Breakaway Games is 4srs: How Breakaway is developing alternative video games for the workforce

It has been long touted by leaders in education that the more interactive a lesson is the greater the impact upon the student. “Hands on” learning is nothing new; from dissections in a biology class or a visit to the local government offices for a history class the interactive lesson is king. For the last 12 years now, Breakaway Games has been onto this idea in a big way.

Established in 1998 and based out of Hunt Valley, MD, Breakaway has been developing not only games that entertain us, but that also teach. When real world situations are not available to practice a lesson with, as is often the case in fields such as medicine and the military, a company such as Breakaway can come in and create simulations of these situations so that doctors, lab techs, military personnel and even bankers can learn what they need to perform at their peak on the job.

For example, Breakaway created a Virtual Training Bank, or “vBank”, that shows bankers and other financiers how to “uncover fraudulent activity by interviewing key bank personnel, examining bank records, and correctly following the money trail to its source” (from breakawaygames.com). There are also games that show dental students how to perform implants and naval officers how to handle the chaos of working on a flight deck.

Breakaway’s alternative gaming solutions aren’t limited to teaching, either. They also have produced a basic undersea exploration game that, rather than providing a lesson, is made to distract children from pain caused by illness and/or medical procedures.

Of course, there’s always room for fun with Breakaway’s contributions to the creation of games such as Sid Meyer’s Civilization III and Command and Conquer: Kane’s Wrath. So check out the company website and breakawaygames.com and learn a little more about this Maryland based developer.