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G B-Schools B-schools are getting serious about games that offer students real-time lessons in leadership, globalization, ethics, and other complex issues that often can't be captured in a textbook. by Tricia Bisoux ot Game W elcome to the age of the computer-enhanced business simulation, the latest trend in business training. The "seri- ous games" industry, which has been building since the 1980s, is quickly becoming an important tool for teaching and learning at business schools worldwide. Driving the popularity of business simulations is the fact that they do what case studies, class lectures, and onsite corporate visits cannot, say game designers. They plunge students headfirst into thorny business situations. In a real-time simulated business environment, students strat- egize, make tough decisions, and see the immediate consequences of their actions. Then, ideally, they learn from their mistakes. "The Chinese have a saying: 'When I hear, I forget. When I see, I remember. When I do, I understand.' Gaming is learning by doing," says Dennis Meadows, a Ph.D. graduate of MIT's Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Meadows has been designing management simulations for 30 years. "The lessons students learn in simulations are ten times more efficient, more lasting, and more powerful than what they can learn from a lecture." The latest games are driven by technology; but they are not ruled by it, say game designers. The best simulated learning experiences, they argue, balance new-tech capabilities with old-tech mainstays, such as pencil-on- paper planning and in-depth group discussions on the lessons learned. The Internet Connection The design and capability of today's games haven't changed much in the last few years. While the latest technologies have made games easier to design, computer-driven simulations still have much in common with their low- or no-tech counterparts of the 1980s, providing students with business scenarios, a plethora of possible decisions to make, and uncertain outcomes. The most well-known simulation, the "beer distribution game," developed by MIT professors in the 1960s, is still played on a game board rather than a computer screen. What has changed simulations most significantly is the world around them, says Dan Smith, president of Management Simulations Inc. in Northfield, Illinois. MSI is the maker of three simulation products, includ- ing Capstone, Foundation, and COMP-XM. Also an adjunct professor at DePaul University in Chicago, Smith notes that today's faster Internet connections and relative technology parity and consistency among busi- ness schools have made possible larger simulations involving more diverse, geographically dispersed student teams. 38 BizEd MAY/JUNE 2007