Which game narratives do adolescents of different gameplay and sociodemographic backgrounds prefer? a mixed-methods analysis

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate which narrative elements of digital game narratives are preferred by the general adolescent population, and to examine associations with gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and gameplay frequency. Further, the study aims to discuss how results can be translated to serious digital games. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Adolescents were recruited through school to complete a survey on narrative preferences in digital games. The survey included questions on sociodemographic information, frequency of gameplay, and an open-ended question on what could be an appealing narrative for them. Data were analyzed in a mixed-methods approach, using thematic analysis and chi-square analyses to determine narrative preferences and the associations between game narrative elements and player characteristics (gender, SES, and frequency of gameplay). RESULTS: The sample consisted of 446 adolescents (12-15 years old) who described 30 narrative subthemes. Preferences included human characters as protagonists; nonhuman characters only as antagonists; realistic settings, such as public places or cities; and a strong conflict surrounding crime, catastrophe, or war. Girls more often than boys defined characters by their age, included avatars, located the narrative in private places, developed profession-related skills, and included a positive atmosphere. Adolescents of nonacademic education more often than adolescents of academic education defined characters by criminal actions. Infrequent players more often included human characters defined by their age than frequent players. After performing a Bonferroni correction, narrative preferences for several gender differences remained. CONCLUSION: Different narrative elements related to subgroups of adolescents by gender, SES, and frequency of gameplay. Customization of narratives in serious digital health games should be warranted for boys and girls; yet, further research is needed to specify how to address girls in particular

Cognitive and affective perspectives on immersive technology in education

This research explains the rationale behind the utilization of mobile learning technologies. It involves a qualitative study among children to better understand their opinions and perceptions toward the use of educational applications (apps) that are available on their mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. The researchers organized semi-structured, face-to-face interview sessions with primary school students who were using mobile technologies at their primary school. The students reported that their engagement with the educational apps has improved their competencies. They acquired relational and communicative skills as they collaborated in teams. On the other hand, there were a few students who were not perceiving the usefulness and the ease of use of the educational apps on their mobile device. This study indicates that the research participants had different skillsets as they exhibited different learning abilities. In conclusion, this contribution opens-up avenues for future research in this promising field of study.peer-reviewe

Understanding Engagement within the Context of a Safety Critical Game

One of the most frequent arguments for deploying serious games is that they provide an engaging format for student learning. However, engagement is often equated with enjoyment, which may not be the most relevant conceptualization in safety-critical settings, such as law enforcement and healthcare. In these contexts, the term ‘serious’ does not only relate to the non-entertainment purpose of the game but also the environment simulated by the game. In addition, a lack of engagement in a safety critical training setting can have serious ethical implications, leading to significant real-world impacts. However, evaluations of safety-critical games (SCGs) rarely provide an in-depth consideration of player experience. Thus, in relation to simulation game-based training, we are left without a clear understanding of what sort of experience players are having, what factors influence their engagement and how their engagement relates to learning. In order to address these issues, this paper reports on the mixed-method evaluation of a SCG that was developed to support police training. The findings indicate that engagement is supported by the experience situational relevance, due to the player’s experience of real-world authenticity, targeted feedback mechanisms and learning challenges

How Effective Is “Exergamification”? A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Gamification Features in Exergames

Physical activity is very important to public health and exergames represent one potential way to enact it. The promotion of physical activity through gamification and enhanced anticipated affect also holds promise to aid in exercise adherence beyond more traditional educational and social cognitive approaches. This paper reviews empirical studies on gamified systems and serious games for exercising. In order to gain a better understanding of these systems, this review examines the types and aims (e.g. controlling body weight, enjoying indoor jogging…) of the corresponding studies as well as their psychological and physical outcomes. This paper particularly reviews the deployed motivational affordances and the effectiveness of incorporating gamification features in exergames. The review shows overall positive psychological outcomes (e.g. enjoying exercise) as well as behavioral ones (e.g. decreasing sedentariness) about exergames. Its findings inform about the current state of the research on the topic, based on which, suggestions for further research are outlined

