Serious games

There are many different definitions of serious games. Each definition tries to identify particular aspects of the concept. The term serious games also have a lot of synonyms, more or less specific (e.g. game-based learning, games for health, persuasive games, meaningful games). In xDelia it is sufficient to describe serious games as “any form of interactive computer based game software for one or multiple players to be used on any platform and that has been developed with the intention to be more than entertainment” (Ritterfeld et al., 2009, p.6).

Serious game can be seen as a blend of educational intentions and enjoyable experience. The rationale behind serious games is, among other things, that games are entertaining and therefore motivates players to learn. But there is very little evidence of how effective serous games are (Ritterfeld et al., 2009). For example Connolly et al (2008) analyzed 1400 papers of serious games and they discovered that only 72 papers applied some kind of measurements to evaluate the game. The authors therefore suggest an evaluation framework, to be able to evaluate the games according to: learner performance, motivation, learner perception of the game, attitudes that can affect the effectiveness of the game, learner preferences such as learning styles, collaboration (optional) and environment. The framework has recently been used to evaluate 28 different studies and the results shows the framework has potential (Woulters et.al., 2009).

To gain an effectiveness of serious games there has to be a positive transfer of what was learned or experienced in the game, into the “real” world. Transfer is accomplished when learning outcome is useful in reality. xDelia will take a stand in the fact that learning outcome (cognitive, skill based, affective) is related to game design or different attributes of the game (Wilson et al., 2009). But the outcome is also related to external factor such as the player and the gameplay itself. There is, for example, very little research done about how player’s quality and personality affects the learning outcome, although issues considering gender have been prominently documented (Kafai, 2009). xDelia will model the relationships between different factors and bring them together in a framework embracing aspects ranging from learning objectives, player, gameplay, game design to learning outcome and transfer.