen was part of a team of OU developers  of the serious video game, MACBETH. MACBETH was awarded the “Best Business Game” during the Eighth Annual Serious Games Showcase & Challenge at the InterService/Industry Training Simulation and Education Conference in Orlando, Fla. The award was based on recommendations from a panel of more than 100 game developers and serious game researchers. MACBETH also received the “Adaptive Force” award, which is an award recommended by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

MACBETH was one of 17 games selected from over 50 submissions for the showcase at the conference. The Serious Games Showcase & Challenge is the premiere venue for recognition of excellence in the field of serious games development.

MACBETH, which also won in the “Adaptive Force” category, allows the player to make sound decisions with the information provided, while non-player character mentors guide a player with insight as to what a player did wrong. Adaptive Force games are those that improve an individual’s ability to repeatedly try new or different strategies to solve problems, while considering feedback with the purpose of improving overall success.

MACBETH was funded by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity via the Air Force Research Laboratory and was designed to train intelligence analysts about three specific cognitive biases: the fundamental attribution error, the confirmation bias and the bias blind spot.  

OU collaborated with Judee Burgoon’s team at the University of Arizona when testing the game. The OU team included Norah Dunbar, OU Department of Communications and the Center for Applied Social Research; Scott Wilson and Javier Elizondo, OU K20 Center; Jensen, Michael F. Price College of Business; Claude Miller, OU Department of Communication; and a dozen other scientists.