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July 25, 2006
Captology student in the news . . . eye browsing the web
A few weeks back, my former TA and student Manu Kumar updated me on his doctoral work. At one point he sat me down and had me navigate the web just by looking at the screen. I didn't have to wear anything or do anything special. I just looked around the screen and things happened.
I'm glad to see he's getting some visibility in this post and a related article.
-- BJ Fogg
Posted by BJ Fogg at 07:45 AM | Comments (0)
July 23, 2006
Free Registration for Mobile Persuasion 06 (limited time)
Our lab is sponsoring Mobile Persuasion 06, a one-day conference on how mobile technology can change people's beliefs and behaviors. This event will be at Stanford University on Friday, November 10th.
We're offering free registration to the folks who sign up earliest. At some point, we'll end the free offer and start charging to attend.
To learn more see www.mobilepersuasion.org.
- BJ Fogg
Posted by BJ Fogg at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2006
The new arms race -- video games for military
A new arms race begins as more countries develop video games for their militaries. These experiences are often called "training" games. But don't let that benign label fool you. The target outcome is to modify people's attitudes (e.g., desensitize to killing) and behaviors (e.g., create reflexes for fighting). This is the dark side of captology.
The U.S. military has been a leader in using video games to recruit and train. At a conference for game developers, I learned that other countries are not far behind. In fact, at least one country has purchased the same video game codebase as the U.S. Army and is simply modifying the vocabulary and the "military doctrine."
As this trend escalates, we'll see that using video games to change attitudes and behaviors is a potent weapon for gaining military advantage. It's scary but it makes sense: Before you can wage war effectively, you first need to capture the hearts and minds of your young citizens. Actions follow. As players practice behaviors in a virtual context, the games change their reflexive responses so they become fighting machines. For the target population -- young males -- nothing manipulates better or faster than video games.
Amidst all the problems facing our planet, here's a new worry to add to your list: Any country that develops effective video games for "training" their military will become a world power. It's the new arms race.
--BJ Fogg
Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab
Posted by BJ Fogg at 07:06 AM | Comments (1)
July 13, 2006
Good Stuff at Positive Technology
I've become a fan of what Dr. Andrea Gaggioli covers on her blog, Positive Technology Journal.
It's all about "mind, brain, and emerging technologies," including things related to captology.
-- BJ Fogg
Posted by BJ Fogg at 07:31 AM | Comments (1)