Interaction and Communication in an Immersive Learning Game: The Challenges of Modelling Real-Time Collaboration in a Virtual Operating Room

Abstract : In this chapter, we describe the methodology we have engineered during the design process of the collaborative and immersive learning game 3D Virtual Operating Room. The game targets an audience of practitioners involved in the operating room and the training consists in virtually re-enacting typical perioperative activities so as to learn or improve skills related to patient safety. The challenges faced in this project include multiplayer collaboration in a shared, interactive and dynamically evolving virtual environment, and modelling educational scenarios on the basis of actual observations inside the operating room. The model we detail is grounded on a semantic definition of the environment which allowed for three innovative features. A game-mediated communication system where information pertaining to the game is exchanged in real time by the players. AI-controlled characters replacing missing players as fully equal partners. And, the ability for the game to provide feedback in real time or during a debriefing on the team’s performance against predefined pedagogical objectives.