Educational aspect of non-educational games: on a case study of 'Assassin's creed 2' and 'Assassin's creed: Origins'

Abstract

While most videogames are considered entertainment, based around narration or action playing, the genre of educational videogames exists mostly for the use of children or as assisting teaching tools. The line separating the genres can sometimes be erased in order to encourage the players’ subconscious. In this thesis work learning habits of players were studied in order to summarize the learning experience within action games set in a historical setting, with real historical facts as background narration points. As the case for the study two games were chosen: ‘Assassin’s creed 2’ (Ubisoft 2009) and ‘Assassin’s creed: Origins’ (Ubisoft 2017), both of which use historical setting for their narration. The research was conducted through a questionnaire designed to determine players’ ability to remember side information from games. The collected data was compared to the answers of players unfamiliar with the case games in order to compare the efficiency of using history as a setting for action games and its impact on the learning abilities of the players. The conclusion of the thesis was based around game mechanics used in the case games, summarized with the experience of the players in order to draw guidelines for future history-based game development projects. Since the work was theory and research based, the guidelines are written as suggestions for possible practical application or additional features improving the user experience and educational impact of future projects