A simulation model for virtual manufacturing environments for serious games

The objective of a serious game is to impart some knowledge and experience for a specific subject, whilst leveraging the “fun” factor of games thereby ensuring user engagement. The European project PRIME develops such a game where the subject is “strategic decision making in global manufacturing”. PRIME is a multi-user online serious game that allows the players to manage a business company that may be involved in some or all phases of a product lifecycle within the context of a global market. This paper describes the simulation model that drives the PRIME serious game. The simulation model is responsible to provide a believable virtual business environment in which the player's business companies can interact with each other and the virtual business environment.