Prospective Experience Patterns of Training Based on Modifications of Past Play States

Abstract

Occupational accident prevention is a task of societal relevance for the protection of health and life of humans, for the avoidance of damage and large financial losses, and for the protection of the environment. In the industry, accident prevention training is inevitable. Due to the fascination of game play, game-based training is easily accessible, may be affective and, thus, effective. Time travel prevention games have proven their worth. Human trainees who fail to solve a training mission successfully are offered the opportunity to travel back in time, i.e. back in the game play history. Time travel prevention games allow for the experience of stories of success that are worth to remember and, thus, establish sustainable learning experiences. They are even worth telling. Didactic and game design is intricate, in particular, the design of the digital game’s artificial intelligence guiding every trainee individually to success. Prospective experience patterns are a novelty among intellectual design tools. The introduction of patterns of prospective experience requires putting an end to misconceptions about string patterns. The approach relies on formal language theory and first order logics. Prospective experience patterns are design patterns by nature. They are properties of play states that characterize forthcoming experiences of game play, i.e. of training and learning. By way of illustration, largely varying variants of zugzwang as well as widening a bottleneck turn out to be prospective experience patterns. Didactic and game design makes use of these patterns by setting up or even dynamically changing the game mechanics such that a desired play state property that shall be experienced becomes true. Time travel allows for modifications of past states that impact the future.