Exploring social gambling: scoping, classification and evidence review

The aim of this report is to speculate on the level of concern we might have regarding consumer risk in relation to ‘social gambling.’ In doing so, this report is intended to help form the basis to initiate debate around a new and under-researched social issue; assist in setting a scientific research agenda; and, where appropriate, highlight concerns about any potential areas that need to be considered in terms of precautionary regulation. This report does not present a set of empirical research findings regarding ‘social gambling’ but rather gathers information to improve stakeholder understanding

Assessment in and of serious games: an overview

There is a consensus that serious games have a significant potential as a tool for instruction. However, their effectiveness in terms of learning outcomes is still understudied mainly due to the complexity involved in assessing intangible measures. A systematic approach—based on established principles and guidelines—is necessary to enhance the design of serious games, and many studies lack a rigorous assessment. An important aspect in the evaluation of serious games, like other educational tools, is user performance assessment. This is an important area of exploration because serious games are intended to evaluate the learning progress as well as the outcomes. This also emphasizes the importance of providing appropriate feedback to the player. Moreover, performance assessment enables adaptivity and personalization to meet individual needs in various aspects, such as learning styles, information provision rates, feedback, and so forth. This paper first reviews related literature regarding the educational effectiveness of serious games. It then discusses how to assess the learning impact of serious games and methods for competence and skill assessment. Finally, it suggests two major directions for future research: characterization of the player's activity and better integration of assessment in games

Serious Game Evaluation as a Meta-game

Purpose – This paper aims to briefly outline the seamless evaluation approach and its application during an evaluation of ORIENT, a serious game aimed at young adults. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the authors detail a unobtrusive, embedded evaluation approach that occurs within the game context, adding value and entertainment to the player experience whilst accumulating useful data for the development team. Findings – The key result from this study was that during the “seamless evaluation” approach, users were unaware that they had been participating in an evaluation, with instruments enhancing rather than detracting from the in-role game experience. Practical implications – This approach, seamless evaluation, was devised in response to player expectations, perspectives and requirements, recognising that in the evaluation of games the whole process of interaction including its evaluation must be enjoyable and fun for the user. Originality/value – Through using seamless evaluation, the authors created an evaluation completely embedded within the “magic circle” of an in-game experience that added value to the user experience whilst also yielding relevant results for the development team

Living as an Avtar: EFL Learners’ Attitudes towards Utilizing Second Life Virtual Learning

In the foreign language context, little research has been undertaken to explore university students’ attitudes towards virtual learning for language instruction. The purpose of this study was to investigate EFL learners’ attitudes toward utilizing the Second Life virtual world as an online instructional and language learning tool. To achieve the study purposes, a descriptive research design was used with a questionnaire to gather data, after ensuring its validity and reliability. Forty-one undergraduates who were enrolled in two CALL classes at a school of education participated in the study. Overall, the results suggest that the majority of EFL undergraduates have favorable attitudes toward using virtual games and that the use of Second Life served well as an online instructional tool for language learning. Based on the results of the current study, EFL instructors may be encouraged to integrate virtual world games to augment their students’ learning by providing them paths to engage in authentic communication with the target language users. Further, the integration of virtual learning is a promising alternative in times of pandemics when social distancing is an obligation. Such ends require that instructors plan some virtual world-based tasks of a goal-driven nature. Further research directions include implementing qualitative tools to explore how learners react to the nature of virtual world games, specifically in relation to the users’ ability to claim different identities.

Architectures for developing multiuser, immersive learning scenarios

Nadolski, R. J., Hummel, H. G. K., Slootmaker, A., & Van der Vegt, W. (2012). Architectures for developing multiuser, immersive learning scenarios. Simulation & Gaming, 43(6), 825-852.Multi-user immersive learning scenarios hold strong potential for life long learning as they can support the acquisition of higher order skills in an effective, efficient and attractive way. Existing virtual worlds, game development platforms, and game engines only partly cater for the proliferation of such learning scenarios as they are often inadequately tuned for learning. First, this study aims to identify architectures that more effectively support the development of multi-user immersive learning scenarios. Second, this study takes up the challenge to define and assemble more flexible architectures that cater for fast and easy development, which will become important in the current period of economic breakdown. Third, this study describes how such architectures should enable research into guidelines for multi-user immersive learning scenario design and development. This study outlines a method for defining and setting up such architectures by using experts and existing literature

A Case Study of Using Online Communities and Virtual Environment in Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) as a Learning and Teaching Tool for Second Language Learners

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) create large virtual communities. Online gaming shows potential not just for entertaining, but also in education. This research investigates the use of commercial MMORPGs to support second language teaching. MMORPGs offer virtual safe spaces in which students can communicate by using their target second language with global players. Using a mix of ethnography and action research, this study explores the students’ experiences of language learning and performing while playing MMORPGs. The results show that the use of MMORPGs can facilitate language development by offering fun, informal, individualised and secure virtual spaces for students to practise their language with native and other second language speakers