the serious games industry is concerned with a software or hardware application that has been developed with game technology and game design principles for serious purposes ie a game created for reasons other than mere entertainment and to keep pace with the development in this sector coventry university in the uk has opened its very own serious games institute sgielaborating on the institutes objectives david wortley director sgi wwwseriousgamesinstitutecouk says with electronic games becoming a universal tool for learning and skills development sgis purpose is to contribute to the social and economic wealth of the west midlands uk and the global community by serving as an international centre of excellence for the serious application of electronic games and virtual world technologiesdescribing this field as a growing area wortley adds that in the near future serious games studies will evolve from the development of electronic games for entertainment into a study of associated technologies and methodologies that shape the development of games for serious purposes this includes interface technologies display technologies artificial intelligence and social sciences also sgi collaborates with the university in the development of undergraduate courses in electronic games development this includes an mscbsc in creative computing bsc in creative technologies bsc in games technology and msc in games technologies the bachelors programme in games technology equips one to design build and market computer games and to apply the knowledge gained in many areas of advanced computer science one is able to explore singleplayer games multiplayer games internetbased games simulations and virtual reality productions similarly the masters in games technologies aims to introduce and develop specialist technical skills and knowledge relating to all aspects of computer games development the bachelors programme in creative technologies is targeted specifically at international students to this end coventry universitys faculty of engineering and computing has established collaborations with universities and colleges around the world this enables students to study this bachelors programme while remaining in their home country the programmes aim is to help international students gain a broad understanding of the technologies and design processes that are driving forward developments in the fields of multimedia computing games technology digital entertainment and creative computing the bachelors and masters in creative computing helps one acquire skills in objectoriented programming besides gaining an understanding of the principles of usability and humancomputer interaction and an appreciation of the complexity of managing image data banks the course prepares one for careers in different areas of the creative industries such as corporate web communications games creation companies market research agencies government information and education organisations the health service publishing houses and broadcast production companies according to wortley two of the biggest challenges in this field are the rapidly changing technologies and the societal acceptance of electronic games as a serious discipline and as for the skills this field requires he elaborates while strong computing skills are important for a career on the technical side of developing serious games the nature of the industry means that people from a