An Empirical Evaluation of Transfer-of-Training of Two Flight Simulation Games

• Published in: Simulation & gaming Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 8 - 35
• Main Authors: Korteling, Hans J. E., Helsdingen, Anne S., Sluimer, Ralf R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.02.2017; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Aircraft; Computer & video games; Control Groups; Educational software; Entertainment; Fidelity; Flight simulation; Flight simulator games; Flight training; Games; Military aircraft; Quasi-experimental methods; Simulation; Task performance; educational gaming; training simulation; flight training; serious games; training effectiveness; transfer of training; Falcon 4.0; far transfer; flight games; Microsoft flight simulator near transfer
• ISSN: 1046-8781; 1552-826X
• DOI: 10.1177/1046878116671057

Aim. The objective of this study was to collect evidence of transfer-of-training to professional performance provided by two stand-alone PC-based flight games. Background. These realistic games, Falcon 4.0 (F-16 specific) and Microsoft Flight Simulator (civil aircraft), are designed for entertainment purposes, lacking any purposeful or explicit instructional support. Method. This quasi-experimental study used three pre-existing groups of gamers (n = 37; Falcon 4.0 gamers, Microsoft Flight Simulator gamers and control group: gamers without flight game experience) that performed three typical F-16 flight tasks in a high-fidelity fixed-base flight simulator. Results. The Falcon 4.0 gamers performed substantially better on almost all tasks compared to the control group, and to a lesser degree to Microsoft Flight Simulator gamers. The Falcon 4.0 group showed near- and far-transfer on almost all flight performance measures: the game had prepared them for the generic and specific military aspects of the test flight tasks. Performance of the Microsoft Flight Simulator gamers indicated only far-transfer, i.e., transfer of more generic flight skills from the game to the test flight tasks. Conclusion. Both near- and far-transfer of job related competences may occur by playing realistic entertainment games.