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Serious Games Going Mainstream In UK: ANGILS


Via: Angils and GI gamesindustry.biz: UK Serious Games trade body formed

"Serious Games" are successfully being designed, developed and deployed all over the world - across industry sectors - and for a variety of applications including learning and education; visualization; health and awareness campaigns.

Massively multiplayer online, single player, mobile, PC, hand-held or even console, SGs deliver by utilising leading-edge games technologies, design and skills to address intractable issues that defence agencies, engineering organizations, utility companies and first responders have.....
...... whilst corporations and schools are finding them invaluable as learning content … and NGOs and marketing organizations find that their message and their brand are conveyed in a more productive – and enjoyable way - when the arts come together with games technology, creating something quite special.

Each of these industries is turning to emerging technologies and techniques for answers.

Developers of "Serious Games" in the UK met earlier this week in the inaugural board meeting of new trade body ANGILS, hammering out an action plan for the group which is aimed at promoting the growth of the serious games market.




ANGILS was originally founded as a non-profit-making networking group in 2003 but has now repositioned itself as a trade body for companies and individuals involved in the use of game technology and knowledge in non-games applications.

More specifically, ANGILS aims to address the business side of the market - and hopes to identify the key issues facing the burgeoning industry, so that working groups drawn from across the industry can find practical solutions.

"Representing many of the leading serious games clients and suppliers we are in a position to identify the 'big rocks' - the pressing needs of organizations and educational establishments that drive adoption - and then to assemble working parties lead by specialists in their fields to focus on mapping pragmatic solutions," explained ANGILS CEO Martine Parry.

"We need to drill down, to present the value of serious games to the commercial and educational markets to widen our understanding of how to position them: from engagement through productivity to mission-critical outcomes," she continued. "This is the main aim of the working parties."


UK based serious game developer TPLD is a founding member of ANGILS, and CEO Jim Piggot welcomed the group's first board meeting.

The other founding board members of ANGILS are PIXELearning, imaginary srl, KWP, PlayGen and Geomerics, with the board led by chairman Professor Bob Stone. ANGILS plans to announce details of its first working parties in the near future.