Easy to Teach
It takes about 10 minutes to learn the use interface and another 10-15 to truly master it. This is a huge benefit in time constrained learning environments because it allows the student to quickly get to the heart of why they are using the program which is to learn, they are not there to become experts at playing the game. Games such as first person shooters require the player to be proficient at the controls in order to play the game well. The game itself is an obstacle because of this. If a new player is thinking about the controls for example "what key do I press to get into the prone position" they are not thinking about tactical decisions, they are more focused on game decisions.
Correct Echelon
Arguably one of the most important aspects is what level will the player be "commanding" their units. We are producing platoon leaders therefore our cadets need to be making platoon level decisions. In a first person shooter game that would require at least 30 more players to simulate a whole platoon. In some FPS games you have the ability to control AI soldiers as part of a squad or team, in other words one person could control a squads worth of AI soldiers. The problem with this is that it increases the learning curve immensely and would require significantly more time to become proficient at doing. Another more critical drawback is that the AI soldiers are not very smart, they will not react like real soldiers, after all it is just a game. The problem is the human player will expect them to, and when they do not, the human player becomes frustrated and loses focus, another distraction. In our classes we typically have 18 cadets. In the one hour of class time we have with them, we want everyone of them to make platoon level decisions.
Resources
Many institutions and organizations have limited resources. ROTC units typically do not own their own computer labs and must rely on university resources. Time is another resource that few of us have, one or two hours being the norm. In our case we only two hours of class time with our cadets over the course of a week. And last but not least is personnel. Follow Me does not require 30 players in order to do a platoon operation, a single player can play the game and still make platoon level decisions. Our classes are maxed out at 18 cadets. We do not have the ability to field a whole platoon nor do we have the time to rotate everyone through as platoon leaders. Follow Me allows us to train all 18 cadets at the appropriate level in an hours worth of class time.
Flat Learning Curve
There are a total of 11 commands in the current version of the game. Unlike most games Follow Me was specifically designed for the classroom thus it had to be easy to teach and easy to learn. In designing Follow Me we made no distinction between the learning audience or their instructors. In most cases both groups would have little to know experience in using a game to learn or teach. We wanted the instructors to be comfortable using the game and we wanted the players to be comfortable playing the game. Keeping it simple was one of the guiding principles in designing the game.
Turnkey Gaming System
Follow Me is a robust gaming "system" that allows the organization to customize it based on their needs. Maps, icons, equipment, and special media, can all be created by the user. Maps are created using a paint program such as Paint Shop or Gimp which is a free shareware paint program and for the sake of this conversation just as powerful as Paint Shop. Icons are created using an icon editor such as Axialis or a free shareware editor like IconFx. Special media files are pictures, audio files, movie clips, or text messages, that are used to create events in the Follow Me. For example in a recent exercise we used events to create role playing opportunities for the cadets to solve. First a picture would be displayed showing the situation and describing the event. If the cadet wanted to act on it they had to move to the roleplaying area. A role player would then proceed to that role playing area and start interacting with the cadet.
Vincent "TJ" Taijeron runs a computer tactics lab at West Point. Checkout his latest website Follow Me Tactical Decision Games at http://www.followme.tacticaldecisiongames.com/
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