A Digital Game Maturity Model

Game development is an interdisciplinary concept that embraces artistic, software engineering, management, and business disciplines. Game development is considered as one of the most complex tasks in software engineering. Hence, for successful development of good-quality games, the game developers must consider and explore all related dimensions as well as discussing them with the stakeholders involved. This research facilitates a better understanding of important dimensions of digital game development methodology. The increased popularity of digital games, the challenges faced by game development organizations in developing quality games, and severe competition in the digital game industry demand a game development process maturity assessment. Consequently, this study presents a Digital Game Maturity Model to evaluate the current development methodology in an organization. The objective is first to identify key factors in the game development process, then to classify these factors into target groups, and eventually to use this grouping as a theoretical basis for proposing a maturity model for digital game development. In doing so, the research focuses on three major stakeholders in game development: developers, consumers, and business management. The framework of the proposed model consists of assessment questionnaires made up of key identified factors from three empirical studies, a performance scale, and a rating method. The main goal of the questionnaires is to collect information about current processes and practices. This research contributes towards formulating a comprehensive and unified strategy for game development process maturity assessment. The proposed model was evaluated with two case studies from the digital game industry

Student engagement in game-based learning : a literature review

Today’s teens are digital natives: 87% of them have a desktop or laptop (Lenhart et al., 2015). Modern education is shifting from using traditional teacher-centered methods toward employing student-centered strategies. Game-based learning is not a new concept and has been adopted in both private and public schools. Although previous studies found that game-based learning is a sound strategy to engage learners, further research is needed to understand how engagement can influence learning and identify specific factors of game-based learning that affect learners. This report is a literature review of relevant journal articles on student engagement in game-based learning in K-12 and higher education. A total of twenty peer-reviewed journal articles from 2008 to 2018 were included in this report. The findings have showed that various factors have different effects (positive, negative, or no effects) on student engagement and that there is a close relationship between engagement and learning. The report also discusses measurement tools and research design issues. Finally, implications for future research are proposed.Curriculum and Instructio

PERCEIVED ENJOYMENT OF MOBILE MATHEMATICAL LEARNING GAMES

Conference ProceedingsPerceived enjoyment is often reckoned as one of the most important factors influencing consumer behavior in educational learning material. Without the educational application providing a positive experience, children are unlikely to interact with it. Previous research on the use of educational applications in mathematics education has focused primarily on the learning potential of these applications and has not adequately addressed the perceived enjoyment. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap and to investigate the perceived enjoyment of mobile mathematical learning games. This study adopted the GameFlow model and Game-Based Learning model as theoretical base. A mixed method research methodology was employed where qualitative and quantitative data was gathered through surveys and semi-structured interviews. Twenty-six children, aged 10 to 13, from selected schools in one of South Africa’s provinces, participated in the study. The results indicate that the interest, fantasy, sensation and goal constructs, as well as the reward systems of mobile mathematical learning games, were most influential in terms of perceived enjoyment. The findings of this study could be used by educators and parents in the evaluation and selection of mobile mathematical learning games

Impact of Serious Games on Health and Well-being of Elderly: A Systematic Review

Besides their entertainment value, serious games can have beneficial therapeutic effects for elderly people that improve their health and well-being. Games are likely to be accepted by elderly persons who have enjoyed games their lives, and because there are more and more of such elderly, it is important to investigate games as a therapeutic device. This research reviewed the literature focusing on the effects of games on elderly persons in three main types of effects: physical, cognitive, and social effects. The majority of reviewed papers focused on physical and cognitive effects, and were published in recent years, which emphasizes the relative novelty of this topic and suggests that future research will need to address social impact as well. In addition, while many papers claimed positive impacts as a result of using games, our review found that more attention should be given to research designs