Creative learning with serious games [editorial]

This paper, summarises the Creative Learning with Serious Games workshop that took place in the Fun and Games 2010 conference. The workshop discussed innovative methodological approaches to Serious Games for creative learning. A special emphasis was given to state-ofthe- art research work and cross-discipline approaches (e.g. the mix of Storytelling and Serious Games). In addition, different case studies coming from very different European (research) projects were presented and discussed with the participants. Five papers were selected via a peer reviewed process to be presented at the workshop. The authors presented their work and demonstrated their applications during the second part of the workshop

Enfoques Innovadores en Juegos Serios

International audienceThe field of Serious Games focus on the design, development, application and use of games for other purposes beyond entertainment. Education and training are the main application areas, but Serious Games have been successfully used in health, research, planning, emergency, and military advertising. Despite the evidence of efficacy, displayed also in this special edition, there is still limited use of Serious Games. This has mainly to do with social issues and stereotypes about the relationship of games and serious purposes. Initiatives like the SEGAN network that address the need to systematize the European approaches to Serious Games assume therefore great relevance. SEGAN is a Community of Practice to exchange ideas and experiences related to Serious Games. For instance, SEGAN can be the right place to extend the discussion on the high-quality articles that we present in this special edition about innovative approaches to Serious Games

A STRATEGIC SERIOUS GAME ADDRESSING SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

Serious Games are currently extending their capabilities to strategic Education and Training by innovative approaches and new technological solutions. In this paper, the authors propose a new Serious Game devoted to address such aspects with special focus on System of Systems Engineering (SoSE). The proposed case uses a challenging framework related to the development of an innovative System of Systems for defense and homeland security that could be used by users to acquire the fundamental concepts of SoSE. The scenario allows to investigate alternative interoperable solutions among different platforms, sensors, infrastructures and doctrines respect evolving threats in relation to an air defense solution based on airborne radars

Review of Serious Energy Games : Objectives, Approaches, Applications, Data Integration, and Performance Assessment

In recent years, serious energy games (SEGs) garnered increasing attention as an innovative and effective approach to tackling energy-related challenges. This review delves into the multifaceted landscape of SEG, specifically focusing on their wide-ranging applications in various contexts. The study investigates potential enhancements in user engagement achieved through integrating social connections, personalization, and data integration. Among the main challenges identified, previous studies overlooked the full potential of serious games in addressing emerging needs in energy systems, opting for oversimplified approaches. Further, these studies exhibit limited scalability and constrained generalizability, which poses challenges in applying their findings to larger energy systems and diverse scenarios. By incorporating lessons learned from prior experiences, this review aims to propel the development of SEG toward more innovative and impactful directions. It is firmly believed that positive behavior changes among individuals can be effectively encouraged by using SEG

MS2G as pillar for developing strategic engineering as a new discipline for complex problem solving

Simulation science is a strategic resource to address most challenging problems; in this paper, it is provided an overview about how new simulation capabilities, such as that ones based on MS2G (Modeling, interoperable Simulation and Serious Games), could enable to address complex systems and to support decision making; in addition, the new Strategic Engineering Discipline is proposed as framework where to combine all these new approaches for Problem Solving and Strategic Planning nowadays; several real examples are proposed as case studies to confirm the validity of these innovative concepts

Understanding Game-based Approaches for Improving Sustainable Water Governance : The Potential of Serious Games to Solve Water Problems

The sustainable governance of water resources relies on processes of multi-stakeholder collaborations and interactions that facilitate knowledge co-creation and social learning. Governance systems are often fragmented, forming a barrier to adequately addressing the myriad of challenges affecting water resources, including climate change, increased urbanized populations, and pollution. Transitions towards sustainable water governance will likely require innovative learning partnerships between public, private, and civil society stakeholders. It is essential that such partnerships involve vertical and horizontal communication of ideas and knowledge, and an enabling and democratic environment characterized by informal and open discourse. There is increasing interest in learning-based transitions. Thus far, much scholarly thinking and, to a lesser degree, empirical research has gone into understanding the potential impact of social learning on multi-stakeholder settings. The question of whether such learning can be supported by forms of serious gaming has hardly been asked. This Special Issue critically explores the potential of serious games to support multi-stakeholder social learning and collaborations in the context of water governance. Serious games may involve simulations of real-world events and processes and are challenge players to solve contemporary societal problems; they, therefore, have a purpose beyond entertainment. They offer a largely untapped potential to support social learning and collaboration by facilitating access to and the exchange of knowledge and information, enhancing stakeholder interactions, empowering a wider audience to participate in decision making, and providing opportunities to test and analyze the outcomes of policies and management solutions. Little is known about how game-based approaches can be used in the context of collaborative water governance to maximize their potential for social learning. While several studies have reported examples of serious games, there is comparably less research about how to assess the impacts of serious games on social learning and transformative change

Gaming climate change: Assessing online climate change games targeting youth produced in Spanish

7th International Conference on Intercultural Education “Education, Health and ICT for a Transcultural World”, EDUHEM 2016, 15-17 June 2016, Almeria, Spain.In search of innovative approaches to raise climate change awareness among digital natives, online and serious games are gaining currency as new platforms for communication, education and social change. Thanks to their interactivity and immersive narrative, games have capacity to convey to young people the problems that they will be facing in the future and enable them to experience these problems directly through the game. In addition, online games can offer the possibility to be implemented in educational contexts as a didactic tool for teachers. This study aims a) to present a checklist with validated evaluation criteria identified through the Delphi method; and b) to conduct a qualitative evaluation of communicative and educative elements of a sample of 24 online climate change games targeting youth and produced in Spanish. Our findings suggest that the games evaluated seem to be on the right path, making the topic of climate change local, visual and connected, although there is still room for improvement in terms of contents, gameplay and didactics

The Industry and Policy Context for Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion:Market Analysis, Future Prospects and Key Challenges in Videogames, Serious Games and Gamification

The effective use of digital games for empowerment and social inclusion (DGEI) of people and communities at risk of exclusion will be shaped by, and may influence the development of a range of sectors that supply products, services, technology and research. The principal industries that would appear to be implicated are the 'videogames' industry, and an emerging 'serious games' industry. The videogames industry is an ecosystem of developers, publishers and other service providers drawn from the interactive media, software and broader ICT industry that services the mainstream leisure market in games, The 'serious games' industry is a rather fragmented and growing network of firms, users, research and policy makers from a variety of sectors. This emerging industry is are trying to develop knowledge, products, services and a market for the use of digital games, and products inspired by digital games, for a range of non-leisure applications. This report provides a summary of the state of play of these industries, their trajectories and the challenges they face. It also analyses the contribution they could make to exploiting digital games for empowerment and social inclusion. Finally, it explores existing policy towards activities in these industries and markets, and draws conclusions as to the future policy relevance of engaging with them to support innovation and uptake of effective digital game-based approaches to empowerment and social inclusion.JRC.J.3-Information Societ