A Serious Game to Improve Students’ Skills in Global Software Development David Valencia 1 , Aurora Vizcaíno 1 , Juan Pablo Soto 2 and Mario Piattini 1 1 Alarcos Research Group, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain 2 Department of Mathematics, University of Sonora, Hermosillo, Mexico Keywords: Serious Games, Global Software Development. Abstract: In recent years, companies have been forced to change their business model, due to the phenomenon of globalization. Software development companies are no exception, and have attempted to join the global market so as to be able to hire labor in other countries, seeking to reduce costs, increase productivity and gain competitive advantages. This is known as Global Software Development (GSD). To perform this practice, companies require developers who possess knowledge and skills for solving problems that arise due to geographical, temporal and cultural distance. Traditional methods for teaching students or employees how to work in GSD environments are usually expensive, and require much effort. This is where serious games can play a key role, as they are educational games that allow for the acquisition of knowledge and skills at a low cost. This article presents a serious game with which some of the competencies needed in GSD can be acquired. The game simulates scenarios that usually occur in the overall development of a software project, so that the user can become aware of the problems concerning GSD and gain some experience in solving these problems. 1 INTRODUCTION Many areas such as defense, education, health, policy, emergency management, engineering, etc. require people with proper training, who possess the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to successfully perform their job. Traditional teaching methods are often costly and require a lot of preparation time, which is why "Serious Games" are increasingly being introduced. Serious games are designed in such a way that their main purpose is not the entertainment of the user, but rather his or her training in a certain area (Michael and Chen, 2005). This does not mean that the game cannot be enjoyable, but the entertainment derived from the game is designed to educate, so that the learning experience of the player becomes fun (Guenaga et al., 2013). Some of the distinctive features of these kinds of games is that they are oriented towards skills training, the understanding of complex processes and the simulation of situations that occur in real life (Coster, 2013; Marcano, 2008). In the area of software development, globalization has led many companies to undertake the development of their products in a distributed way, with that process being conducted by different teams, even from different countries. This new development paradigm is known as "Global Software Development" (Herbsleb and Moitra, 2001); it brings with it a lot of additional problems in comparison to traditional software development. These include the delocalization of equipment, which involves problems of communication, coordination and control, as well as issues arising from cultural differences between the different teams (Vízcaino et al., 2014). Those problems often hinder understanding between project participants, especially when they must use a common language. When those taking part are not using their native language, misunderstandings that affect communication and coordination of work may occur; these could pose a risk for the project (Monasor et al., 2009). Another important aspect is trust among those involved in GSD. Mutual trust is necessary for people to be able to cooperate and work with each other and a lack in this key commodity can cause the breakdown of coordination efforts between remote teams. That makes it necessary for people working in the GSD to possess competencies over and above those required in traditional software development. 470 Valencia, D., Vizcaino, A., Soto, J. and Piattini, M. A Serious Game to Improve Students’ Skills in Global Software Development. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2016) - Volume 1, pages 470-475 ISBN: 978-989-758-179-3 Copyright c  2016 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved