Why are they so boring? – the educational context of computer games from a design and a research perspective

Można powiedzieć, że gry elektroniczne od samych swoich początków miały istotny kontekst edukacyjny. W przeszło czterdziestoletniej historii wielokrotnie spierano się o to, czy mogą one mieć takie walory, czy też wręcz przeciwnie, nie mają ich lub też przynoszą odwrotny skutek, który niewybrednie określano jako „ogłupiająco-demoralizujący”. W artykule dokonano przeglądu najważniejszych osiągnięć w dziedzinie gier edukacyjnych, uwzględniając zarówno stanowiska badawcze, jak i praktykę kreacji gier. W tekście przedstawiono takie zagadnienia, jak wymiary edukacji w grach czy dyskusja nad wartością edukacyjną gier w perspektywie opinii ich przeciwników i zwolenników. Dokonano przeglądu ustaleń terminologicznych oraz opisano typy gier edukacyjnych i kryteria ich wyróżniania. Odniesiono się do relacji między gatunkiem gry a kwestią jej edukacyjności. Przeanalizowano technologiczne aspekty gier edukacyjnych, a także możliwości budowania wartości edukacyjnej w grach za pośrednictwem strategii rywalizacyjnych

Applications of Educational Serious Games for Information Technology Related Subjects in Higher Education

Serious games which are designed for purposes rather than pure entertainment have become one of the popular topics these days as they have the potential to be effective and efficient teaching tools which are interactive, attractive and immersive. This study conducts a systematic literature review on the past research on the application of educational serious games in Information Technology (IT) related subjects in tertiary sector, and aims at broadening our understanding of the role of games in education. Herewith, we searched the selected keywords on several academic databases and found an initial set of 3437 studies. Then we excluded papers on the basis of their title, abstract and full text to come up with a set of more relevant studies. This paper proposes a new classification for applied games in this area and classifies them into five categories of simulation games, puzzle-solving games, 3D games, board games, and role-playing games. The results of the data analysis show that majority of the studies have used simulation and role-playing games. A summary of the results and conclusions of each paper is also provided to inform both teachers and researchers on the topic.Full Tex

Playin’ the city : artistic and scientific approaches to playful urban arts

An Theorien und Diskussionen über die Stadt mangelt es nicht, denn Städte dienen uns u.a. als Projektionsfläche zur Auseinandersetzung mit unserer Vergangenheit, der Gegenwart und unserer Zukunft. Diese Ausgabe 1 (2016) der Navigationen untersucht spielerische Formen dieser Auseinandersetzung in und mit der Stadt durch die sogenannten playful urban arts.The city has been discussed and theorized widely, and it continues to serve as a space in which our sense of the present, past, and future is constantly negotiated. This issue 1 (2016) of Navigationen examines new ways of engaging with cities through what are called the playful urban arts. Playful engagements with the urban environment frequently strive to create new ways of imagining and experiencing the city. In and through play, city spaces can become playgrounds that have the potential to transform people’s sense of themselves as human actors in an urban network of spatially bound and socio-economically grounded actions. Emerging from the playin’siegen urban games festival 2015, the essays and panel discussions assembled in this issue provide an interdisciplinary account of the contemporary playful urban arts. Wiht contributions by Miguel Sicart, Andreas Rauscher, Daniel Stein, Judith Ackermann and Martin Reiche, Michael Straeubig and Sebastian Quack, Marianne Halblaub Miranda and Martin Knöll, and Anne Lena Hartman

CREATe 2012-2016: Impact on society, industry and policy through research excellence and knowledge exchange

On the eve of the CREATe Festival May 2016, the Centre published this legacy report (edited by Kerry Patterson & Sukhpreet Singh with contributions from consortium researchers)

Gry poważne i gry planszowe a przemiany kulturowe

The impact of computer games on human functioning has become the sub­ject of many studies and scientific reports. With the development of technol­ogy, games have transcended boards and become part of the video entertain­ment industry. However, technology did not end traditional games. It was only a matter of time before games were extended to other areas of life. Because games were so popular, educators found that students engage quickly with educational games. The article explains the aspects of serious games (SG), which are defined as digital games used for purposes other than entertain­ment. It describes the areas in which games can be used in the educational process, their effectiveness, and controversies regarding their use.Wpływ gier komputerowych na funkcjonowanie człowieka jest przedmiotem wielu badań i doniesień naukowych. Wraz z rozwojem technologii gry wykro­czyły poza ramy konwencji planszowych i stały się częścią przemysłu medial­nego i rozrywkowego. Postęp technologiczny nie oznacza jednak końca trady­cyjnych gier. Jest tylko kwestią czasu, zanim strategie i zachowania typowe dla gier komputerowych rozprzestrzenią się na inne dziedziny życia społecznego. Ponieważ gry cieszą się tak dużą popularnością, współcześni pedagogowie odkrywają, że uczniowie łatwo angażują się w gry edukacyjne. Artykuł objaś­nia aspekty gier poważnych (SG), które definiuje się jako gry cyfrowe wyko­rzystywane do celów innych niż rozrywka. Niniejszy tekst zakreśla obszary, w których gry mogą być wykorzystywane w procesie edukacyjnym, ich sku­teczność oraz kontrowersje związane z ich wykorzystaniem

A General Framework for Digital Game-Based Training Systems

This dissertation introduces a general framework for developing digital game-based training systems. The framework addresses all aspects of education. In that sense, it involves both teacher and student as game players. A visual review log supports teacher-student-communication. Based on the general framework, a novel digital game-based training system for crime scene investigation training called OpenCrimeScene has been developed and implemented.Diese Dissertation führt ein allgemeines Architekturmodell für die Entwicklung von computerspielbasierten Trainingssystemen ein. Das Architekturmodell spricht alle Aspekte der Ausbildung an. In diesem Sinne bezieht es Lehrer und Schüler als Spieler ein. Ein grafisches Bewertungsprotokoll unterstützt die Lehrer-Schüler-Kommunikation. Basierend auf dem allgemeinen Architekturmodell wurde ein neues computerspielbasiertes Trainingssystem zur Tatortsicherung entwickelt und implementiert

The Cowl - v.3 - n.10 - Dec 03, 1937

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 3, Number 10 - Dec 3, 1937. 6 pages

The Effects of Displayed Violence and Game Speed in First-Person Shooters on Physiological Arousal and Aggressive Behavior

Many studies have been conducted to examine the effects of displayed violence in digital games on outcomes like aggressive behavior and physiological arousal. However, they often lack a proper manipulation of the relevant factors and control of confounding variables. In this study, the displayed violence and game speed of a recent first-person shooter game were varied systematically using the technique of modding, so that effects could be explained properly by the respective manipulations. Aggressive behavior was measured with the standardized version of the Competitive Reaction Time Task or CRTT (Ferguson et al., 2008}. Physiological arousal was operationalized with four measurements: galvanic skin response (GSR), heart rate (HR), body movement, force on mouse and keyboard. A total of N = 87 participants played in one of four game conditions (low- vs. high-violence, normal- vs. high speed) while physiological measurements were taken with finger clips, force sensors on input devices (mouse and keyboard), and a Nintendo Wii balance board on the chair they sat on. After play, their aggressive behavior was measured with the CRTT. The results of the study do not support the hypothesis that playing digital games increases aggressive behavior. There were no significant differences in GSR and HR, but with a higher game speed, participants showed less overall body movement, most likely to meet the game’s higher demands on cognitive and motor capacities. Also, higher game speed and displayed violence caused an increase in applied force on mouse and keyboard. Previous experience with digital games did not moderate any of these findings. Moreover, it provides further evidence that the CRTT should only be used in a standardized way as a measurement for aggression, if at all. Using all 7 different published (though not validated) ways to calculate levels of aggression from the raw data, “evidence” was found that playing a violent digital game increases, decreases, or does not change aggression at all. Thus, the present study does extend previous research. Firstly, it shows the methodological advantages of modding in digital game research to accomplish the principles of psychological (laboratory) experiments by manipulating relevant variables and controlling all others. It also demonstrates the test-theoretical problems of the highly diverse use of the CRTT. It provides evidence that for a meaningful interpretation of effects of displayed violence in digital games, there are other game characteristics that should be controlled for since they might have an effect on relevant outcome variables. Further research needs to identify more of those game features, and it should also improve the understanding of the different measures for physiological arousal and their interrelatedness

Reconciling the dissonance between Historic Preservation and Virtual Reality through a Place-based Virtual Heritage system.

This study explores a problematic disconnect associated with virtual heritage and the immersive 3D computer modeling of cultural heritage. The products of virtual heritage often fail to adhere to long-standing principles and recent international conventions associated with historic preservation, heritage recording, designation, and interpretation. By drawing upon the geographic concepts of space, landscape, and place, along with advances in Geographic Information Systems, first-person serious games, and head-mounted Virtual Reality platforms this study envisions, designs, implements, and evaluates a virtual heritage system that seeks to reconcile the dissonance between Virtual Reality and historic preservation. Finally, the dissertation examines the contributions and future directions of such a Place-based Virtual Heritage system in human geography and historic preservation planning and interpretation

SWISS FOODQUIZ: INDUCING NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE VIA A VISUAL LEARNING BASED SERIOUS GAME

Nutritional education programs have been proposed to counter the trend of excessive energy intake, identified as the main driver of overweight. Still, due to lack of resources, only a small part of society can be included in these personnel-intensive programs. Health information systems (HIS) in nutritional education have the potential to overcome these limitations, but still suffer under low end-user acceptance and interaction rates. Their current focus lies in abstract, too generic behavioural recommendations, which the end user cannot directly translate into health-beneficial real-world choices. In order to address these issues, we have built an automatic HIS prototype tailored to support the average consumer in gaining nutritional knowledge by applying paradigms from visual learning and serious gaming, established approaches in related fields to improves users’ acceptance, motivation, intention and ultimately likelihood for health-beneficial behaviour changes. Preliminary results of a study with 350 users show high acceptance rates even for previously uninvolved users and measurable gains in nutritional knowledge over the usage phase. With the approach suggested in this paper, it can be shown that the extension of serious game principles to nutritional education can overcome contemporary HIS shortcomings of low acceptance and interaction rates among average, uninvolved and unhealthy users