Abstract
In recent years, the video game industry has become the leading form of entertainment in terms of global total revenue. More than half of Americans play video games, with an average of two gamers in each game-playing household. Forty percent of all gamers are female, and 49% of gamers are between ages 18 and 49. The average gamer spends 13 hours a week playing video games. This represents a significant and diverse demographic within one of the largest markets in the world, with a large interest in simulation-type games. To investigate and capitalize on the growth of gaming and learning analytics and apply it to education, Stanford School of Medicine developed two educational games. Septris and its successor, SICKO (Surgical Improvement of Clinical Knowledge Ops), are web-based educational games developed by a cross-disciplinary team of doctors, web developers, and instructional technologists.