Knowledge Oasis Muscat Signs MoU With Serious Gaming Institute

A new report from the online edition of Times of Oman, the oldest English-language newspaper in Oman, has indicated that Oman's Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM) plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Coventry University’s Serious Gaming Institute before the end of the year. In addition, the report also notes that the KOM has also entered into a strengthening relationship with the organizers of the annual eGames: The State of Play Conference and De Montfort University’s Department of Imaging and Communication Design, though the details of this remain unknown. The two day eGames event was held on December 10-11, and included seven conference panels devoted to the growth of the serious games market. Mohammed Al Maskari, director general of KOM and organizer of the annual eGames conference, noted that that companies are looking to serious games as a tool in their efforts to “smooth their cash flow, increase their R&D capabilities and find new customers for existing IP that might otherwise have laid dormant.” Maskari delivered the opening speech at the annual eGames event, during which he expressed a growing interest in serious games by noting, “Today, gaming isn’t just about entertainment and children, it’s about education and training. It’s about using games to help people learn about managing money, preparing emergency services to deal with natural disasters, training air force pilots, guiding geologists on digging oil wells, through to helping surgeons rehearse complicated medical procedures.”