Russ Pearlman's Blog

In a recent study (see Harnessing the Power of Video Games), researchers were able to use a video game called Free Dive to distract a group of 60 test subjects (i.e., children from 5 to 12) to keep their arm suspended in freezing water for 86 seconds compared to only 19 seconds on average if they were not playing the computer game.

I think that this is the type of study that gets big coverage from the national media because it sends chills down the backs of parents. The thinking is that video games somehow engross children to such a deep level that they forget all about the world around them. They further go on to believe that, in some cases, this may lead to some type of detachment from reality that can cause a kid to pick up a gun (ala Columbine) or kill themselves.

Look how far researcher Dr. Maressa Orzack is willing to go with this train of thought: “I was talking with a patient, a young man, the other day. He was a heavy World of Warcraft player, and I asked him what happens when he plays the game: was he simply playing a virtual character or did he feel like he was actually in the game? He told me when he plays, he is in the game completely. He had become immersed in World of Warcraft and had trouble removing himself from that virtual world.” (Expert: 40 Percent of World of Warcraft Players Addicted.)

But, another study found that TV has the same effect (see Television Is Effective ‘Painkiller’ For Kids, Study Finds). This time, 69 test subjects (i.e., children again from 7 to 12) had their blood drawn. They were broken into groups where they had nothing to soothe them, have a parent soothe them and have a TV distract them. The last group had the least reports of pain.

So, are video games really very different than TV? Certtainly, we hear lots of anecodtal evidence about video games, but where is the hard evidence? Prior to the mass development of video games, didn’t children emulate TV stars and hurt themselves? Evil Knievel probably led to a few bumps and bruises on the American child front.

But, I don’t hear for major calls to limit the distribution of TV shows. Sure, you see the occasional private protest or calls for V-chips. But, have you ever heard of any government official asking for some type of censorship? Certainly, that’s what some members of Capital Hill seem to want for video games.

I recently ran across an interesting article from Duane Nickull entitled Humans as part of the SOA equation.

I think he has a very interesting point of view in that human interaction is a key consideration for any SOA architecture. One of the failures of previous EAI/BPM solutions has been extremely limited considerations for human interaction. By focusing in on a higher level of business process simulation (as opposed to workflow simulation), SOA can break through some previously impermiable layers.

One of the major strengths of SOA is that it is an IT enabler that finally takes the perspective of the human instead of taking the perpsective of the machine. And, this is important when trying to position SOA within an organization.

Unfortunately, IT still considers SOA to be the next technology thing, but to be truly revolutionary, it needs to be considered from the business side of the house — where automation of business process coupled with embracing changes to the process are extremely valuable.